Page 80 of Rowdy Hearts

“But?” she asked, as if she could read my mind.

“I got a call from an old buddy last week. He actually played for us for a couple months before he got picked up by an ECHL team. He played for them for a year before he got a call up from the AHL team he’s playing for now. He’s a couple years older than me, and he’s looking at retiring and becoming a coach.”

I paused, not sure I really wanted to say this out loud to anyone. It would make it too real, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to have to make the decision.

“Does he want you to come play for him?”

“No. He wants me to coach with him at the ECHL level. Wants me to be his assistant.”

“What does that mean?”

The ECHL is a feeder league for the AHL and the AHL feeds the NHL.”

“That sounds like a great opportunity. But it would mean you couldn’t play, right?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave the ice yet, plus I’m not sure I’m coach material.”

“Why do you say that? I see the way your team looks up to you. They would follow you anywhere.”

“That’s because I’m the only one crazy enough to want to lead this bunch.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Act like what you do isn’t a big deal?”

“Because it’s not. This team would function just fine without me.”

“I know that’s not true. They depend on you to lead the way, even if what you do isn’t necessarily… traditional.”

I grinned at the way she paused there. “The Devils are pretty damn far from traditional.”

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing. Different isn’t always bad.”

“No, it’s not. But it can be limiting.”

“And you’ve been given an opportunity to broaden your horizons. It sounds like you don’t want to take it.”

The problem was, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. There were days I thought I did want to take it. And there were days I couldn’t imagine leaving my team and my family and this town. It felt like I’d be abandoning them.

“You left everything behind and moved across the country,” I said. “How’d you do it?”

She didn’t hesitate. “I had a baby to care for, and I wanted to be as far from Hollywood as I could get. So I moved to New York and re-enrolled in college.” She shrugged, her nose wrinkling just a little. “I was lucky. I had enough money to hire a nanny so I didn’t have to worry about Krista when I went to class. I’m not saying it was easy, but the money made it less stressful. Andwhen I graduated, I had an agency ready to hire me. I was young, but I knew the business. Plus, I was a draw. Parents like that I’d been there and done that.

“When our head agent retired a few years ago due to health issues, me and the two remaining agents made it work. Because we had to. It was scary, but we have to make money to live. And I didn’t have a family to fall back on.” Another pause. “I can only imagine how hard it would be for you to leave them. They’re wonderful.”

“They’re also nosy, over-bearing, over-protective, annoying?—

“And they love you.”

I sighed, because…yeah. “I know. It can just get to be a little much sometimes. But I’m afraid if I’m not here…”

When I didn’t finish after a couple of beats, she did. “Everything will fall apart?”

“Sounds kinda arrogant when you say it like that.”

Her laughter rang off the trees and made my blood sizzle. I wanted to pull her off to the side of the trail and kiss her until I convinced her that having sex up against a tree was definitely the right thing to do.

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