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She nods, her smile knowing. “He casts a big one. Sometimes you have to forge a new path so you can find your own light.”
* * *
By the middle of July,I still haven’t made a decision about training camp. I have until mid-August to either accept or pass, and I’m taking that time to think the decision through.
In the meantime, I help Clover pack up her things in Chicago and move what she needs back to my parents’ pool house in Lake Geneva. We’re still waiting on Gabriel’s trial, but her lawyer is confident he’ll do jail time. It doesn’t make me happy, but there is some relief in knowing he’s on house arrest and can’t be in the same state as Clover anymore. And the charges against him made it a lot easier to get the divorce papers signed, so Clover is legally free of him as well.
Clover has convinced me to start talking to a professional. It didn’t take much work on her part to get me to see the validity of it. Lavender was right. What happened with Gabriel unearthed more of the shit from my childhood, and if I don’t deal with it now, it’s going to make my life impossible.
I can’t be attached to Clover at the hip, and anyway, I need to find a way to manage the fear and worry without smothering her. It isn’t logical or possible or healthy to be with her twenty-four hours a day. So I get myself a therapist and talk through all the crap my family has been through, sorting through damage so I can be a better version of myself.
I transfer to the Pump It Up location in Lake Geneva, agreeing to also stay on at the Chicago gym for a while to train self-defense instructors once a week, since they want to keep the program running, and it’s one of the things I feel passionate about.
For a couple weeks, Clover and I stay at my parents’ place, but at the end of July, we do move into her cabin on Pearl Bay. Clover starts her position at the local library, and I start working part-time with my dad at his hockey training program.
* * *
My alarm goesoff at five fifteen in the morning. I hit the snooze button and wrap my arm around Clover. I nuzzle into her hair, breathing in her cloves and citrus shampoo. She makes a little noise but doesn’t stir otherwise.
Practice skate starts early, and I have to be on the ice at seven thirty. Still, I lie here, body curved around Clover’s, until my alarm goes off again. Then I reluctantly roll away from her warmth and carefully climb out of bed.
Although Clover’s day doesn’t start until nine, she often gets up at the same time I do so we can have coffee and breakfast together. But yesterday, the verdict for Gabriel’s trial was finally read. In the end, he was given five years. It was an emotional day for her, and we stayed up later than we should have. I’m glad that chapter is finally over. It means she can move on with her life.
And I feel like I’m ready to move forward with mine.
Forty-Two
From Here
Maverick
Six months later
Istep down out of the moving truck and take in the neighborhood. It’s a nice area on the outskirts of Lake Geneva. A couple walking a dog passes us on the sidewalk, looking curiously from us to the neatly manicured brownstone with the blue BMW parked in the driveway. The license plate readsDr. Dave.
I flip the keys around my finger, then tuck them into my pocket. “You guys ready to do this?”
“Is it bad that I kinda hope he gives us a hard time?” River cracks his knuckles and laces his hands behind his head.
Our cousin Logan gives him the side-eye and taps his badge. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“And also why we’re here.” My dad motions between himself and Rook.
River shrugs. “I’m just saying, that time you had to taser the guy was pretty unforgettable.”
“Especially when he peed himself.” BJ grins.
I give them both a stern look. “Our job is to get her in and out as quickly as possible with the least amount of trauma. She’s already been through enough. Seeing her ex get tasered and pee his pants, while vindicating, is the opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
River and BJ have the decency to look chagrined. “We know. Sorry.”
We all turn toward the house. The curtains in the living room fall back into place. I walk across the lawn to the car parked behind the truck, rounding the driver’s side.
The window rolls down, and my beautiful girlfriend’s face appears. I rest my arm on the frame and duck down. “How’s it going in here?”
“We’re ready whenever you are,” Clover says. “Right, Soph?”
Sophia nods and gives me the thumbs-up.
