Page 17

Ten

“It sounds like you and Finn are settling in,” Aunt Eileen said.

Sheridan juggled the phone with one hand while Hattie tugged her toward a cluster of arborvitaes harboring a squirrel the dog had been tracking. “For the most part.”

The hospital was a private facility located in one of the wealthier suburbs.

The environment was dramatically different from the trauma centers where she was used to being assigned.

The pace was much slower, which meant the hours dragged.

So far, her most difficult case had been a fractured hip suffered by a grandmother who was dismayed to miss the Sadie Hawkins dance at her retirement community.

The staff was friendly enough, though. Most of the other nurses had families at home, so they welcomed Sheridan’s choice to take the afternoon and evening hours.

She’d planned her schedule that way to allow Alek and Finn that precious afterschool time together.

They had a “guys” dinner on those evenings that included lots of protein and a heavy dose of SportsCenter.

The best part of her schedule, however, was that it gave her an excuse to be away from the house when Alek was home.

Who knew having her brother’s best friend as a roommate would be so enticing.

Especially when he was constantly walking around in form-fitting workout clothes.

She didn’t have to wonder about what was underneath because the entire world had peeped him when he posed naked in the body issue for a popular sports magazine.

The less she tempted herself, the better.

“Don’t forget I want to see pictures of Finn in his Halloween costume,” her aunt demanded.

Sheridan yanked on Hattie’s leash. The dog whined in protest before falling into a perfect heel beside her. “Of course, I won’t forget. Finn hasn’t stopped talking about dressing up as Alek this year.”

Her nephew’s hero worship of Alek still bothered her. Finn’s therapist confirmed Dr. Rose’s theory that having a larger-than-life stand-in for Jamie was likely a coping mechanism that allowed him to delay his grief.

“Isn’t that going to make things worse down the road?” she’d asked him when they met for coffee in the hospital cafeteria the other day.

“Hard to say,” he’d replied with a shrug.

“Every kid is different. But this behavior isn’t unusual with boys his age.

All we can do is keep the lines of communication open until he’s ready to talk about it.

I’m encouraged that he has begun to mention his father during our last couple of sessions.

He shuts down when I ask about his mother, though.

From what you’ve told me, that’s to be expected. ”

She felt a twinge of guilt evading Alek’s question about Finn’s relationship with Madison when she’d spilled all the family tea with the therapist.

But that was done in the name of helping Finn.

Alek was best left thinking whatever he wanted about his former love.

“There’s been a lot of chatter about Alek’s play, even down here in Florida,” her aunt said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Really? I’ll admit that I haven’t been paying much attention to sports talk. They like to blow things out of proportion.” She turned the corner and headed up the street toward Alek’s house. “I know the Mayhem haven’t gotten off to their best start.”

That’s putting it mildly.

In fact, Alek and his teammates’ record was below five hundred through their first month of play. They’d only played five games in front of a home crowd so far this year, winning three of them. Based on what she’d heard from the WAGs, the fans were starting to get restless.

Sheridan hadn’t made it to another game since that first one. Their home games had all been played on school nights. She was grateful that Alek had backed her up on the rule that school came first. There was less drama when she and Finn stayed home and watched the games on TV.

The WAGs, on the other hand, were a different story.

Despite her not making the games, they insisted she participate in everything they did.

Between Freya and Sloane, Sheridan didn’t have a choice but to join them for Pilates three mornings a week.

As a result, she ached in places she didn’t know existed.

She was counting the days until they no longer felt the need to include her.

In fairness, though, she was looking forward to tonight.

Claire was hosting a Halloween party at her home.

While the team was still out of town, the WAGs banded together so the kids could go trick-or-treating as a group with several of the moms acting as chaperones, followed by pizza and games.

Most of Finn’s experience at trick-or-treating was limited to dressing up and walking around the family bar.

Not that it was a bad thing. Barn Burner’s patrons showered him with enough candy to last a month.

Still, he was beyond stoked to finally be able to go door-to-door.

“How is Alek taking all the criticism?” her aunt asked when Sheridan and Hattie turned into Alek’s driveway.

“He’s a professional who knows it’s only the first month of a long season,” Sheridan replied as if she and Alek had actually discussed it.

They hadn’t.

The few times they had spoken over the past couple of weeks, their conversations had been cordial, most of them focused on Finn.

Although, there had been one that did get a little .

. . awkward. It involved Hattie and her fascination for Alek’s underwear.

Alek’s cleaning lady caught the dog sneaking into his bedroom and helping herself to his briefs.

Sheridan’s first instinct was to deny, deny, deny until she recalled all the times she’d witnessed the dog sleeping on Jamie’s favorite sweatshirt. Still, she wanted Hattie to know she had her back. Sheridan decided to go down swinging.

“How do you know the woman doesn’t have a side hustle, selling your unmentionables to your legions of female fans while letting the dog take the heat?”

Alek’s reaction was to cross his arms over his chest and look down his God-like nose at her.

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on the jockstrap moocher. It would help if you stopped tempting her by leaving your clothes strewn about on the floor, though.”

He scoffed because they both knew the neatnik wasn’t guilty of that. They’d stared at one another for a long moment before the charged silence grew awkward, and Sheridan made some excuse about checking on Finn and hotfooted it away. That had been six days ago.

The Mayhem were wrapping up a three-game road trip in Chicago tonight.

The team was expected home by midnight. They were playing their first back-to-back game tomorrow evening at home.

They’d have Friday off before playing a matinee game on Saturday.

Alek’s parents were coming into town for that game.

They’d invited her and Finn to explore the Dells in Door County on Sunday.

Sheridan had always liked Alek’s mom and dad.

And she was grateful they were offering her an excuse to be out of town that day.

Zach Picard was hosting a private party for his teammates on Sunday to celebrate the upcoming launch of his restaurant.

According to the scuttlebutt at Pilates earlier today, Alek had invited Miss Lane as his plus-one.

Claire made some noises about Sheridan tagging along with her and Gus.

While Sheridan appreciated the other woman’s kind gesture, she was glad to have an out.

Even if she had the sneaking suspicion Alek had put his parents up to arranging their little day trip so she’d be out of the picture.

Given the way she’d behaved the last time she, Alek, and Finn’s teacher were together, she couldn’t really blame him.

Sheridan was surprised at how quickly things were moving between Alek and Finn’s teacher, though. According to Finn, on the mornings he drove Finn and Gunner to school, Alek always goes through the drive-thru to get the boys a donut.

“Alek gets a coffee for Miss Lane, too. She likes lots of whipped cream on hers,” Finn told her.

The teacher had also been to two Mayhem games. Both times with several other teachers from the school. Sheridan felt a pique of satisfaction that Miss Lane hadn’t been invited to the family room yet.

“This is all your fault,” she chastised herself, careful to cover the microphone with her thumb. “You encouraged him. And it’s not like he’ll ever look at you the same way. Little sister, remember?”

Sheridan jumped when a car pulled up beside her in Alek’s driveway. She said a little prayer that whoever it was hadn’t heard her.

“Oh my God! Is that your dog?” Sloane said from the driver’s side of a sleek Mercedes convertible.

Hattie answered for her, giving the woman a confident woof.

Sloane squealed. “You are gorgeous .”

Sheridan looked down at her ratty leggings and well-worn sneakers. Sloane was clearly talking about the dog. “Um, Aunt Eileen. Finn and I will FaceTime you later, okay?”

“Sure, honey. Enjoy the party tonight.”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you until the party later,” Sheridan said once she’d pocketed her phone. “Did I miss something?”

The other woman was already out of her car and kneeling in front of Hattie. “What’s the dog’s name?”

“Hat Trick. We call her Hattie.”

“That’s the perfect name for a hockey dog. My fans are going to eat you up.” Sloane wrapped her arms around Hattie’s neck and gave the dog a squeeze.

Hattie soaked up the love as if it was her due. Sheridan rolled her eyes.

“Does she have a social media account?” Sloane asked when she stood back up.

“I’m sorry, what? Um. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s a dog.”

Now it was Sloane who was rolling her eyes. “She’s the adorable dog of a sexy hockey player. Just think of how much money you could make with a few posts a week.”

“Except she’s not Alek’s dog. She belongs to Finn. And Alek isn’t a dog person. He tolerates her in his house for Finn.”