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“Hmm, what about cooking? I’d love to do that pan fire shit they do on Chopped, but I’m afraid I’d set something on fire.”

“And you think I wouldn’t?”

“Well.” He shrugged. “You’re more responsible. I bet you have a fire extinguisher at home.”

“I don’t, actually. Should I?” I pulled out my phone to look up fire extinguishers as we exited the building. I never cooked at home, but maybe it was something I could get into. After all, I had to eat anyway, might as well try and make something … good. “Do you have any—”

“What’s happening over there?” Brooker asked, pointing over to the parking lot gate. I looked up to see somebody talking with the security guard. We didn’t get many fans who tried to get into practices or wait for players after games, but it wasn’t unheard of either.

“You stay here, I’ll check it out.” I patted Brooker on the shoulder and jogged across the lot. Of all the players on the team, he was the most likely to get stalked or have a jaded ex wait for him at the gate, so I needed to get between him and any possible trouble.

“Hey there, Hector! What’s happening?” I asked the guard once I got into speaking distance. The guard sighed and turned to me.

“It’s just that this young lady wants to—” he started to say, but I couldn’t hear the rest of it. Because when Hector moved to talk to me, he revealed the woman he was blocking.

Leah.

Leah, the woman who, for at least one night, made the emptiness in my chest light. Leah, the woman I had countless dreams about. Leah, who I thought I’d never see again.

Except I was seeing her right now.

“Hey, Niall,” she said with a tight smile. “Sorry to bother you at work, I just didn’t know how else to contact you.”

“Christenson, you know this lady? Wanna let her in?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” I said quickly. I went over to Leah’s side, sliding my hand up her arm on the way to a hug, but then pulled back when uncertainty shook through my body. Just because she came here to see me, just because I wanted the physical contact, didn’t mean she did. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Leah let out a little laugh, smiling like she saw my anxiousness, then wrapped her arms around me.

“Good to see you too.”

“Guess I’ll open the gate,” Hector said before turning back to his standalone office.

“Oh, no, that’s—I actually just need to—well I guess if you’re here, I kinda have to. But then I’d have to pull in and—”

“Is everything all right?” I asked, putting a hand on both her arms. I didn’t like how she was fumbling her words. It’s what I did when I was nervous and I hated thinking she was feeling like that.

“Um … I mean, yeah, technically,” she said, brow furrowing.

“I don’t think that’s true if you have to think about it. Why don’t you go ahead and park, then we can find some place to talk.”

Leah nodded, tapping a letter frantically against her leg. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that I did, I couldn’t stop looking at it because it had my name on scrawled on the front.

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled, tossing the letter into her open car before getting in. The gate arm lifted and Leah drove into the lot with me following behind in a daze.

What was in that letter?

Leah parked by my car and waited for me there, leaning over the hood, letter back in hand, tapping it rhythmically against her leg. She looked over at me and gave me another tight smile before someone popped up beside her.

“Brooker,” I groaned and started jogging over.

“So you’re Christenson’s stalker?” Brooker asked her when I reached the car. Leah threw her head back and laughed.

“Maybe. Why? Would you rather I stalk you?”

“I mean.” Brooker paused to shrug. “I just don’t want you stressing Cap out. He’s easily stressed you know, like a caged animal.”

“Brooker,” I chastised once I reached them.