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“Here, Theresa,” Ryker says, taking steps toward her. “These are for you.”
He outstretches his hand to her, and she takes the bouquet of flowers, with a little reluctance.
But once they’re in her hands, she can’t resist pulling the fragrant flowers to her nose.
She takes a deep inhale of the gorgeous bouquet and then gazes over its arrangement.
“Can we talk for a minute?” he asks her.
Her eyes break away from the flowers in her hand and she studies him for a second.
She doesn’t look to me or around the room at any of us.
My mother is one of the most confident women I’ve ever known and Ryker’s request doesn’t intimidate her in the least.
She nods in agreement, “Sure.”
Ryker turns directly around and heads for the door of my brother’s apartment.
I reach out to him as he passes.
“What are you—?”
He reaches out and squeezes my hand quickly.
“Don’t worry, I got it,” he says, and then releases my hand, his eyes back on the exit with my mom directly behind him.
He steps out of the doorway and into the hall. My mom follows, pulling the door closed to just a crack behind her.
If I know my mother, she’s closing the door because she has some choice words to share with Ryker too and she either doesn’t want me, or Jerrin, to hear them.
Seven watches the door shut too and then turns to Jerrin.
“Hey, the game’s on. Mind if we sit and watch it with you?” he asks my brother.
“Yeah, that would be ok,” my brother says, laying the jerseys on the back of the couch and pulling Wrenley’s jersey over his head and over his thin hooded sweatshirt.
The three of them sit on the couch together, Seven and Briggs on either side. Seven and Briggs give Jerrin a play-by-play of what it was like being out on the ice that day and inside information on other plays on the Hawkeyes.
My brother is on cloud nine and my heart couldn’t be any fuller, ever with Ryker and my mom out in the hallway.
I take a few steps closer to the cracked door.
I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but I can’t help but want to know if their conversation is calm and level or if they’re at each other's throats.
It’s hard for me to imagine Ryker getting that worked up with my mom. He always seems to stay so level-headed, other than during the fights on the ice. Even kicking Amelia out, he kept calm. My mother, on the other hand, could rip into Ryker with ease if she felt the need to, and I can’t let that happen.
If Mom goes off on him, I need to be able to rush out a break it up because I can’t let her scare him away.
I hear Ryker’s voice first.
“I know you don’t like me, Theresa—”
“It’s not that I don’t like you. And it’s nothing personal Ryker, it’s just that professional athletes are all the same. You have short attention spans and big egos.”
“That’s not true. We’re not all like that,” he argues calmly.
“My daughter is the prize now, but that shiny penny wears off eventually. And what happens when your career ends before you’re ready? You can honestly tell me you can turn off the lights on your career and a quiet family life with my daughter will satisfy you? You’ll want the spotlight again, and you’ll sacrifice her happiness to get it wherever you can with whoever will give it to you.”
