Ramsey didn’t look surprised to see him, just tilted his head and gave him a look like,I’ll be done in a minute.
But Ramsey couldn’t be done in a minute. Nate needed to talk to him first. Needed to tell him that he didn’t have to do this, not unless he wanted to.
He certainly didn’t need to do this forNate.
Nate approached, fingers closing around his forearm and Ramsey gave him another look. Nate was sure it was subtitled,what did I just tell you?
“I need to talk to you,” Nate murmured under his breath despite Ramsey warning him off.
A third look.You’re not stupid; so why are you acting stupid?
Nate wasn’t acting stupid though. He was being a hell of a lot smarter than Ramsey was being right now—though he certainly wasn’t going to be dumb enough to phrase it that way.
“I mean it,” Nate said insistently.
Ramsey sighed. Pulled the phone away from his ear. “What?” he hissed.
“Don’t do this without talking to me first.”
“What—”
“I mean it,” Nate said.
He loved Ramsey—that didn’t mean he wanted him to give up the team that had never given up onhim, just to make their relationship work.
“Hey Barty, can I call you back?” A pause. Ramsey huffed in annoyance. “I know. Iknow, but you know that personal reason? Yeah. They just got home, and they’re insisting. I’ll call you back in five.”
It wasn’t going to take five minutes for Nate to say what he needed to. But maybe itwouldtake five minutes for Ramsey to believe it was true.
Frankly, it was probably going to take more like five months, but Nate was willing to put in the work. When he’d fallen in love with Ramsey, he’d done so with eyes wide open. He wasn’t always going to be easy, but Nate was going to choose him every time, no matter what.
Ramsey lowered the phone finally. “What?” he sniped, sounding annoyed. Maybe justifiably. “Barty doesn’t have all the time in the world, and he’s got to—”
“I know what you want him to do,” Nate interrupted. “And what I wanted to tell you—what Ineededto tell you is that he doesn’t have to.”
Ramsey’s jaw dropped a little. “You realize I don’tlivehere, right? You’re smart. Of course you know that.”
Nate waited for him to work through it. Ramsey was maybe the smartest person Nate had ever met, and still it took a beat longer than he was expecting.
“What, youwantto do long-distance?” Ramsey shook his head, like he was disagreeing with his own conclusion. “Why would you wantthat—” He broke off. “Fuck, you do want to do that.”
Nate looked him straight in the eyes. They were wide and so blue. Nate wanted to get lost in them, but he couldn’t. Not yet anyway. He needed Ramsey to believe this first.
“It’s a lot of overlap sure, but the distance isn’t that crazy, especially if I get a place closer to the border. And while your season goes through what, April? I’m done, best possible scenario, in early February. And you don’t start up in earnest until late September.”
Ramsey stared at him like he’d just grown a second head.
“We’re both intelligent people with a lot of resources,” Nate continued.
“You can say rich,” Ramsey interrupted him wryly.
“Okay, we’re both smart and we’re both rich. We can do this for October through February.”
“The Leafswanta better d-man, though,” Ramsey said.
“And you want to stay with Buffalo,” Nate said. “When I told you I loved you, I didn’t mean I only loved you if you were in Toronto. I meant that I love you, no matter what.”
“But—”
