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“He can’t stop playing hockey,” she said.
“I know. That’s why this won’t work.”
She shook her head. “Do you love him?”
“Yes!” I repeated.
“Then be with him.”
“Where? In Denver? Finland? Vegas?”
“Denver, yes. Vegas, yes. Finland, maybe.”
“My job is here.”
“Your accounting job, which you don’t even like. You just admitted you’re writing romance. You went to school for creative writing. This is what you’ve always wanted to do, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Then do it! Go to Denver. Be with Dex and write romance.”
“I have this house.” I glanced up at the ceiling, waved an arm in the air.
“So? It’s not going anywhere. Or sell it.”
“Sell mom and dad’s house?” The idea seemed insane. And scary.
She softened, hugged me again. “Mom and Dad never expected you to stay in this house. It was their house. They wanted you to go have a life of your own.”
“I have a life,” I countered quickly.
“You do, but you love someone not from Hunter Valley. You can move away from home, Lindy!”
“But–”
“Dex can’t leave Denver. You know it. But he’s not going to skate forever. I mean, he’s got maybe… five years left.”
I never thought about that. Never really considered that his career had a time limit. He was big and strong and the way he played in that exhibition game, I couldn’t imagine him having to retire. Besides, he was young.
“It’s not him here in Hunter Valley or nothing. He’s Mr. Right. You know it. Aspen and I only said make him Mr. Right Now to get you to give him a chance. But he can be both, Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now. He’s everything.”
Her words made me feel something besides heartache. They stirred excitement. Hope. Scariness.
“I don’t–”
She stood, went to the counter, picked up the toaster and tipped it so we could both see the list I taped there when I was fourteen. “He’s everything on this list. And more.”
Then she turned, pulled on the plug, then brought the toaster over.
“Mr. Right is portable, Lind. Nowhere on it does it say he has to be all those things plus being from here.” She shoved the appliance at me and I grabbed it, full of surprise. “Take your emotional support toaster, the list of everything that’s right about Dex and move away from home.”
48
LINDY
* * *
It was the middle of the night and I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom. The moon was bright and the glow came through the brand new window. The hole was gone and Bixby’s team did such a good job with the repairs, I couldn’t even tell a tree was ever in here.
