Page 26 of Wrapped Around My Heart
In the reflection in the mirror, Stella shrugs. “It’s part of being a mom. I accumulate things I don’t always need in my bag, but they come in handy when you least expect it.”
Nodding, I swish the mouthwash between my teeth before spitting it into the sink. When my stomach dips again, I place a hand over it and close my eyes.
“Do you think you’re coming down with something?” Stella asks and I mull it over for a moment.
Before coming to the game today, the only other place I’ve gone this week was to dinner with my parents last night. My mom did say that her nose was stuffy, but as far as I know, it never escalated to more than that.
“I must be.” I shake my head and finally open my eyes. “I might head home. For starters, puking in a public space is gross. Plus, if I am coming down with something, I don’t want to be around Harper more than I already have been. Shit. If she gets sick?—”
Stella waves a hand in the air and cuts me off. “That kid brings home some new cold every other week from school. She’ll be fine. Do you want me to go grab your purse for you?”
Biting my lip, I nod. “I might wait here. In case I…” I motion back to the stalls.
“I can drive you home if you want.” She offers, but I shake my head again.
“I’ll be fine. Worse comes to worse, if I feel like I can’t make it home, I’ll go to my parents and crash in their guest room since they’re closer.”
“Okay. But you’re texting me the second you pull into your driveway.” She turns on her heel and heads toward the door. “Just give me two minutes.”
Stella disappears to get my purse for me, and I lean back against the sink and will my damn stomach to settle long enough for me to make it home.
CHAPTER 10
Dean
“You want your usual beer, Dean?”Landon asks over his shoulder while opening the bar door and leading the way inside.
It’s normal for us to end up here, considering it’s right next door to the condo building that houses most of the team, myself included. Plus, their food is some of the best on the strip. Not that anyone would be able to tell from the outside. I’m not even positive that the name of the bar is on the outside of the building, or that I could even tell you what it is. The only thing that signals there’s even a bar is the colorful chalkboard sign that sits out front with a different message every couple of days. On the weekends when it’s not raining, the owner, Nick, will prop the door open, and just let the music draw patrons in. I’ve never run a business, so I can’t say anything else about his marketing, but whatever he’s doing somehow seems to work for him.
“Not yet. I’m just popping in for a minute before I head upstairs to take Cora out.”
“Go get her now. You know Nick said he’s cool with her being here,” Landon says and I laugh at the reminder.
While adopting Cora was something that I knew without a shadow of a doubt I needed to do, I had been nervous about the timing. Getting a puppy during hockey season sounded crazyto everyone on the team. The only reason it’s working out so beautifully is because, for starters, Cora is a literal perfect angel. Training her has been super easy, which I was not expecting. On top of that, it helps that I have so many people constantly offering to help me with her.
Arianna is usually the first one to jump in and snatch her up when we have away games. Since she lives a few floors up, Lilly is always hot on Ari’s heels to watch Cora. Which helps on long practice days, since she can pop down and take her out. And that’s just two of the people who beg to help with Cora. Stella and Harper have put in a request to watch her at some point, same with Ari and Landon’s parents.
It’s a little overwhelming, seeing how many people jump up to help, considering I’d gotten used to doing things on my own before all of them.
The thought both warms my chest and makes my stomach drop simultaneously.
I shove thoughts about my teenage years aside and focus on congratulating the guys who beat us here. While we all talk about how the game went, commenting on some of the highs and a couple of the mistakes made, my eyes search the bar. The pit in my stomach grows when I don’t find the one person I was most looking forward to seeing.
“Dude,” Evan, the backup goalie on my team, shouts in my face. “That last save you had in the last thirty seconds of the game wasinsane!”
“Thanks, man, just doing what I do best,” I tell him, patting his shoulder and moving to go around him, but he side-steps to keep himself in front of me.
“Hell yeah. Think you can work with me next practice? Some of those blocks you did actually blew my mind.”
I smile at him, agreeing to help. It takes all my effort to focus on the conversation and not walk away. Evan’s a good goalie.With a couple more years working as backup, he could for sure be ready to be the main event. He just needs to not lose focus so quickly. But right now, the last thing I want to do is continue talking about hockey when all I can focus on is the fact that Arianna is not here.
I let Evan ramble on for another minute or two before finally excusing myself, promising that we’ll catch up Monday at practice.
While I check the bar one last time, I head to the booth that Dominik and Lilly are at and slide in across from them.
“Where’s Cora?” Lilly immediately asks.
“I’m gonna go get her in a minute. Ari bit my head off last time I went and got her by myself, so I was coming to see if she wanted to come up with me.” I laugh, looking around once more as if Ari will just appear.
