Page 52 of A Scoring Chance
Great. Just great. Am I ashamed of what happened between the two of us? No, I’m not. I’d shout from the rooftop what happened if it would make her happy, but I have a feeling she’s more of a private person than that. The likelihood that she’d tell Alise what happened is strong, but it’s her choice.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I ruined everything.” He sighs loudly, dropping his head into his hands. “Look, we both know that woman is a natural born lie detector. And even if I could lie to her, which you know I can’t, I wouldn’t dare. She means too much to me to even think about doing one of the few things she has no patience for.”
I have a feeling that this has a lot more to do with him than it does with me. I could push the subject and try to get him to open up to me, but Beau isn’t like that. He’s always there for the people he cares about, a shoulder to cry on. He would bend over backward to give them everything they want, but he always keeps his own feelings close to his chest. The uncertainty of others’ actions can be too much for him, so he keeps it locked inside. Is that healthy? Hell no, but if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Beau knows I’m here for him if he needs someone to listen. I just have to wait for him to want to talk about it. Good thing I’m a mostly patient man.
“Want to play someNHL ’25?” he asks, probably wanting to change the subject.
“Sure, but we aren’t allowed to use the Timberwolves as our team.”
Beau changes the input on the television and hands me a controller. “You just don’t want to get your ass kicked again, do you?”
I shake my head, scrolling through the list of teams and find the perfect one to kick my little brother’s ass.
Chapter Eighteen
Ramona
“What took you so long? I’ve been dying to call you, but Beau said you’d call me. I just had to wait, but we both know waiting isn’t my strong suit,” Alise whines into the phone, causing me to giggle.
I should’ve known that she was going to be chomping at the bit for information about last night. What I didn’t expect was for her to call Beau to get it instead of waiting for me to call her. “Beau would know best, since he doesn’t respect boundaries.”
“Explain.”
“Beau walked in on Cooper and me…” My voice trails off as I try to think of a discrete way to explain what happened last night. I have no idea what ears are listening. “In a compromising position, twice. Once last night and once this morning.”
“Compromising position. Oh! Do elaborate, please.”
There is no way in hell I’m going into detail about what happened last night, not on the phone or in person. Alise is my best friend, and I tell her everything, usually, but I want to keep this one just for me. “No.”
“You don’t love me,” she pouts, but I’m not falling for that shit like I usually do.
“I love you. That’s why I told you the small bit of information I did. If you want to hear anything else at all, stop complaining.”
“Fair enough.” Alise giggles, and the sounds of Darius speaking in the background filter through the phone. I can’t really make out what he’s saying, but he sounds excited. “Yes. We’re going to Coach Hendrix’s condo, and yes, his brother, Beau, will be there. No, I don’t think we’ll get to see Cole, but you can ask Auntie Mel if she can convince him to come say hi after the game.”
“Why wouldn’t Cole come to see his brothers?” I don’t know much about the third Hendrix brother other than what I could find on Google when I was internet stalking Cooper. What? It’s what I was doing. No sense in trying to explain it away. I needed information, and the internet was the best place for me to get it quickly.
“Cole and Cooper kind of hate each other.” Seriously? As much as Cooper talks about his family, I expected them to be thick as thieves. What happened that tore those two apart?
“But they’re brothers?”
“Yeah. Trust me, it’s a long story that isn’t my place to tell. Sorry, Darius will have to settle for only two Hendrix brothers today. Kyle is in college out in the Midwest, so he won’t be there either. Fingers crossed you can meet him at Christmas, but that depends on his own hockey schedule.”
Christmas? Wow, she really is planning for things between Cooper and me to be for the long haul. It’s only the end of September, and we haven’t even defined what this is between us, but Alise is making plans for the holidays already. I’m usually a planner, needing to know every little detail and outcome before deciding, but I just want to be here in the moment with Cooper. Whatever happens happens.
Darius says something to Alise, and she laughs loudly. “I have no control over what Ramona does. If you have a requestfor which Hendrix brother you’d like to join your family, you’d have to ask her.”
It seems Alise isn’t the only one planning my and Cooper’s future. I open my mouth to respond when a new voice filters through the line. “I’m okay with you choosing either, dear, but I have a feeling Cooper might be opposed to you choosing his brother.”
Okay. That voice can’t belong to who I think it does because there is no way my best friend would let me say all of those things when the subject of our conversation’s mother was sitting right next to her and could hear every word.
“Ummm… who was that?”
“Auntie Mel,” Alise responds sheepishly, and I curse softly. Maybe she has another Auntie Mel.
