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“She just seems a bit out of sorts,” she said. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Is it Hoffman?”
“Maybe,” she said before shaking her head. “But I don’t think it’s that. Jeremy’s just being Jeremy. He keeps trying to pull her aside to talk, but I’ve been helping her dodge him.”
I tightened my grasp on my coffee cup, and I tried to think of a response that didn’t make me sound like a psycho. I was supposed to be helping her convince Jeremy to back off, but for some reason, she was going it alone this week.
“You like her, don’t you?” Mia said, taking me by surprise.
“Uh, of course, I do. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Fake girlfriend,” Mia corrected.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Not you too.”
“See! You totally like her.” She gasped. “And not just as a fake girlfriend.”
“Will you please not squeal that so loud?” I glanced around the room again as I tried to quiet her. There was still barely anyone in here, but you could never be too careful.
“Sorry.” She lowered her voice. “So…?”
After Violet, her cousin was just about the worst person I could admit my feelings to. But, for some reason, I let them spill out without a fight. Denying them would probably only convince her more anyway.
“Okay, I like her,” I said. “Hell, I more than like her, but she’s not interested in dating another hockey player.”
“No, she’s not interested in dating someone who will break her heart,” Mia clarified. “If you’re the kind of guy she can count on, the hockey stuff won’t matter.”
I swallowed, desperately hoping she was right. Would Violet really consider me if I could prove I’d never hurt her? If I could prove she was the most important thing to me?
“You’re pretty much the last guy I’d tell her to go for,” Mia continued.
“Gee, thanks.”
“But she seems to disagree.”
“She does?” I couldn’t keep the excitement from my voice. “Has she said something to you?” I sounded like a teenage girl, gushing over their first crush. I wondered if Mia thought the same thing because she was smirking at me.
“She says I should give you a chance. She doesn’t think you’re the guy everyone portrays you as.” She cocked her head as though she was still trying to work out whether Violet was right about that. “Well? Are you?”
“I would never hurt Violet, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I think I might actually believe you.” She was still studying me closely, but I must have said something she approved of because she gave a slight nod and started to smile. “You should tell her how you feel.”
“I should?” I struggled not to sound shocked. Mia didn’t appear to be my biggest fan, so I was surprised she wasn’t telling me to leave her cousin alone. “But she doesn’t feel the same way, does she?” I dared to ask.
“Well, I don’t know…” Mia paused as she took a moment to consider it. Every second of silence stretched for an eternity as I anxiously waited for her to continue. “Vi’s like a steel trap about that sort of stuff. There’s no way she’d actually tell me how she’s feeling. But?—”
“But…”
“I’ve caught her looking at that photo you posted of the two of you at dinner several times this week. She’s definitely feeling something.”
I didn’t want to put too much weight on Mia’s words. My head told me that Violet would never let herself break her own golden rule. But my heart didn’t seem to care. It was like it had been given the puck with an opportunity for a breakaway. There was no defense in its way, and it was off and racing toward the goal.
I opened and closed my mouth several times, unsure what to say next. My gut instinct was to tell Mia she was wrong. But what if she was right? What if I really did have a chance to be with Violet?
“Just think about it,” Mia said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
I frowned because the worst thing that could happen was I’d lose Violet, and that was exactly what I wanted to avoid. I didn’t want to risk scaring her off by telling her how I felt, especially when she’d already been so clear she wasn’t interested in a real relationship, especially not with a hockey player.
