“I'm sure you do.” She pats my arm. “It's so good to see you, Jasmine. We should catch up properly sometime.”
“I'd like that.”
She smiles again, that polished, pleasant, surface-level smile, and turns to greet another family standing nearby. I stand there with my own smile locked in place and my nails digging into my palm.
Harper appears at my elbow. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
Avery flanks my other side. “We saw her coming and tried to get here faster. What did she say?”
“Nothing specific. Just the usual Cat Shaw special. Compliments that aren't compliments and reminders that I don't belong in her world.”
“She's wrong,” Harper says. “You know that.”
“I know that.”
Natalie joins us, and the four of them form a wall around me and steer me toward the other end of the concourse, away from Cat, away from the family section, toward the exit. Olivia has Maya on her hip and is already saying her goodbyes to Theo.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
Logan: I saw my mom talking to you. How did that go?
I look across the concourse. He's standing near the locker room exit with a group of sponsors, still in his suit, his hair damp. He's looking at me over the top of their heads.
I type back:It went great.
No point in telling him that his mother is a total bitch.
14
Logan
Practice on Thursday is hard. Mercer has us running systems for ninety minutes straight, working on breakout patterns and neutral zone transitions. We have the Panders tomorrow night, and Denver plays a tight, physical game that punishes lazy passes and slow feet.
Mercer knows it, and he's grinding us accordingly.
I'm skating hard, but my head is somewhere else. Jasmine's mother is in town. She arrived last night and is staying at Jasmine's apartment through Saturday morning. Which means I won't see Jasmine tonight or tomorrow.
Two full days without seeing her. It's the first time we've been apart since Chicago.
A week ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about two days alone. Two days alone used to be my entire life. Practice, gym, treatment, dinner for one, game film, bed. I had a routine that ran like clockwork, and I didn't need anyone inside it.
Now, I eat dinner with Jasmine every night, and fall asleep with her head on my shoulder. And when my alarm goes off in the morning, she's still there, warm and soft against me.
My apartment has barely seen me in a week. My fridge is full of my mother's Tupperware containers that I haven't touched because I've been eating at Jasmine's every night.
Two days feels like eternity.
“Shaw.” Mercer's voice cuts across the ice. “You planning on joining us for this drill, or are you on vacation?”
“Sorry, Coach.”
Blake skates up beside me. “Where's your head?”
“Here.”
“Liar.”
