AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Willa?” Turning, I see my mother stepping up to us, my dad following close behind. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“It was a bit last minute, and I’ve had a busy week. Sorry,” I say, giving her a hug.
“Oh, no need to apologize. I’m thrilled, we hardly see you these days. How are you, Zander?”
“Doing pretty good, ma’am. Happy to be back in Seattle.”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, baby girl,” he says, also giving me a hug. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. I think you may know my date.”
“I may have heard of him a time or two,” he says in his Coach tone, which makes it much harder to know what he’s thinking.
“Hi, Coach,” Zan says, to his credit he doesn’t sound nervous in the least.
“Is this something we need to talk about?”
“No, Dad. I love you, but my personal life is mine.”
“Good girl,” he says, giving me another hug. “Treat her right or it becomes my business, Fane.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go mingle, darlings,” my mom says to us. “Isla and Cillian are here somewhere.”
“We should go find them. She’s excited to spend time with you,” I tell Zander.
“Ah, she misses me.”
“She does,” I confirm. “She definitely misses working out with you. She’s been going with Cill, but he’s too distracting for her.”
“Those two are like rabbits.” Zander laughs. “We should take bets on how many more kids they pop out.” Again, he takes my hand and leads me through the crowd.
“It’s bound to be a lot.” We say hello to a few players, some I know, some are new to me. That’s the way of it in hockey life. You never know when you can be traded off or sent down. Some of these guys could be gone next week and replaced with new faces. Not the easiest life for even a single guy, but a lot of them are married with children. Zan could be sent down at any time. Even if he isn’t, he could be placed on waivers, or his contract not extended. There isn’t a guarantee that he’ll be here long enough for me to finish school. It’s maybe what I’m most apprehensive about when I think about us.
I could always transfer to another university, but his next stop wouldn’t be a guaranteed a long-term stay either.
There you go counting chickens before they’re hatched, Willa.
We find my sister in a swirl of blonde-topped silver dresses. I smile devilishly at her discomfort as I try to rescue her.
“Hi ladies,” I greet the women. “Can I borrow my big sister for a few?”
“Thank you,” she says discreetly after a few minutes of polite chatter and when we’re out of earshot. Isla grew up hanging out with boys, she’s useless in a henhouse.
“You got it,” I say, taking her arm in mine and leading her to where I left Zan chatting with Cillian and Gavin Vaughn.
As expected, Isla monopolizes my date’s attention for the next twenty minutes as I make friendly conversation with Vaughn. The poor man is dateless tonight. He and his wife of seventeen years divorced last year and he’s struggling at adjusting to his new life as a single man.
“How is Tori,” I ask, referring to his daughter.
“She’s doing okay.” He smiles. “She took a gap year, not wanting to make things more difficult with the divorce happening. She’s been living with her mom in New York, but travels to about half of our games.”
“It must be hard having her across the country.”
“You have no idea. But I think she may move here for school next year.” He holds up his hands, showing me his crossed fingers.
