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“Oh, you know. Winny probably wants to live her glory days since she never got to compete at that level. There’s some girl from the next town over, and her parents want to hire Winny. That’s the rumor, anyway. Also, Gerald told me that Winny has been relentlessly begging him to buy the rink. Has her heart set on it. She wants to turn it into some elite training center or some nonsense.” She waves her hand in the air nonchalantly and rolls her eyes.

“Winny wants to buy the rink?” I ask in horror. Could this meeting possibly get any worse?

Monica grabs her bag and scoots back in her chair. “She wants to, but Gerald turned her down. She doesn’t have that kind of money. That land is practically a gold mine, as you well know. Oh well… I hate to stop chatting, but I gotta run to meet another client. I’ll be in touch after I talk with Gerald. I’m sure we can come to an agreement soon.”

I stand up and shake Monica’s hand. All the while, my chest is compressing painfully. I had no idea Winny was such a big part of the daily operations of the rink, and I never would’ve guessed she’d want to buy the place.

The company I work for will have no mercy. They will come in and tear that place down as quickly as they can get the proper permits. They already have deals in place to purchase the surrounding land, and within two years, a huge, high-end ski resort will rest amongst the beautiful landscape where the rink currently stands.

Winny will be devastated, and I’ll be the man who brought about that devastation.

Why she wants that run-down piece-of-crap place is beyond me. Even if she could purchase the rink, it’d likely bring about her financial ruin. The place is utterly unredeemable. The only thing going for it is the location.

So, really, I’m doing her a favor.

It’s not like I have a choice. I have to put my career first. I’m on the fast track to making something of myself. And Winny is a temporary distraction. In two and a half weeks, I’ll never see her again.

Still, it hurts to know I’m going to be the person who steals the rink out from under her. I can’t tell her about what’s happening because she won’t understand. She’ll try to talk me out of moving forward with the deal, not that I have a choice. If I don’t complete the deal, they’ll send in someone else to do it, and I’ll probably lose my job.

The selfish part of me also realizes she’ll hate me when I tell her what I’m doing. The thought of her hating me absolutely tears me up. She’ll find out soon enough, hopefully when I’m long gone back to Boston. As much as I hate the thought, I know I have to go home at some point. And as much as I hate the thought, Winny is staying here. It doesn’t matter what either of us wants. That’s the reality.

Unless I can convince her to move to Boston? Then, it won’t matter if the rink is torn down. She can move, find work, and we can continue to date. It’s the perfect solution to my problem. I was already having a hard time with leaving her again, and now I won’t have to. This will give us time to explore our relationship without some annoying deadline hanging over us.

The only thing left to do is convince Winny.

Not a problem at all.

Chapter 9

Winny

I’m in love.

I won’t admit it to him, but I might as well admit it to myself. From the moment I found out Brad was back in town, I knew I was in trouble. He was my first love. He was the boy I first got intimate with. Now, he’s grown into a man who is caring, sweet, thoughtful and damn good in the sack. He’s the complete package. One day, he’s going to make some lucky woman very happy.

If my heart gets completely broken, I can eventually pick up the pieces and move on. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.

But for the time being, he’s mine, and I plan to make the most of our time together.

Now that I’ve had time to reflect on what I saw in the cafe, I realize I jumped to an unfair conclusion. Just because Brad and Monica dated for a period of time a zillion years ago doesn’t mean they’re seeing each other now. The Brad, I know, wouldn’t do that. He’s not the type to jump from one woman’s bed to another. No way.

Still, I have to at least ask him about it.

It looks like I’m about to have that opportunity. The headlights from his car light up my living room through the partially open blinds. Thirty seconds later, Brad is knocking on the door.

I barely get the chance to open it, and he is inside with his arms wrapped around me. I hear him inhale deeply against my neck. “I missed you today,” he says. “All I could do to get through the day was imagine what it would be like when I saw you tonight. Did you miss me, too?”

If I felt nervous before he arrived, it’s all disappeared now that he’s here. His touch brings me comfort and a sense of home, and having his arms around me is magic.

“It’s only been a few hours since you left, you know.”

“Eternity,” he disagrees. “It felt like an eternity.”

I laugh and pull back to look at him. “Well, I hope you’re hungry. I know you wanted to go out, but I made dinner instead. A friend of mine somehow got my heat working again, at least temporarily, so we shouldn’t freeze to death tonight.”

He raises his eyebrows in question. “Freeze? Were you cold last night? I seem to remember us working up quite a sweat under those blankets.”

“Ew, girls don’t sweat,” I joke.