Page 13 of Any Second Now (Fort Collins Blizzard Hockey #2)

“I don’t know, they look like they’re having an acceptable conversation.” I shrug. “Maybe he looks a bit bored.”

“Exactly. To me it looks like she’s talking and talking and he’s zoning out.”

“Yeah, I see that. He’s not paying attention at all.”

“Like, he’s just kind of staring at her with his eyes glazed over. Actually, he’s staring at a spot over her shoulder, I think, not even at her. Oh—he just took out his phone and looked at it.”

“Maybe he’s a single dad checking on the babysitter,” I suggest.

“You think that guy’s a single dad?” Raleigh gives me a deeply skeptical look, then glances back over. The man is wearing a tight button-down shirt, and his hair is slicked back. He looks far too self-absorbed to be a father.

“Or maybe he’s just a dick.” Of course, he’s just a dick. Even I know not to look at my phone while I’m on a date.

Our server approaches that table and refills the couple’s wine glasses. Then she heads to the bar and the man obviously watches her ass as she walks away.

“Oh, shit.” I chuckle.

Yup—he’s definitely a dick.

“You saw that?” Raleigh looks at me, her voice incredulous.

“Yeah, hard to miss.”

“But the woman is still talking. I think she did miss it.”

“He’s still looking. What an ass. ”

Raleigh squints her eyes at me.

“What? Ohhh. I meant he’s an ass, not that the server has a nice one.”

“Sure.” Raleigh’s mouth twitches into a smile. “So don’t check out other women while you’re on a date.”

The server appears at our table and opens our bottle of wine, then pours a sip for Raleigh to try. Raleigh nods and the server fills our glasses. I say thank you as she leaves and make sure I don’t even glance her way.

I definitely don’t look at her ass.

“Is dating tip: don’t stare at the server’s ass too long to go on a cross-stitch thingy?” I swipe my hand across in front of me.

“A hoop?” Raleigh gives me an amused grin.

“The circle thing?”

“The hoop.” She nods. “And yes, that’s probably too long, but your head’s in the right place. Another dating tip: don’t get trashed.”

“And no staring at your phone.” I run my palm over my chin. I shaved for this date so I’m mostly smooth.

“Don’t skip out on the bill.”

“No woman is going to pay for her meal when she’s out with me,” I scoff.

“Spoken like a rich man.”

I shrug. There’s no use denying it. “How about always share your french fries? And dessert.”

“See?” Raleigh tilts her head at me. “You don’t need my help, Atticus.”

“I do. I am your dedicated student, coach.” A student of Raleigh Hayes for sure. “Give me a weird dating tip. One most people don’t think of.”

She presses her lips together.

“This is probably an anti-tip, actually, because I think any guy I asked this on a first date—or second, or third—would run screaming into the forest. But I always want to know. ”

“Alright, I’m intrigued.”

“Ask them where they see themselves in five years. Professionally and personally.”

“Wow. That’s an intense question.”

“I know. It’s a total job interview question. But I think it comes from my mom and all her detailed planning of my life.”

“So what is your ideal answer to that question?” My mind spins because she might ask me this question next. I try to focus on her answer.

“I don’t know.” Raleigh shrugs, color filing her cheeks. “Jacob told me he wanted to have a big house and a bunch of kids. But we never got around to the kid part, which I’m thankful for now.”

I process this information, not quite sure how to respond. With my own shit answer, I suppose.

“Five years is a lifetime away. I’ll probably be retired from hockey,” I say, my stomach flipping uncomfortably. “And I really don’t have a clear plan for after that. Professionally or personally.”

“I think that’s okay.”

“Yeah? Because I feel like that’s the exact wrong answer to give you.”

“If this was a real date? Maybe.” The corner of her mouth twitches up into a smile. “But this is between friends.”

“Right.” Isn’t this a real date? It feels like one. Between friends.

“Have you really never dated anyone?” Raleigh is studying me.

“There’s been women I’ve seen more than once, but it never felt right to keep up with them.” I twist my wine glass in between two fingers. “One was too pushy about commitment. One begged me for a jersey. Mostly, they just wanted to date a Blizzard player.”

“Well that’s shitty.”

“I guess. I don’t think I’ve been going around breaking hearts. More like temporarily damaging egos.”

“And now? Why are you wanting to date someone now?” Raleigh’s brown eyes are bright, and she tucks a curled chunk of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks are lifted in the remains of a smile .

Why, indeed.

“I guess I’ve just been feeling really isolated lately. Everyone is partnered up.”

I don’t fit in with my friends who are partnered up, and I don’t want to find a new group of single dudes.

And then she stumbles back into my life. The perfect summer distraction.

“Mmm.” Raleigh leans back and crosses her arms, studying me with narrowed eyes.

“Also, my dad’s getting divorced.”

“Wow.” Her face crumples. “Lucy didn’t tell me that. Number four?”

I nod.

“I just told Lucy the other day. She won’t pick up his texts or calls, which is gloriously savage.”

“Twice divorced is bad enough. Four times? That’s his whole personality now.” Raleigh looks like she’s thinking too hard, with her forehead remaining furrowed and her lips pressed tightly together.

“Would you want to get married again?” I slip the question right in there, making things more awkward. But she rolls with it.

“I used to think I needed to be married to be happy.” Raleigh sighs and pulls at her hair with one hand.

“Like, any second now, happiness will fall into my lap. I was waiting for it to all come together.” She lets her eyes fall shut for a long beat.

“I think my mom was probably right. Focus on myself and a career and a future, with only me in it.”

Raleigh and I are so very different. She’s been chasing—craving?—a stable, standard, suburban life, but is it what she really wants? Or is she working to follow her mother’s wishes, and then her husband’s, and maybe even society’s, but ignoring what she wants from life? Does she even know?

I know what I want. And it’s what I’ve been focused on for my entire life: hockey .

Maybe, for once, I’m the one who gets it. I know who I really am. Like it or not, I’m my father’s son, and that’s why I’ve never dated someone seriously. I don’t want to hurt people like he has.

Especially someone like Raleigh.

So while I love hanging out with her, I need to behave myself while she’s in town. I’m just getting to know her again. Hanging out. This is nothing . I’ve gotta make sure we don’t fall into something that can’t happen. Something where I’ll hurt her.

“So, are you ready to ask out Tulip?” Raleigh breaks through my thoughts.

“Rose.” I smirk and raise my eyebrows. “It’s Rose.”

“Right.” Raleigh reaches up and runs her pointer finger over her bottom lip, then touches her neck. I watch, mesmerized at the way she touches her own skin.

“I’m not ready to ask her out yet.”

Or ever, probably.

“Why not?” Raleigh blinks at me. She definitely isn’t buying my bullshit.

I clear my throat and sip from my wine. “I think I need more coaching first.”

Raleigh raises her eyebrows but doesn’t comment.

The waitress delivers our food and Raleigh and I shift our conversation back to ways to ruin a first date. Turns out, all of them are too long to fit on a cross-stitch hoop.

See, I’m even learning her language.

And when I order the creme br?lée and she orders the cheesecake for dessert, I insist that she have the first bite of both.

“You’re a good student.” She smiles and takes a second bite of my creme br?lée.

A half an hour later, we’re on our way back to the Pink Palace. I wanted to make the night stretch longer, but she said she needed to get back.

I pull up at Raleigh’s campsite. She doesn’t get out right away. It’s not like I’m nervous—I’m not going to kiss her—but there’s an anticipatory tension in the car.

“Hey, what are you doing on Friday?” I say, the words out before I can really consider them.

“Hanging out with a chicken in an RV?” Raleigh says without hesitating.

A smile twitches on my lips.

“Well. I hate to mess up your plans, but it’s the fourth of July, and that seems sad and lonely. Want to do something?”

“Right, good idea, we can have another dating lesson.” She taps her lips with a finger. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure.” I glance at the Pink Palace. She must mean we’ll go out to the movie theater.

But she doesn’t.

“We can each pick one and decide which we’ll watch when you get here.”

“Here?” I attempt to clarify.

“Yeah. Or we can watch both.”

Raleigh wants to watch a movie with me here, in her RV, in the middle of the woods, on her tiny couch? Okay.

She nods, the sides of her mouth turning up.

“We might be able to see the fireworks across the lake. I’ll check.”

Raleigh blinks at me with those dark eyes before opening the passenger side door. She slips a foot out.

“Movies and fireworks,” I confirm.

“That isn’t a bad second date idea, to be honest.” Raleigh exits the car, her dress bunched up around her thighs as she slides out of the seat.

“I’ll come at seven on Friday, okay?” I lean over and let my eyes very briefly flit down her body while she’s not looking.

“See you then.” Raleigh slams the Wrangler’s door. I roll down the window.

“Bye, coach. ”

Raleigh rolls her eyes and waves. I watch her unlock the Pink Palace and open the door.

She calls out to Megghen and then closes the door securely behind her.

She pulls aside the curtain above her couch and waves to me, and only then do I drive out of the campsite, lowering the driver’s side window as well to appreciate the smell and sounds of the woods at night.

I don’t love her being out here all alone, even if she did tell me about her nice Midwestern neighbors. But I wouldn’t dare tell her what to do. I wouldn’t dare make her think she needs a man to protect her.

But I wouldn’t mind doing it.