“I’m going.” He rests his arm over the back of the sofa, watching me.
Wait. “So are you coaching with me every week now?”
For the past month and a half, since he first helped me out, if he didn’t have a game and wasn’t traveling, he came with me to soccer. He never talks over me or tells me how to coach, he just watches, listens, and asks if he can help.
And he always wears the friendship bracelets, which the girls love.
He studies me. “Ward says our lives are about more than hockey.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “I’m not ready to retire but,” he takes a deep breath, letting it out on a heavy exhale, “I don’t want to be left with nothing when I do.”
My heart feels funny. Achey and tight. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say,I’d never let you be left with nothing, but I can’t say that. That’s the kind of thing people say when they’re in relationships.
And I don’t know what this is.
He shrugs. “And someone has to stop you from teaching them that bend-and-snap thing from the movie the other night.”
“So youwerewatching.” I hadLegally Blondeon downstairs the other night when he got home and he kept walking through the living room, lingering. “Okay, what’s your idea?”
“Luca’s such a heartthrob,” Darcy whispers the next evening at the rink as we stand at the bench.
I grin. The girls in his group are hanging on to his every word. Half of them are blushing. “They do seem obsessed with him.”
“Don’t be afraid to fall,” Alexei calls across the ice as they all start the skating drill. “Your equipment will protect you.”
“This was a good idea.” Hazel appears at my other side. “Cross-training is so important.” She’s led a few yoga classes for the soccer team.
“And the girls seem to be having a ton of fun,” Darcy adds.
My gaze goes to my husband, yelling out encouragement as the girls skate. “It was all Alexei.”
He did everything: got permission from the parents to change the practice location, booked ice time, arranged for skates and gear, and convinced the available Storm players to participate. Hayden, Rory, Luca, Jamie—they’re all here. Even Ward showed up to watch and support.
In the seating behind the glass, parents watch, talking and enjoying hot beverages and snacks that Alexei had catered.
Some sad, limp, listless part of my mind croaksdetached,while the devil inside me rolls her eyes. How can I stay detached when he does things like this?
Hazel spots a parent who goes to her fitness studio and heads off to say hi, and Darcy gives me a sidelong look full of meaning.
“Stop it.”
Her smile pulls higher. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Good.” I suppress a smile of my own. “Keep it that way.”
“But if Iwereto say something, I’d say,wow, he must really like you.”
“He doesn’t, but okay.” I think about how working with the rookie seems to bring him happiness. “I think he’s just considering what to do after hockey.” A thought strikes me, something I’ve been meaning to ask Darcy. “Hey, you know when he brought you flowers last year, on the double date?”
She smiles. “The ones Hayden calledfuneral flowers?”
We laugh. “Yes. Those. Do you remember what they were?”
“Lotus.” Her eyebrows knit together as she thinks. “Kind of an interesting choice.” She catches sight of my expression and gives me an odd look. “What?”
My heart’s doing that funny flip again. “Lotus flowers—strength, resilience, and rebirth.” The perfect flower for Darcy’s transformative year. I look away to avoid her pleased, inquisitive gaze. “He has a book of flower meanings.”
“That’s surprisingly thoughtful of him.”
We look over to the man in question, working with the girls. “Heis surprisingly thoughtful.”