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“I think he’s just a proud man who can’t admit that he’s been wrong all these years and that you were destined to find your own path and be successful.”
“Can we talk about something else?” he asks.
Not a problem. I did my best, but at the end of the day, this feud is between them.
Besides, I have a specific question I would love answered.
“Sure. Why didn’t you tell me about the bet?”
He finally turns to look at me, his eyebrows drawn together. The same look he gave me when I stopped him by the locker rooms before the game… but then we got interrupted.
“How do you know about that?”
“Toby told me. But why didn’t I hear it from you?” I ask.
His lips purse for a second.
He doesn't want to tell me about the bet and I don't know why.
“With the way you reacted to the rumors by dropping out of college and figure skating, I’m glad I didn’t.”
“Did you tell my dad about the bet when he confronted you about everything?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head.
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t want him to think that he’s the reason you had a target on your back. He wouldn’t have taken it well.”
I let his explanation sink in for a second.
“So you let me hate you for all these years, thinking it was your fault?” I ask.
“Yes.”
There’s a look of vulnerability in his eyes that I’ve seen so rarely. I’ve never seen him show it to anyone else.
No one else but me.
“And you moved to Canada, putting off your career to protect my father and me from knowing what was really going on. Why?”
“Because sometimes you take the arrows to the back to protect the one you love.”
My heart thumps against my chest and my belly flips at his words. He’s said them before, but I doubt that I’ll ever get tired of hearing him say it.
“You love me?”
“A little more every day since the first time I saw you in the kitchen of that frat house."
It's crazy to think of how our lives would have turned out if we had met under different circumstances.
"I wish you hadn't known I was Sam's daughter that night."
He reaches his hand over and cradles my jaw.
“Walking away that night was the wrong decision, Penelope. I regret it every day. I should have taken the risk to get to know you, even if it meant spending the season on the bench. I can’t take that back now, but I’ve been waiting four years to get a second chance with you. And if Sam wants to trade me for that, I’ll take the consequences like I did before.”
The consequences—like the farm team.
