“Yeah, and it felt awful. Did you need to ask her out on a date two weeks later? No, you didn’t.”
Cam thought about it for a second and then he sheepishly shrugged. “Sorry…but she was hot and good in bed.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” Jules said then pushed her fingers into the back of Cam’s knee with more pressure than necessary.
BeingjustJuliette, the sister of a professional hockey player and someone people always wanted to get close to due to his stature and his looks, meant she lived a quiet and lonely life.
And every season it got harder and harder to be happy like that. But of course, Cam wasn’t aware of any of it. There was a lot about how she felt that Jules didn’t share with her brother, because their lives were hard enough as it is. At the end of the day, she had a brother who supported her, a place to call her own, and got to be around a sport that she loved.
That could be enough for her.
“Have you at least gone out to exploreanyof the city yet?” Cam asked as he hopped off the bench once Juliette finished her work on his knee. She pulled off her rubber gloves and tossed them in a trash can then nodded. It was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Of course,” she said, rolling her stool over to a storage rack and putting the muscle cream back into its rightful place. “I don’t just sit in my living room all day while you’re at the rink, you know.”
Her brother narrowed his eyes then smiled, accepting her words as truth. He towered over her as he stood beside her stool and ruffled her hair.
“Good, because I want you to be happy, Jules. You’ve done so much for me, youdoso much, and you deserve to live a little. Go out tonight, go grab a drink, go buy a new book. Have some fun.”
She was happy, mostly. Happy enough at least. But Jules thought about it and decided it wouldn’t kill her to put on something that wasn’t athleisure and go wander around the Halifax downtown area. It was still summer after all and the harsh Atlantic winter was right around the corner, she should really soak up as much sun and warmth as she could.
“Maybe I will,” she said, the idea of sitting by the shoreline with her current read a very enticing one but she shifted the topic of conversation back to her brother. “How was the team meeting by the way? You never told me how that first introduction went before you got on the ice.”
Cam looked at his reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall and flexed. “It was good. We got a preview of the jerseys and you're going to love them. Remember the rumours everyone posted about online and all those colour scheme mockups with the white and the different shades of blue? Turns out there was a spy on the side because the rumours are true and they're amazing."
"Well, wedoknow blue suits us," Jules said matter of factly, referring to the colour of their eyes. "I can't wait to see the home jersey on the ice. How's the team itself, does everyone seem like they're going to gel?"
"The guys are great," Cam said, pulling the sleeve of his tight t-shirt up to study the definition of his tricep. "The coaches are cool. It should be a great season.”
“The coaches arecool?”
Her eyes met his in the mirror and he smiled. “Oh, I get it. You want to know about ourgirllllllcoach, eh?"
So what if she were a little more than curious…was that such a bad thing?
"She's cool, and I mean that. Some of the guys had a few choice things to say about her in the locker room before our first on ice session but for the most part everyone has been respectful and she knows her stuff, I’ll give her that.”
“What’s her name?” Jules asked as she reached for a resistance band and tossed it to him.
He held the band behind his back then stretched it up above his shoulders. “Coach,” he answered, a smartass smirk sliding onto his face.
“Hah, you’re so funny.”
“I know I am. You’re lucky to have such a hilarious brother. Maybe if hockey fails I’ll turn to comedy.”
“Please don’t, I beg of you.”
“For your information,” he said, spinning around so so he was facing her. “Her name is Stevens. Frankie Stevens.”
Frankie…
Surely it was a coincidence that Jules had just met a woman named Frankie in the gym, a woman named Frankie who said she’d been travelling across the country for a new job, a woman who Jules had secretly been hoping to run into again for days now. Cam pointedly told her when he was drunk that his new coach was attractive and the Frankie that Jules met wasdefinitelyattractive.
Jules swallowed and spun around so her brother couldn’t see her face as she asked her next question. Her cheeks flamed and she stared down at the brand new pair of white running shoes on her feet.
“And what does Coach Stevens look like?”
“Redhead, loads of freckles, great body…I assume, though it’s hard to tell from the training gear the coaches wear.”
