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“Locking the fridge, chores to keep you busy, the belt.”
Ashley’s heart just about gave out. How awful it must have been for him, feeling so abandoned and alone.
Seeing the welling in her eyes, he cupped her jaw. “Don’t be sad for me, Ash. Some of it was miserable but hockey saved me. And I haven’t really appreciated it as much as I should have. I have this amazing career doing something I love, and I’ve been acting like I don’t give a fuck. Like it doesn’t matter if I’m on this team or the third line or playing in the AH-fucking-L. But it does matter. Willa said the team relies on me and she’s right. The fans expect more and that’s right, too. I want to be a better man and sometimes that means having something—someone—worth fighting for. I’ve been letting all this shit with the past get in the way. No more.”
Easier said than done, but she could see that Dex had come so far. Still, there was that last push to the get him home. “Sometimes you have to deal with the past before you can move on.”
“I have. Or I will, once I get through this court case.” He shook his head, almost vehemently. “I don’t need her, Ash. I just need to focus on the here and now.”
Her, meaning his mom. She was always there, hovering above the man Dex was trying to become.
She rubbed a thumb over his eyebrows, applied a kiss to his chin.
“Talking to her might help you get some closure.”
He snorted. “I’m just one of her stops on the apology tour. Some twelve-step shit. That’s her problem, not mine.”
Ashley recognized Dex’s resistance to the idea of any kind of détente with Ruby, but she also understood that mothers will always feel something for their kids. She’d never forget the pain on the woman’s face on seeing her son—and being rejected by him again. If Willa was to ever look like that in Ashley’s presence, she’d die of a broken heart.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
“Oh, but you want to, don’t you?” His tone was a mix of amused and chiding.
“Sorry, it’s the mom in me. It sounds like she’s cleaned up her act. Holding down a job, even volunteering. Kind of like someone else I know. You guys might have more in common than you think.”
“She came into the shelter to get to me, not to actually volunteer.”
“Perhaps? But I think she was interested. She was really into Cleo, one of the new kittens.”
He sighed. “Ashley, you’re a pushover, you know that?”
“I am not!”
He kissed her softly. “How else do you explain why you’re here with me in my sleeping bag?” He pulled at the waistband of her PJs. “Only a soft-hearted woman would fall for what I’m peddling.”
So endeth the serious conversation. That was okay. He’d opened up more than she expected, and she felt she knew him a little bit more than she did before.
It was thrilling.
But then so was being in love.
34
Ashley was waiting for her English breakfast tea at the coffee shop bar when she felt eyes on her. Dex O’Malley’s eyes—except they weren’t in his face. That would have been easier.
These eyes belonged to his mother, who was staring at Ashley from her spot in the line. A nod didn’t seem like enough, and Ashley had never known what was good for her, so she walked over.
“Hi,” she said.
Ruby took a breath. “Hello.”
“Listen, I’m sorry?—”
“About what hap?—”
They both stopped speaking, and Ashley smiled because the woman looked like her world was about to collapse.
“Can I buy you a coffee?” Those were the actual words out of Ashley’s mouth.
