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“Enjoy it,” he says. “You deserve it.”
“Thanks.”
“So will you be in LA a lot?”
“About once a month. Cynthia is letting me work out of Las Vegas, which is amazing.”
I move the phone away from my mouth and yawn, exhausted but not wanting Pike to think I’m bored by him.
“Did you just yawn?” he asks.
I laugh and say, “Maybe.”
“Ouch. I don’t talk on the phone much, so I’m out of practice.”
“It’s not you,” I assure him. “I didn’t sleep well last night because I was so nervous about tonight’s dinner. I finally got out of bed at five this morning because I couldn’t sleep anymore, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since.”
“Well, thanks for calling me back. It was good to hear your voice.”
His compliment warms me, and I wish for an instant that I was back at Just Brew It, trading personal factoids with him from behind the counter.
“You, too,” I say.
“When’s a good time for me to call you tomorrow?”
I frown. I’m still feeling too protective of Nolan to tell Pike about him, and I’ll be at home catching up on snuggles with my little boy tomorrow after I have breakfast with Cynthia and fly home. I could talk to him after Nolan goes to bed, though.
“Tomorrow night after eight,” I say.
“So you like talking to me while you’re in bed?” he asks playfully.
“I don’t go to bed at eight.”
He sighs. “Let me think. Vancouver…we’ll be in the same time zone. I’ll be playing a game at eight. Is midnight too late?”
“Probably? But you can still always try and call. I turn my phone off when I go to bed so you won’t wake me up if I’m asleep.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon. And congrats on the new job and your dinner tonight.”
“Thank you. Good night, Pike.”
“Night, Indie.”
I end the call and lay my phone on my chest, still smiling. I’ve never been just friends with a man. It’s nice, even though Pike and I are too busy to see each other in person. When I was with Dean, I lost touch with all my friends and became very isolated.
Even if it’s just the occasional phone call, it feels good to have a friend again.
Chapter Twelve
Pike
* * *
“Are you okay to play?” Katz asks me, giving me a stern look over the rim of his black-framed glasses.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’ll have Rudy wrap it up and I’ll be fine.”
Katz just stares at me—his way of saying he disagrees.
“It was just a little tweak,” I assure him. “I’m fine. I’ll do some extra stretching.”
This morning, while descending the stairs of the team plane, I got slightly tripped up and felt a twinge in my right knee. There hasn’t been any discomfort since, but Katz was right behind me when it happened, and he’s been asking me all day if I’m okay.
Coach Bear doesn’t get hung up on this shit; he trusts his players to tell him if we’re not able to play. But Katz is only in charge of the goalies, so he has more time to crawl up our asses and get comfy.
We’re in second place—there’s no way I’m sitting out a game unless I’m on my deathbed. Kylie, Jasmine, and my mom are watching the game from the TV in my living room, and I want to give them something to celebrate. They’re staying for a week, but the team still had this road trip. I rarely have a full week at home during the season.
“You want to go out tonight?” Kingston asks me as I’m checking the news on my phone in the locker room.
“Maybe.”
“How’s it going with the chick who hates you?”
I look up from my phone. “She doesn’t hate me anymore. She called me last night.”
“Yeah, but has she called you Daddy yet?”
Scowling, I say, “I’ve still got plenty of time.”
“Pike, do you want me to wrap that knee?” Rudy asks as he approaches us.
“Yep.”
“Let’s ice it first,” he says.
“I like my floors sparkling clean,” Kingston says with a grin as I get up. “Like clean enough to eat off of, with a light lemon scent.”
“You’re gonna need to hire someone to do that for you, since you’ll be so busy cleaning my house.”
“You’re not winning this one,” Kingston says, shaking his head. “That coffee chick wasn’t even a little bit into you.”
“Her name is Indie, and it hasn’t even been a month.”
I put my phone away and head for the training room, where I hop up on an exam table and straighten my right leg out. As Rudy ices my knee, I think about whether I want to go out tonight or not. It’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve had more than one drink, and it’s been an equally long time since I’ve had sex. Not since that bachelorette party, actually.
