Page 46 of Check the Halls
BEN
“Idon’t want to rush you.” Sam’s tone implies that he very much wants to rush me. “But I should remind you that I am a child, so I can’t be here all night.”
I stare at the board, my fingers hovering over a knight, unsure if I’m about to make the right move or walk into another one of Sam’s traps. I swear he has the strategic mind of a general.
I lose my nerve again, dropping my hand back into my lap. “You know, I’m starting to think you enjoy humiliating me.”
Sam leans back in the wooden chair at his kitchen table, the legs creaking beneath him. “You’re not that bad.”
“But…” I hedge.
“But I think it’s best if you don’t give up the whole hockey thing.”
“Thank you for the sage advice, Sam.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I finally move the knight, pretending to be confident even though I’m sure I just handed him the game.
“Neeeeiiighhh.”
“Do you have to do that?” Sam asks, annoyed.
“What?”
“Make that noise every time you move your knight?”
“Seems like it.”
He shakes his head before studying my move. “Interesting choice,” he says, and that’s when I know I’m dead.
Before I can respond, he drops a bomb.
"Why did you and Maddy break up?"
I freeze, my hand halfway to my water glass. It’s a question I’ve asked myself hundreds of times. I should be used to it by now, but somehow it still manages to catch me off guard.
"Where’s this coming from?"My voice is carefully neutral, but I grip the glass tighter than necessary.
He shrugs. "She seems nice."
“She is.” The words come out quieter than I mean them to. She’s more than nice. She’s brilliant and fierce, sharp-witted and soft-hearted. She can command a room with a single look and make a kid feel like the most important person in the world with a simple smile.
But what does it matter?
I lost her.
And maybe I deserved to.
I miss her.
I know it's stupid. It doesn’t make sense. I just saw her at the hospital yesterday—but I do. I think I started missing her the moment she walked away. We’d been laughing and teasing each other like we used to, falling into an easy rhythm that felt so natural. For a few stolen moments, it was almost like the past hadn’t happened. Almost.
And then one of the ghosts from my fuckboy past had to show up.
I vaguely remember hooking up with Brie a couple of seasons ago. Couldn’t even recall the city until she reminded me. That’s how it had been for so long—city after city, game after game, nameless faces, fleeting nights. It was a pattern, a routine. Go out with the guys, take a beautiful woman back to my hotel, wake up the next morning, and move on.Work hard, play hard, don’t get attached.
And, for a while, it worked.
