“You’re definitely in my pond.” She frowned when he laughed, shaking them both. “I guess that sounded weird.”
“A little bit. But I’m glad I’m in your pond.”
“Me, too.” Cait kept her gaze on the television, but she wasn’t really paying attention to the bad action movie anymore.
It was the closest they’d come to a conversation about their future together and, even though she knew it was inevitable, it still made her nervous. They enjoyed being together so much and there was no mistaking how important they were to each other.
It made her afraid of changing it. They lived their livesalmosttogether, but still separate enough so there weren’t discussions about bills and plumbing problems and whose family they were having Sunday dinner with.
Right now she was pretty damn happy with the way things were, she thought as she snuggled deeper into his embrace. It was almost perfect.
* * *
Gavin sat on the bench, rolling his hockey stick back and forth between his hands. He still had his skates on, but he was tired. And when Aidan and Scott were in a competitive mood, rink time became less about blowing off some steam while getting some exercise and more about checking each other against the boards.
After a few minutes, Grant joined him. “We should all go home and let those two duke it out.”
“Hard to believe they’re best friends sometimes.”
“Yeah. They say it’s all in fun, but we don’t have refs with whistles and after that last hit, I thought it was 1973 again.”
Gavin laughed. “You weren’t even here for 1973 the first time around.”
“Yeah, I just picked a random year.” He took a swig from his water bottle, and then both winced when Aidan and Scott ended up in a tangle of arms, legs and sticks that collided with Danny in the net.
Gavin was surprised the words coming out of Danny’s mouth didn’t melt the ice in front of him.
“How are things with Wren?” he asked Grant, realizing he hadn’t gotten an update in a while.
“Good. Things are good, I guess.”
Gavin waited, expecting more. Grant was always the talkative type, but especially when it came to women. But now that he thought about it, his friend hadn’t had a lot to say lately.
“What’s going on?” he nudged.
“Sometimes I want to tell her I love her.”
Whoa.“TheL-word? Sounds serious.”
“Yeah.”
“But only sometimes?”
“Lately, it’s been all the time. And not just when we’re in bed or getting off the phone, like most people say it. I want to tell her all the time. Every time I open my mouth, I’m afraid I’m going to say it.”
Gavin almost made a smart-ass remark out of sheer habit, but now wasn’t the time. The heaviness in Grant’s voice, along with the pinched mouth and slightly hunched shoulders, told him Grant wasn’t happy about a situation that should be making himreallyhappy.
“I gotta ask,” he said. “Why are you trying so hardnotto tell her?”
“It’s hard to explain.”
“I’m not even going to pretend I know jack shit about true love and all that, but I think if you really love a woman, you should say it.”
Grant shook his head, looking down at his hands. “I think she’d push me away.”
“I’m not gonna lie, dude. I’m a little worried about you with this woman.”
“Why?”
