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“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jack pinned the defenseman with a steady look after the player lumbered to a bench in front of his locker.
No sense letting the Russian behemoth think that Alicia was available.
Only a handful of guys had made it into the locker room so far, most of them still busy prepping their equipment for the game. And the locker room wasn’t some sweaty, tile-covered cave like in high school. Here, the visiting team could hang out comfortably on padded leather benches with carpets on the floor and the walls painted and decorated with clippings from highlight moments in the National Hockey League. The players didn’t really even undress at this point since they still had on some of the gear from their morning skate. They spent more time taping thumbs or ankles, noses or hands, depending on what spots they’d broken most recently in a notoriously rough sport. Hell, they had a doctor on call for in-game stitches.
Today, Kyle’s broken nose wasn’t taped, but his two black eyes were witness enough to the injury. One eye was blood shot from a broken vessel. But he blended well enough with the rest of his bench, the whole group a mass of scrapes, bruises and crooked noses.
The players weren’t all that different from the guys in Jack’s unit back in the Navy. They were battle-scarred and seasoned, working as a team for a common goal.
Kyle waved his hand in front of Jack’s face, distracting him from the “don’t go there” vibe he was sending his brother’s teammate for good measure.
“You with me, Jack?” Kyle asked, a grin tipping one side of a slightly swollen cheek. “Because I’m not going to help you out if you get Oleg pissed off.”
“Right. Sorry.” He shook his head, bringing himself back to the conversation. He tried to remember what his brother had said to him… oh, right. Heart on his sleeve. “I’m back where I left off with her four years ago. It’s the damnedest thing. I walked away back then, determined to give her some space to be her own person and enjoy college without me hovering over her. But the first time I see her after all the time – and bam! She’s in my head all the time.”
Kyle studied his knuckles as he wound athletic tape between his fingers. “Does she know?”
“Know what? That I’m crazy about her?” He shrugged. “She’s still trying to get past what happened when we broke up last time. Being left out of the loop about Cristina and the kidnapping didn’t go over so well.”
He’d come to regret the way he’d handled the situation back then. But he could do better with Alicia this time. He just had to figure out how to convince her to give him a second chance. To win her trust again. Not just for tonight, but forever.
His brother nodded and ripped the tape with his teeth. “She was having a rough semester that spring after you left. Her father was busting her chops to ditch Boston College. She quit freelancing for dad even though she really liked the job. And you know, as much as the Murphy family drama can bug us, I think Alicia sort of liked hanging out at the house on the weekends.”
Jack reached into Kyle’s open wooden locker and grabbed the elbow pads and shin guards that he’d need next.
“Our family drama doesn’t seem so bad when you compare it to hers with the pushy dad and the know-it-all brother who never had time for her. At least we’re there for each other when it counts.”
“Yeah, I felt like crap when I heard she had no one at that last meet when she won two national titles.” Kyle frowned, shaking his head. “I’d like to think that if I make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, there’d be a few family members in the crowd. It’s gotta suck when you don’t have anyone to share that stuff.”
Picturing all the other swimmers hugging their loved ones while Alicia went back to the locker room alone slugged Jack in the chest. He should have been honest with her about why he went into the Navy. Why he didn’t want to tie her down as a junior in college. It might not have made his leaving any easier on her, but at least she would have known that he didn’t take off because he didn’t care. Far from it. He’d gone because he cared too much, too soon.
“That’s why I keep hoping she’ll change her mind about moving to Bar Harbor. At least in Chatham she has friends and people she can count on to be there for her. She has our family.” And she’d havehim, assuming she gave him another chance to be a part of her life.
Kyle strapped on the shin guards as more players began to filter in the locker room. Some greeted each other with laughing insults, while other, more intense players, went straight to work getting dressed for the game. Jack knew he only had a few more minutes before he should leave. The coach would want to talk to the assembled team soon.
And he didn’t want to leave Alicia alone for too long on a night that was supposed to be all about having a good time for her.
“Don’t assume you know what’s best for her.” Kyle took the elbow pads from Jack’s hands. “If she says she wants out of Chatham, you might want to respect that she knows her own mind.”
“I do.” Didn’t he? “I just think it can’t hurt to be sure. To understand why you’re doing something so that it’s not just a knee-jerk reaction.”
Maybe part of him still believed she only wanted to leave Cape Cod because Jack had returned home.
“Think about it, Jack. She’s had four years to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Four years to save enough money to buy this place. Her leaving town isn’t just about you.”
The reminder was enough to make Jack weigh the benefits of straightening out his brother’s broken nose for him. One good swipe in the other direction, maybe?
It was all the conversation they had time to exchange before the team’s coach stalked into the room with a clipboard under his arm, obviously ready to address the team. Jack saw his cue to leave and- with a slap on his brother’s chest pads for luck- he ducked out of the locker area. His head was so busy processing Kyle’s suggestion that he didn’t even bother giving Oleg the hairy eyeball on his way out.
Plowing through two sets of double doors to vacate the secured visiting team area, Jack left the team behind to find Alicia at rink side. He’d been so busy trying to win her back and save her from incurring any problems with the run down property in Maine, that he hadn’t thought about how much this dream might mean to her.
By pointing out all the flaws of the inn, would he be no better than her father who – in his need to “help” his daughter - refused to take into account what made Alicia happy? As he hurried down the final set of stairs to the rink level seats, Jack spied Alicia, now decked out in full-on Boston Bears gear. She’d bought a jersey and a baseball cap with the team logo to show her support of Kyle’s crew, something not easy to purchase at an opponent’s venue.
She didn’t hesitate to support other people in their aspirations. For all Jack knew, maybe she would have encouraged his need to go into the Navy and follow a calling that felt right with him. So no way would he yank the rug out from under her when she’d never known that feeling of having someone in her corner, cheering her on through it all.
He would find a way to be there for her now, when she was working so hard to achieve a dream. So what if the bed and breakfast needed a lot of capital to take it to the level she needed to start earning a profit? He’d invested in businesses all over Cape Cod to help local entrepreneurs. Why not invest in Alicia?
Decision made, he didn’t slide into the seat beside her. Instead, he turned on his heel to make a call in private – away from the noise of the hockey arena. He had a lot to take care of if he was going to pull off the idea taking shape in his head. But for Alicia – for a shot at a future – anything was possible.
