Noah sighs. “I think if it were anyone else, I might be, but Summer is cool. I mean, it’s not like we ever hung out a lot or anything, but she was around a bit when Izzy was still in high school, since they all used to hang out. I always liked her. She didn’t annoy me as much as the other girls did.”
“Even Odette?”
He smirks. “EspeciallyOdette.”
I chuckle.IfI were to believe in love, then I could get behind something like what Noah and Odette have. It seems kind of ... fun.
But I don’t believe in it. It’s never felt like something that’s been in the cards for me, and even less so now that I have this screwed-up hip. I don’t want to burden anyone else with it. Who would want to dealwith the endless doctors’ appointments, physical therapy, and someone in pain every day for the rest of their life? Nobody. Hell, I don’t even want to deal with all that shit, but it’s my life now, so I guess I have to.
“But Odette isn’t who we’re talking about now. We’re talking about you and that damn lead foot of yours.” He shakes his head. “I can’t believe you got pulled over again.”
I lift my brows in a silentReally? This is what you can’t believe?sort of way.
He laughs. “All right, I retract that statement. I definitely can believe it. I just wish ... fuck, man. I don’t know. I get it. I do. It makes you feel alive, gives you back that rush you got from hockey. But it doesn’t mean that I like it, and I don’t just mean for our reputation. It’s dangerous. Something could happen.”
He’s wrong. He doesn’t get it. Unless you’ve had the thing you love ripped away from you on a moment’s notice, then you don’t know.
If only I had turned just slightly when I took that hit. Or if I hadn’t gone so hard after the puck. Everything would be different.
But it’s not.
“Something could happen to anyone at any time. What’s the harm in having a little fun until it does?”
Noah levels me with a look, and it has me sitting up a little straighter in my chair.
I nod once. “All right. I’ll cool off. You happy?”
“Very. Now,” he says, sitting forward, folding his hands together over his knees, “let’s address the other elephant in the room ...”
I tip my head to the side, because I’m not aware we had another one. “What’s that?”
“The pinball machines!”
I grin. “I have eight ordered so far. Trying to find at least a few more to start things over, gauge interest, you know? Figured we’d go from there.”
“Solid. I approve of this.”
“Good. And things are going well over at the iceplex? Looked good to me today, but they could have been putting on a front.”
“That’s because everyone’s scared of you.”
I open my mouth to argue before I realize he’s not wrong. I’m well aware that my employees call me Grump Ass behind my back, and I’m perfectly fine with it. If it means they’re doing what they’re hired to do, then so be it.
Is that what Summer calls me too?
I don’t know where the thought comes from or why it matters, so I shove it away.
“But you’d be correct,” Noah continues. “Things are great there. Don’t have a single complaint.”
“The kids were really happy today.”
“Good, and that’s all that matters. As long as the kids are happy and have a place, then I’m good.”
I nod in agreement. It’s the whole reason we’re doing the iceplex. I’ll drain whatever resources we have to keep it going for as long as possible. I don’t care what it costs to give the game to someone else, the way it was given to me. It changed my life too much not to do it.
We’re quiet for a moment, and that one thing that’s been sitting in the back of my mind all day rears its head.
I clear my throat, trying to bring it up as casually as possible.
