Page 29 of Perfect Playbook

And of course there’s Antonio. He deserves more, too. Thinking that a little boy might grow up without a father, even without this other issue, is an ice pick to the chest. I’d hate it even if I didn’t lose my own father; I hate it more because I did. Every boy needs a dad, and I was lucky to have my older brother and coaches who stepped in. They never could replace Billy Hunter, but they sure as hell tried.

In some ways, Antonio and I are kindred spirits. Like him, I had a talent I wouldn’t have been able to nurture without the goodness of a few kind neighbors. Helping him would be a fulfilling experience for me in this otherwise empty personal life of mine. Paying it back would be a full circle gesture that will add some wholeness to my life I badly need. I’m over everything but my family and hockey.

Shay needs details. “So we’ll tell everyone in Starlight Canyon we got married last night? Just like that?”

I didn’t become a winner following rules. I’ve always been instinctive on the ice. But if Shay and I are to come out of this unscathed, we’ll need some moves. It has to be flawless. Start to finish. For this to work, we need the perfect playbook.

“Yeah. We’ll just say we’re married. It’s the truth.”

“The truth?” She laughs. “That’s a funny word to use for what’s happening.”

“But wearemarried, Shay. It’s not a lie.”

“No. But it’s adirtytruth.”

The way the worddirtyfalls from her puffy pink lips makes me feel like I’m in trouble. Like living together isn’t going to be easy.

She taps her lips in thought. “Do you really think your mom would believe this? I mean, my dad is a total romantic, sucker-for-love type who secretly watches romcoms, but Joy?”

I stroke my chin. “Yeah. She’s a reality TV type.”

Shay lets out an airy laugh.

“She probably won’t believe it but what is she going to do? Ask for CCTV footage from the casinos? She’ll accept it. She always loved you.”

“She did?”

I nod.

Shay’s gaze lowers; she tucks hair behind her ears. I’ve always loved her cheeks. Her jawline. That tiny nose in her pixie profile. I wish I could remember more about last night. How she might have looked with her tits bouncing, her heart-shaped lips parted…

She snaps me out of it. “At least our families know each other. That’s helpful. It’s not like we’re strangers,” she reasons.

“Yeah, you know how the Hunters are. If I’m happy, they’ll be happy for me and go with it. They’d never expect me to get married, but if I did, it would probably be like this.”

She laughs. “I guess.” She makes pensive circles on the sheet with her index finger.

“Story-wise, I think we should tell people we’ve been talking for a while. We can say I found out you were doing the cake for the Grishams and we decided to go out a few times, have been texting and calling each other for a while, then… this.”

Her eyelashes flutter upward, and our gaze connects.

“This?” she almost whispers.

“Yeah.” I sigh back at her.

A thick storm looms in the space between us. The way she’s staring at me conjures up all sorts of emotion that has no business in this transaction.

I find focus in my haze. “It’s very believable.”

She pretends to care about that spot on the sheet again. “Yeah. My family can buy that, too. It’s still extreme but also… not out of the realm of the possible.”

She lets out a sharp breath. “September fifth.”

“What?”

“Let’s say that was the day we started talking. We saw each other at the tack shop? CCs is too obvious.”

“I thought your horse, Daisy, went over the rainbow bridge?”

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