Page 134 of Time to Shine

“Of course,” Mom said. “But don’t overthink it. You know what you need to tell him.”

Landon nodded. He did. And he wanted to.

“And, Landon,” Dad said gently, “have you thought about finding a therapist to talk to?”

Landon put his hands on his knees and curled his fingers. “I don’t know. I hate talking.”

“I was skeptical,” Dad said. “I didn’t think it was for me. But, like your mother said, it helped a lot.”

“It can really help put things in perspective,” Mom added. “Make things more manageable.”

Landon nodded. “I’ll think about it.” He knew he should, and not just for his own sake, but for anyone who had to deal with him. For Casey, if there was a future there.

Could there really be a future there? Landon still couldn’t see a way it would work. Even a best-case scenario, where Landon earned a permanent spot on the Calgary roster, would come with its own challenges. Workplace relationships were supposed to be a bad idea, right? And Casey was a high-profile player—did he really want to have the whole world know that he was dating his teammate? Did Landon want that? There were other openly gay and bisexual players in the league; not many, but any number more than zero was significant progress for men’s hockey in general. None of those guys were dating their teammates, though. At least not publicly, and certainly not that Landon was aware of. Their relationship would get some attention for sure, if they decided to go public with it.

Landon was getting way ahead of himself. And had totally zoned out while Dad was talking.

“You’re not listening at all, are you?” Dad said with an affectionate smile.

“Sorry. My brain kind of took off running.”

“Did it take you anywhere good?”

Landon furrowed his brow as he worked out his next words. “I think I need to talk to Casey. When I get back to Saskatoon, maybe. I’ll call him. I want to...try. If there’s a way we can make this work, I want to try.”

Both his parents were smiling broadly now. “I’ll bet he’s dying to hear from you,” Mom said.

Landon hoped so. He wouldn’t blame Casey if he’d given up on Landon by now. Except he’d sent that selfie last night. That meant something, right?

Landon would be home in two days. Between now and then, he was going to figure out what he wanted to say to Casey. And then he was going to tell him.

Chapter Forty

Casey was flying back to Calgary, via Toronto, after the All-Star weekend in Raleigh, and, as usual, all he could think about was Landon. He’d been all Casey could think about during the skills competition, which was probably the reason Casey had missed all the targets a million times, and was definitely the reason he’d sent him a selfie immediately after. All he’d gotten back was an emoji, but he’d fucking cherished it.

He’d kept sending occasional texts to Landon, but none of them said what he really needed to tell him. They were playful and light, just letting Landon know Casey was thinking about him. Landon’s replies were brief, but lately he always answered, and that was something.

Lee’s advice from a few days ago kept echoing in Casey’s head: he needed to make Landon believe Casey would fight for them. Would wait for him. Would do fucking anything for him because Casey was in love with him.

But how?

He was still thinking about it as the plane descended into Toronto. He had three fucking hours to kill before his connecting flight to Calgary. Maybe a great idea would come to him, though he was doubtful that many people had romantic epiphanies in Pearson Airport.

An hour later, standing in front of the giant timetable in the domestic departures terminal, he got an idea. It was probably not a good one, but in that moment he was jacked on a Venti Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino and anything seemed possible.

What if he didn’t fly to Calgary? He had the next four days off and there was a plane leaving for Saskatoon in three hours. He knew Landon was in Colorado tonight, because he always knew where Landon was, but his team would be arriving back at home sometime tomorrow.

Casey was going to do it. He was going to meet Landon at the fucking...bus place...and it was going to be romantic as hell.

Okay, so it turned out a lot of people flew from Toronto to Saskatoon. Casey wasn’t able to get on the flight he’d been hoping for, but there was one leaving in six hours that had room.

So now Casey was lounging sideways in a big leather armchair in the fancy Air Canada VIP lounge, enjoying his fourth complimentary cookie. He’d booked a hotel room in Saskatoon for three nights, just in case he needed more time to convince Landon that he was super in love with him.

Landon must be getting ready for his game in Colorado right now. Casey decided to send him a selfie, even though he looked like a guy who’d spent the entire day in two airports and one plane.

Feeling bold, he wrote: I miss you.

Deal with it, Stacks, he thought. You’re missed.

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