AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gives in and drops his hand. “Yeah, you’re right,” he sighs and continues over to his SUV. He opens the driver’s side for me and helps me climb up, and even in his worst moments, I can’t fault him. He’s still the perfect gentleman.
We get on the road, driving the few hours back to his hometown. He points out the frozen lake where he first learned to skate—the very one where he fell in love with hockey and recognized his potential as a player. We continue driving to the next town over, the one they moved to when he was ten. The one that held an actual ice rink with a hockey team for him to join. He continues pointing out different places that hold special meaning to him, like his school and where his friends used to live. Hell, he even shows me the little café where he got his first kiss from some chick named Megan.
Five minutes later, he directs me around some residential streets before telling me to stop in front of a small, beautiful, cottage-style house. “This is it,” he says, glancing at his childhood home.
He hops out of the truck and grabs the bags from the backseat before meeting me around the front. Miller takes my hand, and we walk down the small pathway, his gaze roaming over the house, probably remembering all the memories he shared with Mia growing up.
We make it up to the front door, and he takes a deep breath before knocking.
The door opens moments later by a small woman who I can immediately tell is Miller’s mom. She gasps the moment she sees him and falls into his arms. Miller drops the bags and catches her with ease as she begins to sob into his chest. He holds her tight and somehow ushers her back inside their home. He leads her to the living room, and I follow behind, bringing our bags in and leaving them by the front door.
I make my way deeper into their home and search out the kitchen. After taking two wrong turns, I finally find it and grab his mom a glass of water before heading back to the living room. The poor woman is trying her hardest to pull herself together.
I hand her the glass of water as she finishes wiping her tears. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, dear. I’m Juliette,” she says, taking a sip of water to help calm herself.
“It’s more than okay,” I tell her. “I understand. I’m Dani.”
She flashes me a beautiful smile that’s so much like her son’s as she and Miller both stand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she says, stepping forward and taking me in her arms. “I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”
“Thank you,” I say. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
She holds me a little tighter then pulls back to study my face. She lets out a pained sigh. “I bet you and Mia would have been amazing friends,” she tells me with sincerity.
“I would like to think so, too. I regret that I never got the chance to meet her, but from what I’ve heard, she was an absolute force to be reckoned with.”
Juliette giggles at that and gives me a thoughtful smile. “That she was.”
Chapter 24
Miller
The days following my arrival back home are easily the hardest days I have ever endured in my life. I’ve been to hockey camps that exhausted me physically and mentally, and up until the last few days, I thought they were the worst things I could have suffered through. But being back home in a house full of my sister’s memories, seeing her beautiful, smiling face plastered all over the walls in every available picture frame, and knowing it’s a face I will never see again, it haunts me.
As promised, Dani has been my rock. She has taken care of everything. She organized the most spectacular funeral for my baby sister, and she made sure Mom and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. She shooed away the people who came to the door and took care of the cooking and cleaning while Mom and I were breaking down. She even called Coach Harris to explain what was going on to save my ass from getting kicked off the team due to my unexplained absences.
As I said, she has been my rock. Particularly during the middle of the funeral when one of Mia’s very drunk friends got up and decided then was the time to air all Mia’s secrets. Dani quickly got up and shut that shit right down like the fucking queen that she is.
I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stand at her service and talk about what she meant to me. I spent the days beforehand sitting in my childhood bedroom ripping up every word I wrote. Hell, I even went as far as to say I wasn’t going to do it. Mia knew how I felt about her. Why should I have to share that with a bunch of dickheads I’ve never met before?
