by Sarah Hegger
“Holy fuck.” It had gotten away from her before she could stop it.
“What did you say?” Dad’s face went tight with disapproval. “Show some respect around me.”
“Holy. Fuck.” This time she’d said it on purpose. “If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I would ask if you’re serious. But you absolutely are.”
“Of course—”
“I’m not calling your lawyers about your divorce from my mother.” She flicked the envelope to the floor. “That’s my mother, whom I respect and love.”
Dad jabbed a finger at her. “Now, you stop right there. You work for—”
“No, no I don’t.” She grabbed her purse from the drawer. There wasn’t much on her desk that she cared about other than the photo of her mother, tucked away in her drawer. She grabbed that and shoved it in her purse. “I’m not working here another minute.”
“What is this?” Dad looked so smug she wished she’d chucked the envelope at him. “Is this you showing me how independent you are? You got yourself a big time, big deal boyfriend and somehow you think that makes you worthwhile. But it—”
“I know, I know.” Christ, she could script it herself. “It doesn’t make me worth crap. Not in your eyes anyway.” Hands shaking, she shrugged into her coat. “I don’t happen to agree with you. I think I’m worth way, way more. And I know I’m worth more than you have to give.”
Anger took her down the elevator and to the street. And then she ran out of steam.
“Excuse me.” An irate man in a suit sidestepped her. “You’re in the way.”
She was in the way. Tears flooded her eyes, and she couldn’t get them to stop. After all she’d done for Dad, it still wasn’t good enough.
Her entire life she’d tried to make him see her, love her, maybe be proud of her. What a massive fucking waste of time.
That thought shook loose the sobs, and she started to really cry. She kept that up all the way home.
* * * *
“Damn.” Chris shook her head for about the twentieth time. “You actually did it.”
Elizabeth sipped her wine. “Yup.”
She had called Chris from the parking lot.
Now she was having an emergency meeting at a pub around the corner from her condo with Chris and Maddy.
It had taken Elizabeth two glasses of wine before her hands stopped shaking. Whether from anger, fear or a combo, she wasn’t sure.
Maddy beamed at her and squeezed her hand. “Well done, you. You cut the toxic thing out of your life.”
“Yes, but she still has to eat.” Ever the practical one, Chris looked concerned. “And he is her dad, so this could make family dinners really uncomfortable.”
“There won’t be any family dinners.” Elizabeth’s wine buzz kept her from panicking. “Because I’m the only one who cooks, and I’m not doing that anymore.”
“What made you do it?” Maddy tilted her head. “I mean after all this time?”
Across the bar, a studly suit kept flexing and chin jerking in case Maddy happened to look in his direction.
Elizabeth would have felt more sorry for him if he hadn’t been at this for the best part of an hour. At some point, you had to take the hint and give up. “I’m not sure.”
Hockey was playing on the screens over the bar, but it wasn’t a Titan’s game, so it got limited attention.
“Sam has been talking to me about it a lot,” she said.
Chris sent Maddy a meaningful look.
“What?” Elizabeth didn’t like that look. She also didn’t like her best friend sharing secret looks with someone else. This was the downside to Chris being in a relationship. “What was that look?”
“Nothing.” Chris sucked at playing innocent, so Elizabeth stared her down.
“It’s nothing.” Chris shrugged. “A thought I had.”
“Well, obviously you’ve shared that thought with Maddy.” Elizabeth tried not to let her hurt show. Chris and Maddy talking about her felt like a betrayal. “So whatever it is, I’d like you to share it with me.”
Maddy touched her arm. “We weren’t speaking behind your back. Chris loves you, and she shares stuff about you with me. Nothing she wouldn’t say to you, or any of your secrets.”
“You’re concerned about me?” The sting lessened, but still, it smarted a bit. She felt left out. “That I won’t get another job?”
“You’ll get another job,” Chris said. “How many people have tried to steal you away from your father?”
“A few.” She didn’t want to sound conceited, but she planned to start with those people, first thing in the morning. Burning sense of justice and liberation aside, she did still have to pay the rent. “If it’s not that, then what?”
“I’ve been saying for years that you should resign.” Chris fiddled with the stem of her glass.
“And?”
“And now you have.”
Elizabeth still didn’t see where she was going. “So, you should be glad that I finally took your advice.”
“I am glad. I think it’s way past time,” Chris said. “But it’s not my advice you took, is it?”
“What?” Was Chris mad because Sam had said it? “Sam only said what you’d said before.”
“Exactly.” Chris grimaced. “But you only listened when Sam said it.”
She must have been missing something. “I wasn’t ready before.”
“And now you are?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Clearly. That’s the reason we’re having drinks.”
“Then let me make it absolutely clear what I mean,” Chris said.
Elizabeth nodded, because that would make the evening a lot nicer.
“I’m worried you’re swapping one dominant male figure in your life for another,” Chris said.
That robbed Elizabeth of thought.
Chris filled the silence. “You’ve always twisted yourself into knots to please your father. I want you to be sure you’re not doing the same thing with Sam. Trying to please him.”
“What?” Elizabeth found her voice again. “Sam and my father are nothing alike.”
“It’s not about that.” Expression grave, Chris edged closer to her. “It’s about you. It’s about how you do for Sam what you do for everyone else, you put their needs in front of your own.”
“That’s not…” Okay, she might have had a similar thought. But this wasn’t the same. “I resigned because I’d finally had enough of my dad’s bullying. And yes, maybe being with Sam gave me the impetus to do that. And maybe I do prioritize Sam’s needs from time to time. I do the same for you, and I don’t notice you complaining.”
Chris and Maddy shared a look, and she wanted to smack their heads together.
“Sam is grateful for what I do for him.” She struggled to find the right words. “And when he wants something, he goes after it. He’s driven and motivated, and maybe some of that has rubbed off on me.”
Maddy gave her a soothing smile. “We’re not saying you’re changing one bad situation for another; we are asking you to think about it.”
Now Maddy and Chris were the “we” and she sat on the outside. It hurt and it definitely killed her buzz. She dropped some money on the bar and stood. “I’m going home.”
Chris stood with her. “Don’t go away mad, Elizabeth.”
“Of course I’m mad.” She and Chris had been friends for so long. She thought Chris knew her better than that. “You basically told me I’m a doormat.”
“I didn’t say that.” Chris threw her hands up. “I knew you would react like that, which is why I never said anything before.”
“Well, excuse me.” That came out a bit loud, and heads whipped their way. “Firstly, I don’t like being discussed by you two like I’m the group basket case.”
“We didn’t—”
“I get that you two are together, but the three of us are friends as well, and from that point of view, it wasn’t right. And secondly, I don’t appreciate that you’ve taken what sho
uld be a celebration and turned it into some kind of intervention.”
Grabbing her coat and purse, she strode for the door. Her mad took her all the way home, and it was only when her condo door shut behind her that she deflated.
Still in her coat, she dropped into a heap on her sofa. She’d lost her job and her friend all in one day.
She dug out her phone. No missed calls and no messages. She’d left a message for Sam earlier asking him to call her because she had big news.
When she dialed him again, it went straight to voicemail. “Er…hi, it’s me. I guess I’ll tell you my news like this. I quit my job. With my dad. I quit.” She went to end the call. “Oh, and I had a big fight with Chris tonight.” She stopped herself before she ended the call again. “And I hope you had a good game tonight.”
She ended the call and sat on her sofa. Watching TV didn’t appeal, and more wine might make her weepy. Mom would only worry, and Jane wouldn’t give a crap.
A tsunami of self-pity beckoned. Whenever anybody needed her, she went out of her way to help them. Now when she needed a shoulder, she was huddled up on her sofa and all alone.
And her boyfriend was too busy too.
Okay, enough of that. She got up and took her coat and boots off and put them away. Then she got ready for bed and made herself a cup of tea.
Sam would call as soon as he could. It wasn’t his fault he was busy and lots of people wanted a piece of him. It came with the territory of being part of his life.
Chapter 30
Bleary eyed, Elizabeth stumbled to answer her front door the next morning.
She opened the door to a frigid blast of morning air.
“Lizzie!” Sam stood on her doorstep, grinning at her. In one hand he had a huge bunch of flowers and in the other a bottle of champagne. “Good morning.”
“Morning, Sam,” Randy yelled from below. “Great goal last night.”
“Thanks, bud.” Sam crowded her back into her apartment. “Damn it’s cold out there.”
“What’s all this?” Elizabeth followed him into her kitchen where he put the champagne and flowers on her counter.
“First off, champagne for my kickass girlfriend who told her asshole dad to shove his job.” He snatched her off her feet and gave her a smacking kiss. “I wish I’d been there to see it. I want a full action replay later.” He kissed her again, slower this time and hummed against her mouth. “I missed you and here you are all warm and half naked.”
“I missed you too.” Elizabeth wrapped her arms and legs around him and held tight. Things didn’t seem so bad with Sam there, and she clung to him.
Holding her as if she weighed nothing, he tightened his hold. “I’m sorry about your fight with Chris, but you guys love each other, and you’ve been friends for too long not to sort it out.”
“Yeah.” Elizabeth unwrapped herself and slid to the floor. “What time is it?”
“Early.” He grinned. “But I couldn’t wait any longer to see you.”
Sam’s gaze shifted to the side. Ah hell, she knew what that meant.
“What?” She caught his gaze and held it. “What did you do?”
“Umm…” He considered lying—she read it on his face—and then he cleared his throat. “I…er…that’s what the flowers are for.”
Now he had her undivided attention. “What did you do that would require flowers?”
“Before I answer that, I have a thing tonight.” Sam gave her a charming grin as he tried to two-step his way out of her firing line. “It’s a dinner thing, at Dawson’s house, for the team. I can bring a date. You like Dawson.”
Elizabeth crossed her arms. “That will depend on what you’ve done.”
“Well, you know we traveled back late last night?” Sam rubbed his nape. “It happened then.”
“What happened?” Elizabeth braced for trouble and folded her arms.
“Okay.” Sam blew out a breath. “My mom’s been calling, and we’ve been missing each other. I called her when I got in last night, and it was late.”
With Danica in the story, Elizabeth had a strong suspicion coffee might not be enough.
Sam shoved his hands in his pockets. “I was chatting to Mom and I may have…pretty sure I did…let something slip.”
“About us?” Elizabeth scattered coffee grounds all over the counter. Please, let him say no.
Sam nodded. “I said something about us, and she caught it right away.”
“What did you say?” By her calculations, she had three minutes to get coffee down her before her mother called. Mom never called anyone before nine in the morning, but it was creeping close to that.
“I let slip that you’d been at my place, and then she put two and two together.” He tried to look innocent. “They’d already seen the KissCam thing.”
“Yes, but we convinced them that was a joke.” Elizabeth eyed her phone as if it might bite. God, their mothers would be all over it. There would be no end. She could see Mom and Danica right now, picking out baby clothes in France together.
“I came clean.” Sam shrugged. “I said you were my girlfriend now.”
“Dammit, Sam!” She barely waited for her coffee to finish brewing before she had the cup to her mouth. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
“I know.” He winced. “But on the plus side, we don’t have to worry about them finding out anymore.”
She got more caffeine down her. “You know they’ll be heartbroken when we break up.”
“When we break up?” Sam lifted a brow at her. “What makes you think you’re getting rid of me?”
It seemed too soon to be having that conversation, so Elizabeth sidestepped instead. The idea of breaking up with Sam made her chest ache. “I can always distract my mom with the news about resigning. Has anybody been particularly mean to you on the ice lately?”
“Hey!” Sam rounded the island. “We have a good thing here, Lizzie.” He caged her against the counter. “And I know it’s early days, but this feels right to me.”
How was she supposed to keep her head when he said shit like that?
“Let’s not put an expiration date on this before its time.” Sam leaned his forehead against hers. “And now you have no reason not to be my date tonight.”
“Maybe I’m mad at you.”
“Maybe.” Sam took her mug from her and put it on the counter. “In which case, I have all day to get you in a better mood.”
* * * *
Dawson lived about forty minutes outside Ottawa in an upmarket suburban neighborhood. It didn’t seem the sort of place to find a single hockey player. It was more of a family neighborhood. “Is Craig married?”
“Nah.” Sam slowed for some kids walking down the road. “But he has this long-term girlfriend. She threw a shit fit about getting married, and they bought this place last year.”
“But they didn’t get married?” One huge house after another faced the quiet, tree-lined streets.
Sam shook his head. “They’re engaged now, but if you ask me, Dawson is dragging his feet. I think he bought this place to placate her.”
Elizabeth didn’t know who she felt most sorry for. “How long have they been together?”
“Eight years.” Sam found the right house and parked behind a large SUV.
“He should be sure by now.” She didn’t like the idea of Dawson stringing some poor woman along. “He should marry her.”
“He’s not sure.”
Of course Sam would defend a guy, especially a teammate. “How much more of her life does he want to take before he makes up his mind?”
He blinked at her vehemence. “She doesn’t have to stay.”
“She loves him.”
“You haven’t even met her.”
Elizabeth took a stand for women everywhere. “No woman stays with a man for eight years and supports his career if she doesn’t love him.”
“Plenty do.” Sam pulled a face. “There are women who like to bag themselves a trophy husband.”
>
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s reality.” Sam snorted. “And anyway, I think he stays with her because he wants her to be the one, but she isn’t.”
“How do you know that?”
Sam took her hand and kissed it. “Because when you meet the right girl, you won’t waste eight years and take the chance someone else puts a ring on it.”
That shut her up.
“You coming?” Sam stood by her open door.
Elizabeth wriggled out of the car and took the hand Sam offered. It marked their first official outing as a couple with Sam’s team.
The door was unlocked, and they entered a vestibule and hung up their coats and toed their boots off. Finding space proved a bit challenging. The party was much bigger than Elizabeth had been expecting.
“Do I look okay?” Maybe she should have opted for something smarter than jeans.
Sam tugged her to him and kissed her. “You look perfect.”
The inner vestibule door opened, and Dawson stood there. He was much better looking without helmet hair. “Stoney.” He nodded to Sam and gave her a devastating kneetrembler of a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”
She burbled something semi-coherent and got a hard look from Sam.
Not seeming to think anything of it, or maybe he was used to women falling over their tongues when he was around, Craig put his arm around her shoulders and led her into the party.
“Don’t worry about these assholes.” He bypassed a group of his team members. “I’ll introduce you to the important people first.”
Sam followed behind them but got waylaid by the raucous greetings of his teammates. They acted like they hadn’t seen each other in months.
Craig led her to three women.
Elizabeth was relieved to see two of them were in jeans and a sweater as well. All three of them were drop-dead gorgeous.
“This is Kathy.” Craig put his arm around the waist of a tall, slim brunette who could have been a cosmetics model.
Elizabeth resisted the urge to stare. “Hi.”
“You’ll take care of Sam’s girl, won’t you, babe?” Craig kissed her temple.
Kathy gave him a tight smile. “Sure.”