“Oh,” grinning, I walk toward the counter. “I know, and do you know why that is?”
She chuckles as she walks behind me. “Why?”
Spinning on my heel with the bag of popcorn in hand, I smile. “Because I managed to find you a bag of popcorn.”
Chuckling, she grabs it from my hands and opens it. “Hmm,” moaning over a mouthful, she chews and then says. “Yeah…you’re even more amazing now.”
Smiling, I walk over to the coffee machine. “Do you want a coffee?”
“Do you even need to ask?” Giving me a deadpan look, she jumps onto the counter and starts swinging her legs over the edge.
Laughing, I place a mug underneath the machine and press the button. We make small talk while the coffee machine is working its magic, and once it’s done, I place the mugs onto the counter.
“Greyson?” Lilly looks at me, chewing her lip.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted…” taking a breath, she fiddles with her hands. “About the other day in your hotel room.”
“What about it?” I ask, leaning my hip against the counter.
“I uh, tell me to shut the fuck up if you don’t want to talk about your childhood, but I just have aquestion.”
“Go ahead.”
“You said you grew up in the system?”
“I did.” I confirm.
“I don’t want you to go into detail about it, because I can only imagine what you went through…”
Smiling, I walk over to her and stand between her legs, resting my palms on her hips. The truth is, I hate talking about my childhood. It was traumatic for me. But when it comes to Lilly, I’ll happily tell her anything she wants to know.
“Obviously you mentioned about not having a mom, and your dad is a piece of shit.”
Laughing, I say. “That’s putting it lightly.”
She smiles. “But do you have any other family members?”
“Other than the two son’s Sebastian has, no.”
“How did you manage to do it? Survive…not like survive, fuck. I don’t know how to word it—”
Cutting her off, my thumb traces her hip bone. “Focusing,” I confess. “I knew I wanted a career in hockey, so I worked fucking hard to make my dreams a reality. Nobody, nor no one could take my dreams away from me.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” I say, my lips tilting up into a smile. “I got out in the end, and I’m on the path to living out my dream.”
“You are,” she smiles, her eyes softening. “And I’m so fucking sorry for saying you could’ve done better when we first met.”
Snorting, I shake my head. “Well, look where we are now,” I grin. “It’s like those words never left your mouth.”
She laughs. “Can I ask you another question?”
“You can ask meanything.”
She chews her cheek. “Where are you spending thanksgiving?”
