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“I’ll see you when you get back.” Jordan placed a kiss on his cheek before she walked away.
Noah watched her leave from the doorway of his dad’s hospital room. At the end of the hallway, she paused and looked back at him with a soft smile. She lifted her hand in a little wave, before disappearing around the corner.
Noah couldn’t contain his smile as he walked back into the room. When he saw the dopey smiles on each of their faces, he realized the door had been open the whole time. Obviously, his family had seen his and Jordan’s goodbyes.
“Are you ready to admit to yourself what we all already know?” Tracey asked with a grin.
“Son, I’ve never known you to back down from a challenge. So what are you going to do?” his dad asked.
Noah knew exactly what he needed to do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Noah
Practice wrapped up, and most of the guys hurried off the ice. Noah stayed behind and took some extra shots on the empty net. He had a ton of things going on in his head, and a few quiet moments on the ice was just what the doctor ordered.
“Do you mind a little company?” Harrison asked, skating towards the net.
“Sure.” Noah didn’t mind Harrison joining him. He just didn’t want a whole crowd while he was still trying to get his bearings. His world had been turned upside down with his dad’s accident, and on top of that, his whole family had got on his case about his feelings for Jordan and what he should do about it.
He’d starting thinking about asking Jordan to be his girlfriend. He had never, not even once, called any girl he dated the G word. None of them had been that girl. But with Jordan, the word seemed to suit her.
Harrison shook his head with amusement as he cleared all the pucks from the net, then shot each one to center ice. “Look at you. I never thought I’d see it.”
“See what?” Noah asked. Clueless as to what his friend was talking about, he grabbed a puck and stick handled it, avoiding Harrison’s stare.
Harrison joined him at the blue line, grabbing a puck of his own. “You’re walking around here with that dopey look on your face.”
He shrugged. “I’m sure it’s no dopier than usual.”
“Pretty sure it is, in fact, even cheesier than usual. Plus, you’re humming,” Harrison teased.
“I’m what?” Humming? He shook off the comment, knowing he had never hummed in his life. “Stop playing around. I don’t hum.”
Harrison shrugged. “You were. You shot that last puck, then skated around the net humming.”
“Well, I scored from the blue line,” he responded. “That explains the cocky grin on my face.”
“Nope. That wasn’t a scoring grin. The smile you’ve been carrying around here is about you finally being happy.”
“I have no idea what you’re going on about.” He picked up speed as he skated around the ice, but he wasn’t really bothered by Harrison’s word games.
“You’re in love.” Harrison informed him.
“No I’m not.” The L-word now? But he had to stop himself from smiling at this.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Harrison grinned.
Noah had such warmth in his heart when he thought about Jordan. Yes, he had been grinning nonstop, and he realized he had indeed been humming. He was, in fact, in love.
“Earth to Rodgers!” Harrison Dash teased, smacking him on the shoulder and tapping Noah’s pads with his stick. Then he shot the puck at Noah that barely missed hitting him.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts of Jordan, Noah glared his friend. “Are you trying to take my head off?”
“Just keeping you on your toes. Gotta stay sharp, ya know.” Harrison chuckled. “But in all honesty, it’s good to have you back, bro. I’m sorry about what happened to your dad. I bet it’s a huge relief to know that he’s going to be okay.” Harrison skated around in front of him, spraying ice as he came to a stop. “And if you need anything at all, let me and Tal know. You already know you can stop over any time, day or night.”
“Thanks,” Noah said. “It is nice to be home.” Home. His heart swelled. It was strange how quickly Pittsburgh had become his home, and these people had become his extended family. It felt good. Solid.
