Page 59 of My Best Bet

“Absolutely fantastic.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “I just love Canadian men.”

“Ha!” I blurted out. “No, you just love hockey players.”

“Canadian hockey players,” she corrected me. “The US ones are dicks.”

I laughed to myself. I had a feeling she was totally only talking about Kappy when she said that.

“But it was good. Patrick and I have the best ideas for our next program. I can’t wait to get started.”

“WhereisPatrick? I thought I was picking up both of you.”

She flipped down the mirror to fix her makeup. “He decided to stay with his family in Montreal another week. I’m a little nervous that he doesn't want to come back, but he wouldn’t do that to me.” She brushed off the idea and went on aboutthe amazing shopping she did in Old Town and the hot hockey player she went on a date with in Laval.

The rest of the day passed like usual, but when the 4:30 session started, there were no signs of the Conovers.

I kept sneaking glances at the rink entrance, hoping they were just running late, but halfway through the lesson, I had to accept that they wouldn’t be coming.

Squaring my shoulders and fixing a smile on my face, I powered through the lesson with Charlotte and Sophia, but I hated how much their absence affected me.

It’d only been a couple of weeks, but I already grew attached to Lucy’s little smile and the way she stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth when she was concentrating hard, and I missed that feeling of having Colt in the stands, watching.

The whole session, my mind kept jumping to the conclusion that this was Colt’s way of firing me. I cursed myself for telling Piper about my interaction with Colt, because it felt like saying it aloud jinxed it or something.

By the time the buzzer went off, I knew what I had to do: I had to woman-up and call Colt to ask why they missed the lesson. If I didn't, I’d just end up worrying until our next lesson on Monday, and I really didn’t want to waste my weekend overthinking the situation. Whatever the reason, it’d be better to know now.

After tracking down his number from the front office– it was different from the one he had years ago– I hit the call button before I could talk myself out of it.

He answered on the third ring. “Hullo?” His voice sounded so groggy that I wondered if I had the wrong number for a second.

“Colt? It’s… me, Mer.” I closed my eyes, hating the awkwardness between us.

He cleared his throat. “Bennett?” He sounded like was only half awake, so maybe they just accidentally slept through the lesson?

“Yeah. Sorry, I got your number from the front office. Lucy missed her lesson, so I was just calling to check in,” I rattled out. “I hope you haven’t changed your mind about me coaching–”

“No.” He bit out a curse. “It’s Friday, isn’t it? I’m sorry. We’re not, uh, doin’ so hot.”

I paused. “What?”

He groaned. “We’re all sick. And we have a game tomorrow.”

I grimaced. There was nothing worse than having to skate when you felt like you were dying. “Who’s all?”

“Me, Lu, Kap, and JP. Lucy got it first. She puked her brains out all night, now the rest of us are losing it. I’m kind of worried I’m not doing such a hot job at being a dad right now.”

My heart wobbled in my chest. “Do you need help?”

“The room’s spinning,” he groaned. A beat of silence filled the line before he said, “How pathetic would it be if I said yes?”

“Not pathetic at all. We all need help sometimes.”

“Shit, I’m gonna…” The call ended.

Anxiety spiked in my chest. Without a second thought, I immediately marched to my locker room, ripped off my skates, then shot off a text to Piper, who was still out in the lobby talking to students, explaining what was going on.

Heading to the store, I made a mental list of all the sick materials I needed, then shopped in record time.

Sitting back in my car, I fished the homemade birthday invitation from my skate bag and plugged the address into my phone. From the looks of it, they lived in the suburbs just north of the city.

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