Page 74 of Looks Real Good Now
“Yeah, kind of.” She shrugged.
“It’s either yes or no.”
“Then yes, I spent Christmas with Teddy. And his family.”
Now it was my turn to be speechless.
“And…how was that?” I eventually said.
“Really nice, actually. His family is cool. Super welcoming and they are all so proud of him, which was nice to be around.”
“Yeah, the Carters are great. They can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially because Teddy in isolation really doesn’t give you an idea of what the whole family is like.” I laughed. I knew the Carters well and spending even an hour with them taught me everything I needed to know about where Teddy got his patience from. And his ruthlessness on the ice. He needed to get it out somehow.
“Of course, this is why you have always been buddy buddy with Teddy. If you knew Liam, then you also knew Teddy because they played together in high school. I could never figure that one out and I didn’t want to ask in case you said something wild like you used to hook up.” I noticed that there was a tone to her voice, it sounded like jealousy.
“Funny how that worked for them though,” she continued. “Besties who dominated together in their youth finishing it out together.”
“Not quite together. Teddy still plays.” I pointed out. Maxxy was quiet again. Only this time, she was acting shifty.
“What do you know?” I asked. Liam hadn’t mentionedanything about Teddy retiring.
“It started when those pictures of you and Liam walking around the city ended up in some articles. Have I said to your face that you two make a cute couple? And when I say cute, I mean very attractive and very tall and it’s cute that you share clothes.” She flicked her gaze to me briefly.
I smiled.
“It’s his sweater,” I said. I could see the confusion flicker across her face.
“Butyou’vehad it for years?”
“Yeah, I stole it from him. It wasn’t intentional. Or maybe it was, I don’t know. But it was his first.”
“And he took it back?”
He hadn’t. It was in my suitcase. Liam had made a huge show of putting it in there, talking about how he was doing me a massive favour by giving up his favourite sweater once again. Like I wasn’t very aware that it made him quietly feral seeing me in his clothes.
“Not exactly,” I said. I smiled again.
“Oh no. I’ve seen you in love before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen youin lovelike this,” Maxxy said.
I laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“Just the way you love Liam is very different to the way you loved Kai. You seem lighter. Happier. The kind of happy that has you smiling at your phone and basking in memories that make you look like you’re glowing. It’s nice. I’m happy for you.”
“You were saying something about Teddy?” I prompted, keen to stop talking about myself.
“Oh yeah, he saw those photos of you two and it got himthinking. Liam sounded really happy when Teddy talked to him, and he looked it too. And if he hadn’t had the time to go home for Christmas this year, then he wouldn’t have bumped into you and you two wouldn’t be together, being all happy and shit. And he only had the time to do that because he retired. I couldn’t help but think when I saw the photos that if he hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have left your parents’ house for nearly a fortnight.”
“I would have gone outside. Why does everyone think I never want to leave the house?” I asked incredulously.
“You wouldn’t have gone ice skating. Or gone to see the lights in the city. Or held hands while you walked around. You wouldn’t have passively engaged with Christmas in New York, which is such a New Yorker way of doing things, but I guess that sums you up. I think Liam made youengage. So, you may have gone outside but you wouldn’t have goneoutside.”
I hated that she had a point.
“What does this have to do with Teddy?”
“I think it made him a bit sad. This is the first season he’s played knowing Liam isn’t ever coming back. Even when they were on different teams, they still had that shared thing that meant they were both still on the ice and doing what they did best. When Liam joined Detroit, it was like no time had passed and they fell straight back in with each other, it was impressive. But Liam’s gone now and getting to fuck around and fall in love over Christmas like he’s in some kind of Hallmark movie—” Maxxy cut herself off by bursting into laughter. I let her cackle herself back to normality.
“Sorry, I just tried to imagine you in a Hallmark movie, full ofpep and cheer trying to get your small-town lover to fall in love with the magic of Christmas or some shit and couldn’t do it. It really should work because you’re a baker; they love bakers in those things, but you are just not the pep and cheer kind of girl. How you managed to fake it as a cheerleader for so long might remain one of life’s great mysteries.”
