Page 79

“What’s up?” Danton nods at me as he pushes past me into my apartment. The scent of warm food enters with him. He places a brown bag onto my counter and starts removing containers.

Vicky’s chicken parmesan. I can recognize that smell anywhere.

My mouth waters as I eye the containers. “It is not game day.”

“No,” Danton says, his tone clipped. “Chicken parm solves other problems besides game day superstitions.” He pulls the last container out of the bag and places it into my freezer. “Dessert.”

“I see I am getting full service tonight.”

“Yes, you are,” he says, clearly still annoyed with me about something. “Despite my feelings about this current situation, my wife still has a soft spot for you and she insisted on me bringing you dinner.”

“I will call her and give her my thanks.”

“You better,” Danton says. “And it wouldn’t kill you to come by the house every once in a while either.”

I nod and hang my head. He’s right. Even before this whole mess with Ander started, I’d been absent. Danton, Vicky, and their kids deserve better. But life has spiraled a bit lately and I’ve been distracted. Distracted by keeping Ander afloat and subsequently falling for him.

Danton opens up the containers, then starts rummaging through my kitchen hunting for plates and flatware.

“Would you like some help?” I ask as I watch him open every one of my cabinets.

“No.” He points at the stools lining my island. “You sit.”

“Why do I feel like I am about to be scolded?”

“Because you are,” he says as he places everything he has collected down on the counter and starts to dish out the food he brought. It’s still steaming when he slides the full plate in front of me and hands me a knife and fork folded into a napkin.

“What exactly is it that I have done wrong?”

He turns his gaze to my television, which is still showing Ander’s game. He points at it. “That. That is what you’ve done wrong.”

“Oh. I did not realize I play for Blizzards now.”

“You don’t, smart ass.” He cuts in to his meal. “And don’t play dumb with me. You’re not Baby. It won’t work.”

I look away from him and focus on my dinner. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until he showed up with it. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would have skipped eating entirely. Truth be told, I haven’t had much of an appetite since I left Green Bay.

“Look, as much as it pains me to say this, because believe me, there is nothing I want more than to take advantage of the Blizzard’s goaltending taking a dip this season to help us win the cup, but this isn’t how I wanted our revenge tour to go. I want a Blizzards versus Mules rematch. Our victory won’t be as sweet if we play someone else.”

“I am pretty sure hoisting Stanley Cup feels incredible no matter who you beat.”

“Probably,” he says, taking a huge bite of his food. “But still. We are currently holding the one seed in the west, and we have a chance to take down a dynasty by beating Buffalo if they make it through the east.”

“They will pull through. There is no way Kennedy or Marshal will allow them to lose.” That I know for sure. Even Ander while struggling wouldn’t be able to live with himself if they don’t make it to the playoffs.

Danton shakes his head. “I can’t believe you and Ander are a thing.”

“We are not a thing.” I sigh. All the food I’m eating loses its flavor.

“That’s not what I heard,” he says, shoveling more food into his mouth. At least one of us is enjoying this delicious meal Vicky sent over.

“What could you possibly have heard?” I ask. “No one other than Ryan and Brandon knows something happened between us.”

He pauses his eating and looks at me like I’m an idiot. “You know as well as I do that those two aren’t exactly subtle.”

I huff out a laugh. He’s not wrong. It’s why when they came out to the team as gay last season, none of us batted an eye. We had already figured that out well before they said anything, and not a single one of us cared.

Danton bumps me with his shoulder. “But you’re not exactly subtle either. You’ve been miserable ever since we returned from Christmas break. So I went digging where I knew I would find answers. Brandon threw you under the bus pretty quick.”