by Keeland, Vi
“You want me to sign a jersey for a team I’m not on?”
She twisted a bracelet on her wrist. “I’m sorry. It’s all I have.”
“I’m teasing.” Max grinned. “I don’t give a shit. I’ll sign it.”
She handed him a Sharpie, and he leaned down to sign her jersey, but he stopped before he’d finished, putting his hand up in front of her friend.
“No, she’s off limits,” he said.
I then realized her friend had been aiming her camera at me. She apologized and put the phone down.
“Sit here,” Jenna said. “I don’t need to sit next to my husband. He’s been home two weeks, and I’m already ready for him to go back to practice. The other day I told him to take some initiative, because unless I tell him to do something, he will spend an entire day lying on the couch like a lump. I meant for him to maybe load the dishwasher or start a load of laundry. When I came home that night, he’d gutted our bedroom—removed two windows and there was no sheetrock on two of the walls anymore. He said I’d complained about the window having a leak last winter. Umm…caulk around the window, don’t gut the room.” She shook her head. “When I asked him what the hell he was doing, he said he was taking initiative. The man has an off and on switch and no in between.”
I laughed.
“Anyway…enough about me. How are things with you and Max? I was so excited to hear you two were still going strong. You know when you just have a feeling about two people? Your gut just thinks they’re right for each other?”
I smiled. “Things are good. I took some time off from work, and we’ve just been doing stuff in the city.”
“I’m happy for you. Though my auction total is going to take a hit without Pretty Boy in the lineup.”
“Auction?”
“I run a charity auction every fall. We raise funds for kids who can’t afford to go to hockey camps all over the country. People donate things for us to auction off, but the highlight of the night is always when we auction off dates with some of the single players. Last year we got thirty-five thousand for Max—the most we’ve ever raised on an item.”
Max finished signing autographs and sat down next to me. He took my hand and weaved my fingers with his.
“You were auctioned off?” I asked.
He groaned. “They made me do it.”
Jenna laughed. “Yeah, we made him do it. But we didn’t make him take off his shirt and start flexing when the bidding started.”
Max hung his head. “I got into it. I wanted to get the bidding higher.”
I grinned. “You wanted to make sure you pulled the biggest price tag ever, didn’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like you would’ve done any differently.”
“Thirty-five thousand, huh? You must be a hot commodity. I hope I don’t get a big fat bill later.”
Max leaned to me and lowered his voice. “I’ll take it in trade.”
The game started, and within the first five minutes, I saw a side of Max I’d never seen before. He and Tomasso yelled and screamed. They jumped up out of their seats a hundred times, and when they did sit, they sat on the edge. They were completely focused on the game. Max had started with his hand resting on my thigh, but I had to ask him to remove it, because every time something happened in the game, he squeezed so hard I was definitely going to have finger bruises. He’d had no clue he was even doing it. But I found his intensity and passion kind of sexy.
I leaned over to Jenna when the two of them jumped to their feet to yell at the ref during the second period. “These two are hysterical. I’ve never seen Max like this.”
“Is this the first game you’ve been to with him?”
I nodded. “Why do I find it kind of hot?”
Jenna wiggled her brows. “Wait until you get home later. They need an outlet for all that adrenaline coursing through their veins. Unlike with their own games, it doesn’t matter if their team wins or loses. So it’s a win-win for us.”
When the buzzer sounded at the end of the period, the guys practically collapsed into their seats. Max suddenly seemed to remember I was there.
He leaned over. “You good?”
I smiled. “I’m great.”
“Oh my God!” Jenna tapped me on the shoulder. When I looked over, she was pointing at the Jumbotron. My eyes widened upon finding my own face plastered on it. The camera zoomed in closer on Max and me. While I tried to figure out what the heck was going on, Kiss Cam started to flash on the bottom of the screen.
“You have to kiss!” Jenna laughed.
I turned to Max, who shrugged. “Works for me.”
Rather than lean over and brush his lips with mine, he stood and yanked me from my seat. He wrapped an arm around my back and proceeded to dip me dramatically before planting one hell of a kiss. People were hooting and hollering all around us, and when he pulled me back to standing, we were both laughing and smiling from ear to ear.
“Always the showman,” I said.
“Can’t help it. These days I have something worth showing off.” He winked.
• • •
The following day was the last full day of our staycation. Tomorrow morning we’d be checking out and going back to our respective apartments, and then Monday was back to work for me. Even though we had the rest of the summer to have fun, a feeling of melancholy set in. Max’s agent had texted him last night and said he wanted to get together to go over the terms of the contract he’d been negotiating. Max had tried to push it off until next week, but his agent had said it needed to be done this weekend because of some meeting the owner of the other team had on Monday. Max told him he could only give him an hour and asked him to meet him for breakfast in the lobby of the hotel.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” he asked. “You could at least eat while we talk?”
I was still lying in bed, naked with a sheet draped over me, enjoying the view while Max got dressed. “I’m good. I’m going to answer some emails while you go to your meeting.”
Max walked over and pulled the sheet off, then smacked my ass before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. “Alright but stay naked.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Once he was gone, I propped some pillows behind me and scanned through my messages. Ten minutes in, my phone buzzed. The name I saw made my chest heavy.
Gabriel.
I sighed. Over the last week, I hadn’t thought about him too much. When Max was around, it was hard to think about anything else, especially another man. The morning Gabriel had called the office, I’d sent him a long text telling him I was fine but taking a much-needed break from work and I would call him when I had time. But even though I’d spent plenty of hours lounging around each morning and evening since then, that time had never seemed to come.
Now there really wasn’t a reason not to answer since Max would be gone for a while. So I sat up a little straighter and swiped.
“Hello?”
“God, I missed your voice,” he said.
I sighed heavily. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Longer than we should have let it go.”
“How are things?”
“The same. Teaching, writing…one day just rolls into the other.”
“How’s the book coming along?”
“I write four or five pages, throw away three, so I guess it’s progress.”
“I suppose it’s better than not writing,” I said.
“What about you? Tell me about this time you took off of work. I never thought I’d see the day. When your office told me you were out for two weeks, I got worried. I don’t remember you taking two days since you started your company.”
“Yeah, I know. I guess it was time.”
“So what have you been up to?”
“Mostly doing things around the city that I’ve always wanted to do and never made time for, like go to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.”
“By yourself?”
<
br /> I shut my eyes. This was the moment of truth I’d been avoiding. I could lie and say yes, but why? I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and Gabriel had been honest with me when I’d asked. Plus, it felt wrong to hide Max.
So I took a deep breath and came clean. “No, not by myself.”
Again Gabriel was quiet. His voice was lower when he spoke. “With the guy Josh saw you with?”
I blinked a few times. Of course Josh had called Gabriel to tell him he’d run into me with another man. If I’d seen Maggie’s ex with someone, I would have gone straight to her with the information. But I guess I was surprised by how Gabriel was handling the news.
“Yes, his name is Max.”
“Was it just a date or…more?”
“We’ve been seeing each other.”
There was another long pause. “How long?”
“I guess we met about a month ago, maybe a little more.”
“You like him?”
“I do.”
A rush of air blew into the phone. I pictured Gabriel dragging his hand through his neatly groomed hair. “I know I have no right to say a word, as this was all my idea, but I gotta tell you, it hurts. I guess when I imagined how things would be, I was imagining what things have been for me—a hookup now and then, some companionship for dinner or something. But that was dumb of me. I know you better than that. You weren’t going to do some random hookup.”
“I tried. I even joined Tinder. But it didn’t feel right.”
“My sister sent me a link to a news story—a kiss at a hockey game. It said he was a player.”
Oh, God. I was devastated that Gabriel had told me he’d been with other people. I couldn’t imagine if I’d had to see it on a Jumbotron. That kiss had been all over the news. I had an ache in my chest. “I can’t believe you saw that.”
“Victoria didn’t know things had changed between us… So she thought…”
“Oh my God. She thought she was catching me cheating on you?”
“Yeah. I hadn’t told my family anything.”
“I hope you set the record straight so your family doesn’t think I’m horrible.”
“Yes, of course I did.”
“Why hadn’t you told them?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just figured it would be hard to explain things. My family adores you. Plus, once I got home and we were back together, it would make no difference.” He paused. “Is it serious? Things between you and this guy?”
Once he was home and we were back together—as if it were a foregone conclusion. Which I suppose I’d been desperately trying to make sure it was. But in this moment, I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Things between me and Max felt serious. We’d spent every waking moment for the last two weeks with each other. And I had feelings for him, strong ones even. But we also had an expiration date, so how serious could we really be?
“He’s moving at the end of the summer.”
“Oh.”
“Can I ask you something, Gabriel?”
“Of course.”
“What if I’d just said yes, that things between me and Max are serious? How would that make you feel?”
“How do you think it would make me feel? I haven’t slept for a week, ever since I heard you were dating someone. It fucking sucks. I love you, and you’re with another man.”
“But you don’t love me enough to be faithful while you’re gone. You do know we could have visited each other and made it work long distance.” I felt a lump in my throat. “If you love me, how could you let me go?”
“It was never about not loving you, Georgia. I told you that. It was about not liking myself. I felt like a failure—my career, my life, everything. And at the same time, everything was falling into place for you—your career was soaring, you were ready to move on to the next phase of your life… You’re a shining star. I knew something needed to change when I started to resent your success.” His voice cracked. “I didn’t feel worthy of your love.”
Tears slid down my cheeks. I’d heard Gabriel say some version of those words before, but this was the first time they’d made much sense. Our breakup had come as such a shock to me. Until now, all I’d felt was my own pain. At this point I could better comprehend Gabriel’s need for space to get himself in a better place, but I still couldn’t understand loving someone, yet wanting to be with someone else.
I took a breath. “I’m sorry you felt unworthy. And I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much pain you were in.”
“None of this is your fault, Georgia. I’m not trying to make you feel bad. But you asked how I could let you go, and it was never because I didn’t love you enough, it was because I do love you enough to let go so I can try to fix me. I want to be the man you deserve.”
I was about to remind him that fixing himself didn’t need to include seeing other people, but the sound of his crying on the other end of the phone broke me. My tears fell faster. I don’t know what I’d expected to happen when I admitted I was seeing someone else, too, but it certainly wasn’t this. It would have been easier if he’d been angry and given me attitude—yelled at me and picked a fight. But this… Him breaking down just made my heart sink. We’d spent years together, and even if he’d hurt me, I didn’t wish that back on him.
I wiped tears from my cheeks and took a deep breath. We talked for a few minutes after that, but couldn’t move past the heaviness of the conversation we’d just had. We left off saying we’d talk soon, but neither of us committed to when that might be. After, I jumped in the shower, hoping to clear my head and change my mood. But I couldn’t shake the melancholy feeling that had set in.
Max came back just as I was getting dressed. My back was to the door as I clipped on my bra, and he came up behind me and wrapped his hands around my waist.
“You have the sexiest bras and underwear, you know that?”
I smiled. “It makes me feel good to have something lacy on, even when it’s hidden under sweatpants at home. How did your meeting go?”
Max turned me around, and his face fell. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
His brows pulled together. “Bullshit. It looks like you were crying.”
I was so damn emotional, and I knew if I talked about it I’d break down. And I didn’t want to cry to Max about Gabriel. So I took a deep breath and steadied myself, hoping he would let it go if I gave him something. “I spoke to Gabriel.”
Max’s jaw tightened. “Did he upset you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Well, yes. But he didn’t do anything. It was just…a hard conversation to have. He knows I’ve been seeing someone.”
Max looked into my eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I smiled sadly. “No. But thank you for asking. I’d really just like to enjoy our last day here.”
He looked down for a minute before nodding.
“Tell me about your meeting with your agent,” I pressed. “Were you happy with what he had to say?”
He nodded. “It went well. Hockey contract negotiations aren’t just agreeing on a number. The structure of payments can take longer to finalize than coming to the total because of the team’s salary-cap limits.”
“I didn’t realize they couldn’t just pay people what they want.”
“They also want me to fly out to California next week—meet with the owner and general manager.”
“Are you going to?”
He brushed his hand over my hair. “Why don’t you come with me?”
“I wish I could,” I sighed. “But I need to go back to work. I have a lot of things waiting for me.”
Max tilted his head. “Are you sure it’s not because of the conversation that upset you earlier?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s really not.”
He nodded. “So what do you want to do for our last day?”
“Honestly, I’d love to just go to the park for a little while and then come back here and snuggle.”
Max smiled. “Done.”
<
br /> • • •
The next morning I woke to find Max staring at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked groggily.
He stroked my cheek with his knuckles. “Looking at you.”
“While I sleep? That’s creepy, Pretty Boy.”
“You were snoring pretty good.”
“I do not snore.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” He smiled. “Can I ask you something about…him?”
“Gabriel?”
Max nodded.
“Of course.”
“What if he hadn’t broken things off, but still went to go teach in London for the year or however long he signed up for?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think it would’ve worked out? Him being in London and you being in New York for that long?”
“And him not sleeping with anyone else? He would be faithful?”
“Yeah.”
I shrugged. “I guess so. I can’t think of a reason it wouldn’t have. But I didn’t know he was planning on going to London until a few days before he broke things off. I suppose we could have worked out a travel schedule and taken turns visiting on weekends and stuff. I mean, we didn’t see each other most weekdays anyway because I worked late.”
Max nodded.
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Just thinking, I guess.”
He was talking about Gabriel, but I felt a flutter of hope in my belly that maybe, just maybe, he was asking because the flying time to London was about the same as a trip to California.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“It’s almost ten.”
“Oh wow. Is checkout at eleven?”
Max nodded.
“I guess I should get my lazy ass out of bed and shower.”