Page 66 of My Best Bet

Her neck whipped to me. “Oh good, you’re up! You feeling better?”

“Yeah, a lot better actually. I feel human again. Thank you. Are Kap and JP still alive?”

“Yes,” she laughed, “I think they’re on the mend too.”

I grabbed her ankle and pulled it into my lap to give her a foot massage. I owed her. “You saved us.”

“Good.” She smiled contentedly and reached to put her mug on top of my dresser. “Hmm that feels nice.” She sighed. “I have to leave tomorrow morning. I think Iryna is going to kill me. I told her I was sick, but that’s not really a good enough excuse. Andy’s trying to cover for me.”

“Andy… he’s nice? He’s good to you?” I was still trying to get a read on this Andy guy. He was a good skater, and he matchedMer on the ice, but there was just something off about him. With his highlighted blond hair and angular jaw line, he was a good looking dude, but I hated how he acted about it. He flirted withallthe girls, even young ones, and it just felt… slimy and wrong. I told Mer, but she just laughed me off, saying the girls had crushes on him and he was being nice, but I didn’t buy it.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Better be. Or I'll beat him up,” I warned.

She laughed and moved to lay down on top of me. “He’s good.”

I stiffened and pulled back. “Babe, I don't wanna get you sick.”

She sighed and laid her cheek against my bare chest. “I don’t care, I miss you too much. Besides, I never get sick.” She knocked on my wood bedpost. It was true, in all the years I’d known her, she’d gotten sick maybe twice.

I smoothed my hands up and down the sides of her body, loving the feel of her. “I miss you so much, too,” I choked out.

She folded her hands on my chest and rested her chin on top of them to look at me with her clear, sky eyes. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Always.”

“I think…” She bit her lip. “I think we could win, Colt. We could do it.” Her face was bright with excitement. “Me and Andy, we have a good chance at the Olympics next year. It could really happen.”

I grinned and palmed her face. “I know it could. Been saying it for years.”

An excited laugh escaped her before she laid her cheek against my chest again. But after a couple minutes of watching TV, I noticed she kept letting out deep breaths that were more like sighs, almost like she was nervous.

“What?” I laughed.

“Hmm?” she asked, keeping her eyes trained on the TV.

“You keep sighing. What’s on your mind?”

She hesitantly looked back at me and rolled her lips together. “Iryna wants me and Andy to act like we’re dating, it’s so stupid, you know that’s all pretend though, right? We’re actors, ya know?”

“Yeah, I know.” I nodded. “Don’t worry about me, babe. Do what you gotta do.”

“Okay, thanks.” She paused. “There is one thing though… You might not like it.”

“I like that you’re here.”

She smiled and used her thumb to trace under my eye. “Maybe we should wait to talk about this until you’re better.”

“No, tell me. I’m already feeling better thanks to you.” I hated having serious conversations over the phone and this sounded serious.

“Andy’s gonna move in,” she said in a rush.

My body froze. “What?” I shifted so I could see her eyes. Maybe Iwashallucinating. Maybe this was all a horrible dream. Because it sounded like my girlfriend of four years just said another man was moving in with her.

She chewed on her bottom lip like she was nervous. I hated that. I never wanted her to feel nervous around me about anything.

“Andy doesn’t have a place to stay, and since my apartment is a two-bedroom and my mom decided to go back to Grand Rapids more permanently…” she trailed off. “This kind of works out perfectly.”

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