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“No, no, no boating for you. Not a good idea,” he said, taking a sip of his beer.
“Who put you in charge?” I snapped.
He gave a wry grin. “Your Coach.”
“And you’re going to tell him?” I asked incredulously. “What happened to snitches get stitches?” I looked to Max to confer, and he tipped his head in my favor, almost as if saying-he does have a point.
Grey tried to hide his smile. “I’m a coach too. It’s rough out here.”
I looked at him dumbfounded. “You’re a fuckin peewee coach, asshole.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah well, you’re kinda fun to mess with, maybe I’ll try big league coaching next season.”
“No. You wouldn’t,” I deadpanned. No way did I want him to follow me back to Detroit. He took it easy on the kids, but he was a hockey monster. Having his hard ass on the bench during games and practices would be a nightmare. Plus, if he were in Detroit, I’d never get to eat my cheese sticks in peace.
“Go back and take a seat, bud. I’ll get you a nice, cold beer,” Grey said, nodding back to the lawn.
“Grey?” Jules’ sweet voice inquired from the beach. “Are you drinking?” she asked warily.
I arched an eyebrow at him.
“Here, take this one, bud.” Grey forced his beer in my hand, then whispered, “I told her I’d stay sober too. Pregnancy solidarity and all that.”
I smirked at him. “Good luck with that, you smell like a brewery, dickhead.”
“Shit.” He dropped his head as he made his way back to Jules, looking like a little boy walking to the principal's office. “Let’s go, rookie!” He made a hand motion over his shoulder that told me to follow him.
I grinded my teeth. I hated being ordered around, but what choice did I have? I could practically feel Claire’s eyes on me, waiting to see what I was going to do. The younger rebellious version of me that Claire knew would’ve jumped in the boat regardless of what anyone else said. But my older, hurt, professional athlete self knew there were some rules I couldn't break anymore… Including going against Coach’s wishes.
I heaved a sigh and started crutching back to the lawn. The guys in the boat all chirped at me and clapped, making fun of me. One of them even called out, “I wouldnevertake that kind of disrespect!” I knew he was just trying to get under my skin and goad me into overreacting. Fuck them.
To pour salt in the wound, Tyler came running down the hill toward the dock. Of course he was going to join Claire.
Only, this could be the perfect opportunity, I thought. We’d meet in the middle, and I’d shove him in the water, making him look like the little bitch he was.
I paused in the middle of the dock waiting for him… and I was going to do it, I really was…but then Griff caught my eye.
He was holding Indie in the crook of his arm under some shade like the responsible dad that he was, and he lifted his hand and made the hand sign for ‘Calm’ at me.
I cursed and shook my head at him. How had he known what I was thinking? He started doing that to me when I was a kid when he reffed my games because I’d overreact out of anger and take stupid penalties. When we first made it to the NHL together, he made that motion to me almost every other game, and the entire Detroit crowd even started doing it. I'd like to think that with age, I matured out of impulsively reacting based on emotions…mostof the time.
So, I started crunching the rest of my dignity back to the lawn, and when Tyler crossed my path, I kept my eyes straight ahead.
“Hey bud,” he said, patting me on the back as he passed me.
My jaw ticked angrily, and it took all my willpower just to grunt at him in return.
As I continued down the dock, I ordered myself,Do not look back at the boat,do not look.
But of course, look is exactly what I did. And when I peered back at it, all I could see was Tyler sliding into the seat right next to Claire. My seat.
As soon as I plopped my ass down on an Adirondack chair and dropped my crutches to the lumpy ground next to me, Grey walked over with his sleeping toddler and placed her in my arms.
“Watch Gracie for us? Need to have some fun with my girl. Might get lucky.” He waged his eyebrows at me. “You understand, right?”
I regarded him with a dark look. Yes, of course I understood. That’s what I had been trying to do by going on the boat. Before I could argue, he took off jogging back toward Jules.
“Just me and you now, I guess,” I muttered down to the kiddo.
