Page 95 of Cross Check Hearts

The doctor shines a light in his eyes, asks him to follow her finger, then smiles. “Well, I’m pleased to tell you everything looks good. We’ll need you to take it easy for a few days—no hockey, no screens, no strenuous activity—but I’m comfortable discharging you this morning. Do you have someone who can stay with you for the next 24 hours?”

“He does,” I answer quickly. “Me.”

“Excellent. I’ll have the nurse bring in your discharge papers.”

After we complete the paperwork, a nurse brings us a wheelchair to get Declan out to my car. They offer to help me wheel him outside, but I don’t want him out of my sight and he seems anxious too, so I decide to do it myself. As we reach the exit, he reaches behind himself for my hand.

“What is it?”

“I don’t really want to be alone.”

“You won’t be,” I promise. “I was planning to stay with you anyway. I don’t think you should be alone either.”

His shoulders relax. “Can we go to your place instead? It feels more like home there with you and Ralph.”

His words wrap around my heart like a warm embrace. “Of course we can.”

He’s still a little woozy and unsteady on his feet, so getting him from the wheelchair into the passenger seat takes some maneuvering, but we manage. We drive with our fingers intertwined on the center console, neither of us wanting to break the comfortable silence with words. We’ve said what matters most—everything else can wait.

At home, I hear Ralph jumping down from the bed and dashing into the living room as soon as we walk inside. She starts meowing for food until she realizes Declan is with me and charges over to him to start rubbing her face all over his legs. Laughing, Declan bends over to pick her up, and I keep my hand on his back to steady him just in case the blood rushing to his head makes him unsteady. But he seems unfazed.

“There’s my little fashion girl,” he says cradling her against his chest. She starts purring like an engine almost right away, and he carries her back to the bedroom where he lies down with her right on top of his stomach.

I’m sure before the night is over, he’ll have her modeling all the new hats and sweaters he’s crocheted for her, but I’m not jealous. Not even a little bit. I love that Ralph seems to have gotten as close to Declan as I have, and that we already have this little family going.

I climb into bed with them and rest my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes to the soothing sound of Ralph’s purring. Declan tilts his head to rest on top of mine. “I’m right where I belong with both of my girls.”

Warmth blooms in my chest. But now that he’s safe and we’re lying here still, a sense of anxiety prickles in my stomach. Our relationship so far has existed in a bubble—a perfect, amazing bubble, but a bubble nonetheless. And what happened yesterday burst it, letting real life come rushing in.

And as much as I don’t want to think about it right now when everything feels so right, a thought sits in the pit of my stomach like a weight.

With all the messiness of our real lives getting mixed in, can we really make this work?

Chapter42

Declan

It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week and I’m already back at practice—although with the way Dunaway is riding my ass, I wish I was still laid up with Hannah.

Just like the doctors said I would, I’ve made a full recovery, but I’ve still been trying to take it easier out on the ice just in case. The last thing I need right now is another injury, whether it’s to my head or even a stubbed toe. But since Dunaway threatened to bench me, I can’t afford not to give it everything I’ve got, which isn’t exactly compatible with taking it easy.

Like he can hear me thinking about him, Dunaway blasts his whistle and flags me down. “Murray! What the hell are you doing out there? I don’t pay you to daydream. Get moving.”

“Yes, Coach,” I call back, pushing harder and sprinting to rejoin the lineup of guys for the next drill. He’s obviously still pissed off at me and not being shy about taking it out on me, but that’s fine. Like I told him, he can say or do whatever he wants to me. It won’t change how I feel about Hannah or how much time she and I spend together.

The rest of the team has noticed, too. Theo glances over his shoulder at me from farther up the line and raises his eyebrows, but I just wave him off. I don’t want to draw any of the guys into this drama, and I’m sure it’ll pass as soon as Dunaway works through whatever is stuck up his ass about it. But he must be particularly annoyed today because he blows his whistle and calls practice five minutes early when someone misses a shot.

“That’s enough for today. Clearly, we’re all not in the right headspace,” he says and leaves the arena for his office. The rest of us mill around on the ice for a few minutes until we’re sure he’s gone, then start streaming out one by one to the locker room. Theo sidles up beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

“Seems like Coach isn’t taking too well to you dating his daughter, huh?” he asks, but I can tell from the tone of his voice he’s not being a smart ass about it. He’s legitimately asking. I’m not sure how he found out about that already, but then again, I’m not surprised that word has already spread among the team. There’s no such thing as secrets on a professional sports team.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Want to grab a beer later? Talk it out?” Theo offers.

I shake my head. “I appreciate it, but I’ve got that speech at Bear River High today.”

“Right, right. The motivational thing.” He claps me on the shoulder. “Well, hang in there. I’ve known Dunaway for years, and let me tell you, after all the shit I’ve pulled since I joined the team, I’ve learned he can’t stay mad for very long.”

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