AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah. Okay.” She blows out a breath. “The last twenty-four hours have been a bit of a roller coaster.” She runs her hands over my chest. “Last night was… You were… It was great. And then this morning happened, and I expected the worst, like you said, and that didn’t happen at all. So yeah. Processing time would be good.”
“Fair. We can talk tonight?”
“Yeah. Oh. Wait. It’s my teammate Shawna’s birthday, and I got invited out. Or maybe I shouldn’t go.”
“You should go. Definitely. They’re your team, and you should celebrate with them. We’ve got time to figure everything out.”
“Okay. Yeah. I should probably go. And I should go to work too.”
“Can I kiss you first?”
She nods, so I wrap my arms around her and keep it mostly chaste.
She pulls away first. “I really need to go so we’re not late for work on top of everything else.”
“Fair. I’ll text you later, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
I walk her out to Lovey’s car. Rose is sitting in the middle of the back seat, leaning forward as Winter sits in front. I don’t even want to know what that conversation will be like.
My mom is in the kitchen, rummaging through her purse, when I come back down the hall. “How’s Winter doing?” she asks.
“A bit overwhelmed, but okay.”
“That’s reasonable. She seemed shocked that we weren’t angry.”
I grab a banana from the fruit bowl. “I think there’s some archaic belief systems in her house—very patriarchal and, based on what we’ve seen, highly misogynistic. It’s going to take Winter some time to adjust her expectations and reactions. She’s used to things falling apart.”
Mom nods. “How are you handling all of this?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not just change for Winter; it’s change for you too. First girl I’ve seen you serious about since senior year of high school.”
I blow out a breath. “Can we not talk about that?”
Mom arches a brow. “Not wanting to talk about something usually means you should.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Doesn’t mean it won’t impact your choices and decisions.”
Dad comes into the kitchen and kisses Mom on the cheek. He glances between us. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. S’all good. We should get to the rink. I picked up a couple of lessons this morning and booked some personal ice time.”
Mom frowns. “When did you do that? I thought you were taking the day off.”
“I’m taking the day off from Adele, not from being on the ice.”
“You need to give your body a break. And I’m pretty sure you didn’t get much of one last night.”
“Annnnnd I’m peace-ing out of this conversation. Dad, I’ll meet you in the truck. Mom, I love you, but there are lines.” I turn down the hall.
“If you’d locked your door, this morning would have gone a lot differently!” she calls after me.
I don’t catch my dad’s reply, but I’ll be a captive audience on the ride to the arena, and I’m sure he’ll have wisdom to impart.
