Page 30 of Goalie Interference

Chapter 14

I’m expanding your horizons

Sophie

I didn’t speak for a while, concentrating on driving and not venting my temper. The nerve of Ollie, coming into my space and deciding how I could live my life? He’d said he was going to stay until he could get a hold of Dad and the team to get things sorted out, which wassonot his business.

Maybe I hadn’t been assertive enough when we’d been married. I’d finished my luthier apprenticeship with Diane then, but hadn’t done much with it, since Ollie was going through rehab and finding his way after his career-ending injury. But in the last two years I’d been on my own and I’d done damn well. Well enough that Diane thought I had the skills to take over String Theory in a couple of years.

He had no business deciding who I could or could not date. I shot a glance at Remy from the corner of my eye. He was holding Beast, who was standing on his lap, nose pressed to the window. He hadn’t asked where we were going or told me to calm down, and I appreciated that more than I could say.

I swallowed and turned right. “Ollie decided he was staying in the workshop till he’d got everything ‘sorted out.’ I was so angry I just had to get out of there. Thanks for letting me kidnap your truck.”

He smiled at me. “No problem. But maybe I should find another place. I don’t want to cause trouble.”

I frowned, hands tight on the steering wheel. “No, you’re not leaving. You’re not causing trouble, he is. We’re divorced. He has no say in what I do with my life now.”

“True, but he does have say in my life.”

Oh.That made me feel about six inches high. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to mess up your hockey stuff. Give me a moment to calm down and we can go back and fix this.”

He stared through the windshield, brows lowered. “Why don’t we sit on that one? You go ahead, wherever you were going, and maybe when we get back everyone will be calmer.”

Tension eased out of my shoulders. He had a point. Ollie had been caught off guard. He had a bee in his bonnet about the guy beside me, and once he’d thought it over we could discuss it rationally. Ollie had a bit of a temper but he was never violent, and when he calmed down he was usually perfectly reasonable.

I let out a long breath. “I’m heading to String Theory. It’s a luthier shop, run by a friend of mine. I thought I could take a look at your teammate’s guitar there and clear my head a bit.”

“Sure.”

We were almost at the shop. What the hell was I thinking? I’d kidnapped his truck and him. I couldn’t expect him to loiter around Diane’s place while we talked guitars.

“I can grab a ride back. I didn’t really mean to hijack your day.”

He tilted his head. “How long is Otts likely to wait for you?”

I signaled left. “Um…I’m not sure.”

Remy shrugged. “Beast could use a walk. We’ll explore the area a bit, and when we’re ready to come back we can see if you’re good to go or not. Hanny would probably like to know what’s up with his guitar.”

“Thank you. Normally I’m a sane person, but Ollie really got to me.”

“That’s what exes do, right?”

Did they? This might have been more anger at Ollie than I’d ever felt while we were married. I shoved down thoughts of why that was. I was pulling into a slot in front of String Theory, and it was time to focus on work.

Remy looked at the storefront with interest. “I had no idea there were so many places like this. I didn’t grow up with music and I’ve got no talent for it, so I didn’t know.”

“I expect there’s a whole world of hockey support that most people aren’t aware of either.”

He gave me his crooked grin. “Thanks for not making me feel stupid about it.”

“It’s just common sense. We all have our areas of interest, and that’s where our focus and knowledge is.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ve been in the hockey world since I was a teenager. I’ve lived with a pretty narrow viewpoint.”

I raised my brows. “And now I’m expanding your horizons.”

He chuckled. “It’s good to remember that the entire world doesn’t revolve around hockey.”

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