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Nolan had driven them here with Eli’s birthday gifts in his trunk, since Eli had apparently carpooled to the café with Sandro Zanetti, and Eli had spent the five-minute drive monologuing about how nice Nolan’s SUV was, and did Nolan know that the first Lexus built outside of Japan was in Canada?

Nolan hadn’t had a chance to tell him that the SUV was a loaner from the Trailblazers while he was working for them—his own car was in San Francisco—before Eli continued.

“And speaking of cool Canadian facts,” Eli had said while Nolan had side-eyed him from the driver’s seat—because, had they? “Did you know the Canadarm was built by engineers in Brampton, Ontario, and it was first used by NASA in 1981? It’s retired now and on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. I did a project on it in high school, and it almost convinced me to study astrophysics in university because space is awesome. I know I joked about it when we had drinks last year, and I was serious about it at one time, but ultimately I decided on sociology and earth sciences. But I think my next degree will be in business.”

This was where, as Nolan had parked, Eli had launched into random stats about the education system in Canada—did Nolan know that the oldest Canadian boarding school was in Windsor, Nova Scotia? And as Eli wove his way between armchairs and mock office setups, trusting Nolan to follow him—why that birthed a warm, fuzzy feeling in his gut, Nolan couldn’t say—he kept talking.

“I don’t know why Saskatchewan is behind in math, science, and reading. Teacher to student ratios, maybe? At one point I thought I’d be a teacher in my next life—my post-hockey life, I mean—but I don’t know if I want to teach.” Eli paused in the middle of a bedroom setup and looked around, a furrow between his brows. “Learning should be fun, but I’m not sure how I’d make it so.”

“Learning wasn’t fun for me until I started university,” Nolan said. “When I could finally take the classes I wanted. Well, for the most part.”

“That’s what I mean. Learning should be fun from the beginning. But for a lot of people it isn’t.”

“So what does a business degree have to do with anything?”

“Well . . .” Eli bit his lip, uncertainty passing over his features. “Don’t laugh, but . . . I had this idea of opening a learning center. Trialing it in one location and then expanding if it works.”

“For tutoring?”

“No, tutoring programs exist already. This is more . . . experiential? A center where kids can come and practice times tables with other kids or conduct science experiments or practice presentations in front of their peers. It’s a vague idea at this point, but I figure a business degree will give me the tools to flesh it out and make it happen.” He looked around again. “Are there no couches in this place?”

As if he’d been lurking in the shadows, waiting to be summoned, an employee wearing a teal polo shirt with the name Andrew stitched onto the left breast appeared from around a display. He was probably somewhere around Eli’s age, with a toothy smile and an eager expression.

Not unlike a golden retriever.

“Hi there. Can I help you find anything?”

Eli nodded once. “I’m in need of a couch.”

“Fantastic. Leather, cotton, linen, microfiber, polyester, velvet? Or perhaps a textured material like chenille or bouclé?”

“Uh . . .” Eli blinked. “A comfortable one?”

Nolan swallowed a laugh. How could Eli be so smart in some aspects yet so naive in others?

“Let me ask this another way,” Andrew said. “Is there anything you know you don’t like?”

“I’m not a huge fan of leather couches. They’re never as comfortable as they look.”

“We’ll start there. Follow me.”

Eli rejected three couches in quick succession without bothering to sit on them: a black L-shaped sectional, a half-back kidney-shaped couch that Andrew called a more modern look, and a dove gray bouclé couch with deep cushions. It looked so cozy that Nolan almost checked the price, but his couch at his place in San Francisco would be jealous if he brought another one home.

Andrew didn’t lose his smile as Eli rejected a fourth couch—still without sitting on it.

“Sure you don’t want to try it?” Nolan asked. “Test out what it feels like to have your butt on it?” He took his own advice and sat, and the cushions practically ate him. “Jesus Christ, I’ll need a crane to yank me out of here.”

Laughing, Eli hauled him up, and Nolan let his hands linger in Eli’s for a moment longer than strictly necessary. Eli didn’t notice because Andrew interrupted the non-moment with “I get the feeling you have a particular style in mind.”

“It’s just . . .” Eli scratched his head. “I’m looking for an extra-wide couch.”

“I see. So, something like this.” Andrew led them farther into the store to a couch that could seat ten of Eli’s teammates with room to spare.

Who the hell needed a couch that big?

“No, I don’t mean wide like . . .” Eli held his hands shoulder-width apart. “I mean wide like . . .” He rotated his hands, holding one near his abdomen and the other about a foot away.

Andrew snapped his fingers. “Ah! You want an extra-deep couch.”