Page 104 of Always Yours

“Technology,” she laughs as she heads up the stairs. I follow, doing as she asked before wishing her well and heading to my office. I need to grab a snack and my charger for my tablet before we start our meeting for the roster. I enter my office, and I’m almost to my desk when I hear a voice.

“Hey, Austen.”

I turn to see Angela at my door. I smile a welcome. “Hey, how are you?”

“Good. Just a quick check-in. After I saw you last, I wanted to make sure you were doing well.”

“I am,” I answer, quicker than I expected to. “Things are good.”

Her grin grows. “I can tell.”

“Really? Probably because I’m not pacing or word-vomiting all over you.”

She laughs. “That’s a huge indicator, but also, I notice you aren’t wearing your rubber bands.”

I reach for my wrist, and oh, I’m not. That’s odd. “I hadn’t even realized.”

“Good. Means things are going well.”

Things are going extremely well, but it’s weird that I forgot them. I’ve never forgotten them, but Dimitri did distract the hell out of me this morning. “I think so.”

“Well, if that changes, you know where I am.”

“I do.”

“Good. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will, thank you,” I say, and she leaves with a wave.

I wave back before opening my drawer to get my charger when I hear Angela say, “Oh, excuse me. Sorry.”

I look up, and to my surprise, my peepaw is in my doorway. “No problem, sweetheart.”

I bring my brows in, my heart kicking up in speed at the sight of him. “Peepaw?”

And just like that, my excitement is gone and replaced by pure dread.

thirty-five

Dimitri

After our skate and then a small meeting about how the roster announcements would be handled, Flynn and I head to the lounge for some food. Once we load up our plates, we head out to the patio to eat since everyone is in the lounge watching highlights and being loud as fuck. Plus, I just don’t want to be around them. Everyone’s anxiety is high, and they’re nervous about who the roster will consist of. I’m not the least bit concerned, but I’d rather be by myself, especially since I can tell that Flynn is worried.

“If I don’t make the roster, my dad will disown me, won’t he?”

I scoff at that. “Highly doubt it.”

“My brother will tease me ruthlessly.”

I nod. “So will I.”

“Great,” he mutters, taking a bite of his pizza. “I hate this. Remember when we were training for the Olympic team and we had to wait to see who made the roster? I feel like that right now.”

I give him a pointed look. “But we both made it, and we brought home the bronze.”

“Should have been gold,” he says, and I nod.

“Yeah, but none of that matters. Everything is fine. We’re good,” I remind him, and then I throw a fry at him. “Don’t be all in your feelings. It’s all going to work out fine.”

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