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And I wished—I fuckin’ wished I could listen to that laugh for the rest of my life.
“Because you gave me an illegal check, and I didn’t want to crush you into the ice.”
She kept laughing.
And I kept listening with a smile on my face.
She looked up into the sky and sighed. “There just aren’t skies like this anywhere else.”
I nodded and gazed up at the bright, starry sky. “Nope, that’s for sure.”
We laid there for a few minutes, silently staring up at the perfect night sky. Until Jillian broke that silence.
“Are you fucking her?” she asked in a voice almost as crisp as the air. At first, I thought I’d heard her wrong.
“What?” My head snapped to the side, and I frowned.
“You heard me,” she stated and looked at me.
I didn’t even think about lying to her. And I wasn’t sure why. “No. Marcel, Angelique, and my manager wanted me to fake a relationship with her again.”
Her mouth opened, and her eyes narrowed slightly. “Again?”
I took a deep breath and let it out, watching it mingle with the cold air, forming a cloud in front of me. “Yeah, just like before. When you dumped my ass on national television. My manager thought fake-dating Marissa would be a good way for me to save face. Or try to, at least.”
I turned my head back to the sky and decided not to think about that time in my life.
Not right now.
Right now, I was in my favorite province. Under my favorite sky. Laying beside my favorite person in the world.
I didn’t have to get up early tomorrow.
I didn’t have to pack and get on a crowded bus or plane.
Tonight, I just wanted to—be.
Play hockey with the person I had the most fun with on the ice.
And just.
Be.
“You—” Jillian breathed out her own cloud, “you mean, you weren’t, you never—”
I shook my head and gave the sky a sad smile. “Marissa and I were never lovers. It was all for show.” For some reason, I turned and gazed at Jillian when I said, “Just like now.” Then I stared back at the sky. “Something other people cooked up to make me look less pathetic, I guess.”
A pink glove landed on my chest and Jillian moved over. She laid her head on my shoulder. “No one would ever think you’re pathetic.”
I sighed but didn’t reply to her comment. Ruining the bubble around us tonight didn’t appeal to me.
I wanted peace.
My brain wanted peace.
And most of all—my soul craved peace.
So, selfishly, that’s what I took. I slid my arm underneath her and pulled her closer. I gazed into her sparkling eyes. “I haven’t slept with anyone except you since the day we met.”
