Forest lets out a rumble of a laugh from the bedroom closet, where he’s hanging the new shirts and ties we bought. Then he puts groceries in the kitchenette like this is normal, like he’s just here to help and not breaking my brain with how competent and helpful he’s being.
Like a real boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Charlie is supposed to be doing homework at the coffee table, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure he’s assembling my gaming setup instead. When I’d wondered aloud if I should bring it with me, I felt like a teenager myself.
“Yes, if it helps you relax,” Forest had said. “You’re going to be in that hotel for at least three weeks, even if the Cougars stink it up in the first round.”
“But they won’t,” Charlie had added, like it was the easiest thing in the world to believe in me.
So the console made it into the Jeep and into the hotel. Eventually the fridge is full, the gaming system is set up, and there’s no more reason for Charlie to blow off his homework for my well-being.
They’re going to leave any minute, and I’m not ready.
“Beck,” Forest says softly from the bedroom doorway.
I follow him in there and shut the door behind me. He doesn’t sit down or touch me or anything. He just gives me that look—the one where I feel like I’m under a microscope and also safe. “You good now? You need anything else?”
Gulp. “Well, no. Nothing except a good pounding.”
He laughs, low and quiet. “Soon.”
“I know. I’m not worried.” Not about that, anyway.
“What time is morning skate?” he asks.
“Team breakfast at eight. Then video. Skating at ten.”
He steps into my space and takes my face in his big hands. “You got this. You know this job. You know it here—” He taps my temple. “—and here.” Then my chest. “You just have to relax enough to let your training take over.”
“That’s what all this was about?” I gesture vaguely toward the living room and the epic grocery haul.
“Exactly. Getting you ready so you can focus on what matters.”
“You’re what matters,” I blurt, because it’s the truth, and I’m not capable of pretending otherwise right now.
“I feel the same way about you. Promise.” His hand curls around my wrist, thumb brushing my pulse. “But you need to slay some dragons before we can focus on us. I’ll be waiting, okay?”
Something knotty unwinds inside my chest. I think I needed to hear that. “I hope you know how much I appreciate everything you did today.”
His hand grazes my cheek affectionately. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, you did. You showed up, and that’s all I ever needed from you.”
He smiles. “That and a good pounding.”
“Obviously.”
Then they leave, and I get ready for bed. But I’m restless, bumping around the hotel suite alone. I text Rigsy with a couple of photos of my new Cougars gear. Mostly, I’m anxious and at odds with myself, and when I lie down in bed, sleep doesn’t come. Even after I turn out the lights.
As I lie there, my phone vibrates with a text. It’s Forest.
Forest
Try to sleep.
Beck
How’d you know I wasn’t?
