Page 51 of Pucking Strong

I step closer to Teddy, lowering my voice. “You did all this.”

He winces, bracing for my anger. Am I really so much of a bear?“I mean, if we wanna get technical, Tess did it. Or she hired the people who did it.”

I cross my arms, mirroring his stance. “But it was your idea, wasn’t it? You told her what to do. You knew what Karro would like best.”

He shrugs. “I just wanted her to come home to a place ready for some good memories. She’s had enough of the bad ones for a while. Don’t you think?”

When I say nothing, too overcome to speak, he steps in closer. “Hey, are you really mad? I can have them put everything back the way it was. I’ll even paint it back myself. I’ll—”

I silence him with a hug, surprising us both with the action.

He sucks in a breath, leaning away.

“Thank you,” I say against his shoulder. “Thank you, Teddy.”

His arm wraps around me. “Wait, so you’re not mad at me?”

“I was,” I admit. “But I’m not anymore.”

With a nervous laugh, he relaxes further, properly hugging me back with both arms. “Well, good. ’Cause that would have been a major dick move. This room is fucking awesome. I might just sleep in here too.”

I chuckle, feeling the rumble of his laugh against my chest. It’s odd to smell my cologne on him. Odd, but not unpleasant. He’s actually wearing one of my sweaters too. He ran out of clean clothes yesterday, but we were both too tired to do any laundry, not with our early flight planned for this morning. I told him to take whatever he wanted from my closet instead. He took my favorite cable-knit sweater. I run my hand down his back, feeling the ridges of the knit design.

One of the women dramatically coughs, and Teddy and I break apart with a jolt.

“Do you two need a minute?” Paulie’s wife teases.

Her friend laughs. Behind her, Tess’s smile falls. She glances between us, her gaze settling on me. All of a sudden, it feels like she’s looking at me like I’m a wolf loose in the room. Next to her, Rachel looks at Teddy like he’s the sheep I intend to eat.

Feeling self-conscious under their weighted stares, I step away from him.

Somehow, I survive the evening. Practically everyone from the team filters through my apartment, including some of the support staff friendly with Teddy. They all leave gifts for Karolina and food in the fridge. The food is good, I’ll admit. And I now have enough alcohol to last me through the rest of my NHL career.

When it’s clear Karolina has reached the limit of her endurance, falling asleep on the couch with one hand still in the popcorn bowl, the adults begin cleanup. I keep offering to help, but I’m endlessly rebuffed.

By eight o’clock, my fridge is stocked fit to burst, my kitchen is spotless, my living room is vacuumed, the balloons have disappeared, and every pair of shoes by the door is claimed and removed by its owner. Teddy puts Karolina to bed while I see the last of the guests to the door with many repeated words of “thanks” and “no really” and “too kind.”

Shutting the door as the last of them leave, I hardly have the energy to turn around and lean against it for support. I think I might be a little drunk. Wives kept putting beers and plates of food in my hand all night. I ate my weight in taco dip and drank so much, my fingertips feel numb.

Teddy appears at the end of the hall. He’s shuffling too, fatigue making his shoulders heavy. He catches my eye and stops. Crossing his arms, he leans against the corner and looks around the now-spotless living room. “Long day.”

“Exceptionally long.”

“But a good one, right?”

I purse my lips, saying nothing.

He sighs. “They just want to be there for you, Hen. For Karolina. They’re all trying, and you have to give them that. Besides, you want her to have family here, right? Friends? You saw Emma Langley tonight. She cried when they dragged her away. Unless I’m mistaken, Karro just made a friend for life.”

“You know all their names.”

He shrugs. “Well, I mean, notallof them. I met a bunch of the new wives and girlfriends tonight. Like, I’d never met Paulie’s wife before.”

“But you know them now. And you know their kids. You know all their names and ages.”

“Yeah, I guess. There aren’t that many, so it’s not like it’s hard.”

Pushing off the door, I cross over to the couch and sit down. “Will you teach me?”

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