Page 58 of Huge Pucking Play

"I was so afraid to tell you," she whispers.

"I get it." I press a kiss to the top of her head. "But no more keeping things from me, okay? Even the scary stuff. Especially the scary stuff."

"How did you know?" she asks, looking up at me. "You weren't surprised when I told you."

I shrug. "Call it intuition.”

Her hand finds mine again, our fingers intertwining. A small connection in the face of enormous change.

Cyn pulls away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. The moment shifts, vulnerability giving way to practicality. Her brow furrows. Even with puffy eyes and messy hair, she looks determined. Ready to tackle the next obstacle.

"We need to talk about work," she says.

I nod. The elephant in the room. "The no-dating policy."

"It's more than that now." She gestures vaguely at her stomach. "This is going to be obvious eventually. We can't exactly hide it."

"We were already breaking the rules," I point out.

"But no one knew. This is different." She runs a hand through her hair, pulling out more strands from her bun. "I worked so hard for this position, Garrett."

"I know." I do know. I've seen how she lights up working with the players, how respected she is by the medical team. "We'll figure it out."

"Will we? I’m afraid one of us will be asked to find a new job. And I’m pretty sure that will be me."

I’m pretty sure we can make a case that there's no conflict of interest. You treat all players equally. I don't influence your medical decisions."

She considers this. "That's true, but?—"

"Martinez is an old friend. If we approach this right, explain the situation, he might advocate for us with management."

"You want to tell your boss I'm pregnant before I'm even through my first trimester?" She looks horrified.

"No, not yet." I take her hand. "But we need a plan. And that plan starts with being honest about our relationship, baby aside."

She sighs, leaning back beside me.

“You're too good at what you do for them to let you go. The team needs you."

"Management might not see it that way."

"Then we'll find other options. I can find another job. Maybe get into commentating. A lot of retired players do that."

She turns to me, skeptical. "You'd leave the Blades?"

I don't hesitate. "If I had to. But I don't think it'll come to that."

"I can't believe you're being so...reasonable about all this."

"What were you expecting? That I'd run for the hills?"

She shrugs. "Maybe. We haven't exactly defined what we are to each other."

I capture her gaze, hold it. "Well, I'm defining it now. We're in this together. All of it. The baby, the job stuff, everything."

A small smile forms on her lips. "That simple, huh?"

"No. Not simple at all. But clear." I squeeze her hand. "We'll take it one step at a time. First step, you focus on feeling better. Second step, we talk to HR together, but not until you're ready."

---