Page 43

43

Liam

By the time I landed in Detroit, I was over it. The talk with my dad had exhausted me and then I had ended up cramped in a middle seat between two people who spoke to each other the whole time, but inexplicably, did not want to switch with me. Now I was faced with the fact that I was going to have to battle someone for a taxi out of here so I could get back to my girlfriend.

I took a moment to collect myself and pulled my phone out to message Lenny.

“Liam?” The voice that called my name sounded familiar but not familiar enough for me to look up from my phone.

Liam was a common name. The person probably wasn’t talking to me.

“Liam?” The voice was closer this time. Close enough that whoever it was, was actually speaking to me. I turned my head to the right.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a long black coat that I would recognise anywhere—because it was hung up next to mine for many years—greeted me.

“Melanie?”

“How have you been?” she asked, a gentle smile on her face.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve been really good, thanks. You?”

“Not too bad. You went away for Christmas?” She pointed at my duffle bag.

“I went to Westchester, yeah.”

“How are your mom and dad? They must have liked having you back.”

“Yeah, they’re not too bad. It was nice being back there. Things are a bit rocky with Dad, but it was nice to see them for longer than two days. Where have you been?” I nodded to her large pink suitcase. Not something she had when we were together.

Once upon a time, we had a wealth of things to talk about. We never got tired of talking to each other. I realised in the dying days of our relationship that we had stopped talking about anything remotely important. If it wasn’t hockey-related or linked to an event that we were supposed to go to, we didn’t talk about it.

Now, we were reduced to small talk at an airport about our holidays.

“I spent a few days with Asher. The team played an away game the other day, so they were in Boston,” she said, sounding sheepish. Asher was my replacement. He had been on the team for a couple of seasons and played when I wasn’t at my best. He’d played the final three games of last season and every time he stepped out onto the ice, he played like he had a point to prove. He wanted my spot. He wanted it more than I did, and in the end, I was more than happy to give it to him.

“And how is Asher and the rest of the team?” I knew how most of them were given that I talked to Teddy after their win, but I still knew Mel well enough to know that she wanted reassurance that she hadn’t done something wrong. She wanted to know that I didn’t hate her for replacing me with the same person that the team did.

Given that I had firmly moved on, I didn’t care what she did with her life. Romantically or otherwise.

“They’re good. They got the win, which improved the mood,” she said, sounding more confident now we had moved into familiar territory.

“Yeah, Teddy told me about the win. Asher played well, apparently. I didn’t get to see it. Alana doesn’t really watch hockey, and she’d made plans for us when it was on.” Mel didn’t know that those plans were completely rewiring my association with a certain superstition and then not leaving her bed for most of the afternoon.

Mel pursed her lips for a moment before speaking. “Alana. That’s who was with you in those pictures? She really doesn’t like hockey?”

“That’s her. It’s not that she doesn’t like it, more that she typically has other things she would rather do. It used to be studying or cheering for one of the other sports teams. Now it’s baking or seeing if she can read a whole book in the time it takes to play a whole match.”

Or seeing how many times I can come in a six-hour period. We reached four, but I know she wants to try and go for five. I’m already excited for her attempt .

“She’s the one, isn’t she?”

I shook my head to clear it of thoughts of that afternoon. “The one who?”

“I’m not an idiot, Liam. That well-hidden tattoo matches the sign of that bakery all the Panthers are obsessed with. The place where I got your birthday cakes from, Sweet Nothing. The problem is, four different people work there, and I could never figure out which one was connected to you because two are from New York and one is from Boston. But it’s her, I’ve seen her. Rarely, because she’s almost always in the kitchen, but sometimes she would come out and say hi. I met her boyfriend a couple of times as well. He seemed like an interesting guy. I guess he’s an ex too, now.”

“Let me guess, you talked hockey with him?”

She laughed softly. “Yeah, we did. What’s the story there?”

“Between me and Alana?” She nodded. “We lived next door to each other and were in each other’s pockets all the time. She’s been my best friend since I was four.”

“What happened?” She sounded almost sad.

“She left before high school graduation because she thought I would break her heart and she wanted to get ahead of the game,” I answered truthfully. It was nice to be able to have an answer for it now.

“Is she why you wanted to move here? I did think it was an odd choice when you could have gone back to New York.”

“I didn’t want to go to New York because my parents live there and I love them, but my dad coming to my games frequently and having lots of opinions face to face was not something that I wanted for myself. But hey, if I moved to New York, I would probably still be playing because I wouldn’t have wanted to disappoint him.”

“But why Detroit? There were other teams interested in you that would have kept you from your dad.”

“You don’t have to believe me, but I didn’t choose Detroit because it was where Alana lived. I wouldn’t have done that to you. Alana and I hadn’t spoken until about two weeks ago when we bumped into each other in this very airport. I came to Detroit because Teddy was here, and I was twenty-six and distinctly aware that I was closer to the end of my career than the beginning of it. And while I still could, I wanted to play with him. It was the best choice for me.

“Just like retiring at the end of last season was. I guess you ending our relationship might have also been for the best because I think we might both be better for it. You look good, Mel. I might see you around if you keep hanging out with the team because I told Teddy that I would help with the kids outreach program in the new year, but I’ve gotta go.”

She nodded her head.

“It was good to see you too, Liam,” she said softly before she turned and walked away.

When she had disappeared from view, I walked out of the airport.

The moment I stepped outside, a long, checked coat that looked vaguely familiar caught my eye. I stopped and turned towards it.

“Alright there, Muller?” Lenny said, leaning against a car.

“Len?”

“Your eyes are not deceiving you. I am here. In the flesh. You’re welcome.” She smiled as I walked over to her.

“Where did you get a car?”

“It’s Max’s. Pretty sure she only let me drive it because I said I wanted it to pick you up.”

“You didn’t have to come get me,” I said as I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me.

“I know, that’s what makes me so nice,” she said before she pressed her lips against mine. The kiss started chaste and just as I was about to pull away, she looped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me closer, sweeping her tongue into my mouth and deepening the kiss. I sunk into it.

She pulled away first, breathless.

“Well, that’s quite the welcome home,” I teased.

“Don’t get used to it. The glasses, sweatpants combo you have going on short-circuited my brain for a moment.”

“You know you shouldn’t have told me that, right?” I pulled her in for another kiss, my hand cupping the back of her neck. She deepened it instantly.

I was the one to pull away this time. Lenny cast her eyes down and noticed the hardness pressed against my sweatpants. She dropped a hand down against it and squeezed, my hips stuttered into her grip before she released me.

“That’s quite enough of that.” She winked. “Come on, Max is at mine. She’s cooking, and she keeps texting with threats of using my brownie ingredients to make them herself because I’m taking too long to get back. She might call my bluff and actually do it, which we need to prevent because Max is not a baker.”

“You were gonna make me brownies?”

“Yeah, I am making you brownies. ”

“Lucky me. Give me the car keys.” I held out one of my hands as I readjusted myself with the other.

“I can drive back,” she countered, although her eyes were looking downwards.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to.”

She looked back up and our eyes locked. She smiled and dropped the keys in my hand.

“You better start thinking unsexy things now because Max will notice that thing if it’s still standing to attention when we get back. And I have welcome home plans for you that do not involve you coming any time soon,” she said, as she climbed in the car.

I got in on the driver’s side. “What do your plans entail?”

“You’ll find out,” she teased, brushing her lips against mine once more before I turned the car on and drove out of the airport.