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“I doubt that,” I say.
She folds her arms. “You told me it went poorly. But was it really that bad?”
“I had that conversation. The one you and Andi said I should probably have.”
“Oh, shit,” Caroline says, motioning to a nearby chair, like this is something we need to sit down to talk about.
I follow her and flop into a chair by the fire. “I pretty much said I hadn’t been sleeping with or dating anyone else. You know, like an opportunity for him to tell me the pictures weren’t what they looked like, or whatever.” I laugh a little, fidgeting with my hands in my lap. Fresh emotion makes my eyes prickle. “I think I really believed he was going to laugh and tell me I was crazy for thinking he’d been sleeping around, still. Like, ‘of course I haven’t, Mia. How could you think that?’”
Caroline looks grim. “That’s not what he said?”
My laugh is dry and humorless. “He said I’m his favorite.” Now the emotion threatening to come finally breaks free. A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away, feeling angry and stupid.
Caroline comes over and squishes into the chair beside me, hugging me tight. “I’m sorry, Mia.” There’s a long pause. “God,” she sighs. “That man is so fucking stupid.”
“It’s not his fault,” I say weakly.
Caroline pulls back, face screwed up. “Don’t defend his dumb ass. Please.”
“He never once said we would be exclusive. It’s not like he promised he wouldn’t sleep around. I’m the stupid one for thinking maybe he wouldn’t.”
“You weren’t stupid. You were using common sense–something Nolan apparently lacks.”
I force a cheerful smile. “I’m okay. It’s okay,” I say, wiping at my eyes. “I’m going to be head chef at Taste. It’s more than I could’ve even dreamed of. So what if I have a little boy trouble? I’ll move on. I’ll get over it.”
Caroline looks doubtful, but I can tell she doesn’t want to go back to the part where I was crying again. She gives me another hug. “I might still kill him,” she says, almost to herself.
35
NOLAN
Wind cuts through my jacket, but I don’t go back inside. I’m on the roof of our hotel, eyes glazed as I watch cars below crawl through traffic lights. It’s night out, but the city lights are turning the sky into a sickly green smear. It makes me homesick for a place that isn’t even my home. It makes me wish I was in Frosty Harbor, looking at the mountains and stars there–maybe even with Mia by my side.
I lean my elbows on the half-height wall, thoughts drifting back to earlier. We played our first game in the Stanley Cup series tonight. It was a fucking disaster, thanks to me.
I’ve known my head isn’t in the right place ever since my conversation with Mia, but I assumed I’d be able to pull it together for the match. Instead, I gave up five goals and lost us the first game. I got out of the locker room as quickly as I could and came back to my hotel and snuck up to the roof. The last thing I want right now is the guys laying into me, or worse, trying to cheer me up.
The heavy roof access door squeals from behind me. I turn in surprise and see the guys coming through. It’s Jake, Jesse, Carter, Maddox, and Liam. They’re all changed and cleaned up from the game–dressed like they were planning to go hit a bar or club.
“There he is,” Jake says. “Told you.”
A few of the guys grumble and exchange money. They must’ve placed bets on where I’d be.
I turn my back to them, wishing they’d just let me be tonight.
“I’m not in the mood,” I say.
“That’s the thing,” Carter says, coming up and squeezing both my shoulders from behind. He brings his mouth close to my ear, whispering. “Nobody is ever in the mood for an intervention.”
I scoff, turning now to face all of them. They’re surrounding me in a semi-circle like they think I’m about to make a run for it.
“We’re not mad,” Jake says.
“We’re just disappointed,” Carter says.
Jesse punches him. “We’re not disappointed, either. Carter is a dumbass.”
Carter shrugs. “Sorry. We didn’t really gameplan this conversation. I didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to be disappointed.”
