Page 93 of Offside for Christmas
"El, you're shaking. You've been standing in the cold watching your heart drive away. Let me help. Please."
Something in his voice—the genuine concern, the lack of judgment—broke through her numbness. Ellie nodded.
Mac put his arm around her shoulders and guided her to his truck, cranking the heat as soon as they were inside. They drove through Evergreen Cove in silence, past families already up and decorating, past the town square where volunteers were setting up for the Christmas Eve festival tonight, past all the joy and magic that Ellie had loved about this town and now couldn't stand to look at.
"Sarah Chen's article comes out tomorrow," Ellie said finally.
“The one from the bar fight?”
"His name will be cleared. He'll have everything back. His reputation, his career, his future. Everything he deserves."
"Everything except you."
"He doesn't want me. I pushed him away and he left and that's... that's what I deserve."
Mac was quiet for a moment. Then: "You know what I think? I think you're both idiots. Both too scared to fight for what you want. Both too busy protecting yourselves to actually be happy."
"Thanks. That's really helpful right now."
"I'm not trying to be helpful. I'm trying to be honest." He pulled up in front of her apartment."He's already gone, Mac."
"So call him. Text him. Show up at his LA apartment when he gets there with a boom box over your head. I don't care. Just don't let fear make this decision for you. Because I've watched you two together, and El? That's the real thing. Don't let it slip away without a fight."
15
COLE
The Eagles' locker room had felt like a funeral.
Cole had told the team yesterday that he was leaving. Signed contract, LA Kings, leaving Christmas Eve. Most of them had congratulated him—it was the NHL, after all—but their eyes had been sad.
Mac had been furious.
"You're really going to leave?" Mac had cornered him after practice. "Just like that? Without even talking to her?"
"There's nothing to talk about. She made her choice."
"She's terrified, you idiot. She's scared of getting hurt again. That doesn't mean she doesn't love you."
"If she loved me, she'd have asked me to stay."
"She shouldn't have to ask!" Mac's voice had risen. "You should want to stay. You should fight for her instead of running away the second it gets hard."
"I'm not running—"
"Bullshit. You're doing exactly what she predicted you'd do. You're proving her right. And you're breaking her heart in the process."
Cole had walked away then, because Mac was wrong. He wasn't running. He was accepting reality. Ellie didn't want him here. Didn't trust him to stay. Didn't believe in them enough to take the risk.
So he was leaving. Going back to the NHL, to the life he understood, to the place where he knew the rules.
Even if it felt like ripping out his own heart.
Now, standing in the parking lot with his truck packed and the town he'd almost learned to love spread out before him, Cole pulled out his phone one last time.
No messages from Ellie.
Of course not.
