Page 16

Levi

“What’s with you this morning?” Dylan asked, coming to a stop in front of me.

I’d missed every single shot that had been sent my way in this morning’s practice, and had even wiped out four times, which rarely happened during practice.

“I don’t know. Guess I’m just not on my game.” I sighed, not wanting to divulge the truth.

It wasn’t every day you heard that the girl who ripped your heart out was still in love with you.

Those words still shocked me, and it had been five days.

Yes, five days since she uttered those words while we were in New York, and five days since I’d spoken to her after she’d said them.

I’d avoided her at every turn and made it known because I certainly didn’t know how to deal with any of it.

“Not on your game is right. God, I hope you don’t play like that tomorrow night. We are on home turf. Can’t disappoint the fans.”

I nodded, taking one puck that was lying on the ice in front of me and shooting it toward the net, missing again.

“Here’s hoping. Maybe I’ll just sit this game out, tell the coach I fucked up my back or something.”

Dylan gave me a worried look. “Levi, if you need to talk…”

“No, nothing is wrong. It’s all good. Just having an off day.” I sighed. “Or maybe an off week would be more accurate.”

Once showered and changed, I headed up to find Mia at the daycare centre playing with one of the other player’s kids.

I waved from the door, and she immediately got up, put the things she was playing with away, and ran to me.

Picking her up, I placed a kiss on her cheek, grabbed her jacket, and we made our way to the car.

Once Mia was in her car seat, I climbed into the driver’s seat and immediately sent a text to Scottie.

I don’t know why, but I needed to know if what Scarlett had said was true.

Sure, he’d tried to get me to work things out with her, but he’d said nothing that would have led me to believe she was unhappy.

Once I’d messaged, I pulled out of the spot and raced home.

Mia slept soundly beside me in my bed. I glanced at the clock, letting out a yawn.

It was only a little past two. She normally had a nap on practice day, and since she had been so tired when I had to get her up this morning, I wasn’t in a rush to wake her from her nap just yet.

In fact, I had just woken up. I adjusted the pillows behind me and grabbed my phone from my night table just in time to see Scottie’s name flash on my screen.

Scottie: What’s going on? How’s the season going? I’ve been watching. You are on fire this year.

Levi: Thanks. It hasn’t been too bad. How’s things with you?

Scottie: Not bad, same as usual.

Levi: That’s good.

Scottie: So, what’s up? You said you wanted to talk to me about something.

I looked at his question. Yes, that was what I’d said, and I’d alluded to nothing more, probably as a way out if I decided I didn’t want to know the truth. I tapped the edge of my phone, then began typing.

Levi: I wanted to talk to you about Scarlett.

Scottie: Oh, is everything okay with her? She hasn’t messaged or called me since before she left to watch your game in New York. To be honest, I’m getting a little worried.

Levi: So, she’s ignoring you as well?

Scottie: What do you mean? Ignoring me as well? What’s going on out there?

Levi: After I treated her like shit, and you wanted me to apologize, I took her out on a date. Nothing serious before you get all overprotective and brotherly on me.

Scottie: She told me.

Levi: Of course she did.

Scottie: There isn’t much she doesn’t tell me.

I’d forgotten just how close they were, and just how much they shared with one another. So it somewhat shocked me to hear that she hadn’t even spoken to him in the past few days.

Levi: Why didn’t you tell me Duncan died?

Scottie: I didn’t feel it was important information.

Levi: Not important information?

Scottie: Correct, how did you find out?

Levi: Scarlett told me, after I made an ass out of myself. When I went to apologize to her, she also told me she had never been in love with him. Did you know that?

There was no response. The phone went silent. The three little dots weren’t bouncing, but I never took my eyes off the screen, because his silence only meant one thing.

Levi: did you know she was still in love with me, probably never fell out of love with me?

Scottie: Bro…

Levi: Don’t hide it, did you know?

Scottie: I tried to tell you.

Levi: No, you didn’t. You told me I should try to get her back.

Scottie: That’s right and when I called you the night she got engaged, I was going to tell you she was still in love with you, but…

Levi: but I told you I didn’t want to hear her name again.

Scottie: Precisely.

As I stared at my phone screen, the same feelings from the other night flooded me. Shock, confusion, and then anger. It was then Mia stirred. A crying child was something I really didn’t need right at this moment, so I placed my hand on her back, letting her know I was here.

Scottie: Are you okay?

Levi: I’ve got to go, Mia is stirring.

Scottie: If you need to talk message, okay?

Levi: I think right now I just need to be alone.

I put my phone back down on the nightstand and then scooted down beside Mia, pulling her against me, hoping to comfort her enough that she would fall back to sleep.

An hour later, Mia sat in the cart playing a game on my phone while I wandered the grocery store, filling the cart with things for this week. I just rounded a corner and banged right into another cart.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, looking up to see Scarlett standing in front of me, looking disgruntled, until her eyes met mine.

“No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention,” she murmured, then averted her eyes from mine, bending over and grabbing a bag of cookies.

I glanced down at the few things she had in her cart and back at her. “Grocery shopping?” I questioned.

“Dinner,” she muttered.

I glanced back at the items that lay on the bottom of her cart. She had a bag of popcorn, a bottle of soda, some cut-up mango, and now a bag of cookies.

“Dinner? Please tell me you’re going to eat more than that?”

She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not all that hungry.”

It was then Mia looked over her shoulder at Scarlett and smiled. “Hi,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hi,” Scarlett said back, smiling at Mia, but that smile didn’t meet her eyes.

Mia turned back to me, held her little hand by her mouth, and asked, “Is she going to dump coffee on us again?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Mia’s face.

“It was fun!” She giggled, which caused Scarlett and me to laugh.

“Mia, this is my friend Scarlett,” I said, looking over at her as she turned her attention to Mia.

“Daddy, she’s pretty,” Mia said, holding her small hand up in a wave.

“Yes, she is beautiful,” I whispered back to Mia, then up to Scarlett as her eyes fell to mine.

“Levi, about last week…” Scarlett began, but I stopped her before she could finish. I didn’t want to hear she’d made a mistake by telling me her feelings. I’d decided that it wasn’t a bad thing to have things out in the open.

“Scarlett, how about you join Mia and I tonight for dinner?” I said, smiling down at Mia as she looked up at me and over to Scarlett.

“Oh, I couldn’t.”

I looked at her, my eyes falling to the items in her cart again.

“What do you think, Mia, should Scarlett come to dinner at our place tonight?”

Mia smiled and nodded, turning her attention back to her game.

“I think you should join us,” I whispered again, this time winking at her. “I’m making my famous Thai crispy beef with vegetables.”

Scarlett’s eyes lit up. It had always been a favorite of hers, and so I’d always tried to make it when she was home from school.

“God, I haven’t had that in years.”

“So, I guess we can expect you around six?” I said, glancing down at my watch, noticing that it only gave me a couple of hours to get things home and start preparing dinner. “Or will those peanut butter sandwich cookies and mango be sufficient?”

She looked around, then down to the things she’d apparently chosen for dinner and nodded. “Sounds good.”

Mia and Scarlett headed into the living room while I cleaned up after dinner. I listened as Mia talked a mile a minute, showing Scarlett some of her favorite toys. I glanced in every few minutes to see Scarlett watching and listening with intent as Mia rambled on.

Mia hadn’t been around many women, mainly because I never brought the odd date home.

I didn’t want to subject her to anyone who I didn’t feel I could see myself having a long-term relationship with.

Since I also didn’t have many female friends, the only women Mia were around were Lorelai, Aurora, Peyton, Ella, Mrs. Fletcher and her grandmother.

When I finished the dishes, I entered the living room, waiting until Mia finished showing Scarlett her collection of Disney movies.

“Alright, pumpkin, time for bed.”

“But, Dad, I haven’t shown Scarlett Potato.”

I winked at Scarlett. “Do you think you can share Potato with Scarlett next time? It’s already past your bedtime.”

Mia let out a huff, placed her hands on her hips, and looked at Scarlett. “Dad always makes me go to bed early.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Can you read me a story?” she said, coming over and taking me by the hand.

“A short one.”

“Can Scarlett come?”

“I don’t think Scarlett wants to hear a story.”

“Sure, I do,” Scarlett said, smiling at me and winking at Mia.

“Yay! Come on, Scarlett, you’ll love Popcorn the Pug goes to the Movies. It’s my most favorite story, Potato’s too,” she said, taking Scarlett by the hand and leading her down the hall and into her room.

I pulled Mia’s door partially closed, and both Scarlett and I headed back into the living room. Scarlett sat down while I pulled the blinds.

“Would you like a glass of wine?”

“Oh, I was actually going to get going,” Scarlett said, looking down at her hands clasped in her lap.

There was no way she was leaving tonight without us talking about the other night.

“I think you should stay for some wine. I grabbed the bottle specifically for you,” I said, leaving the room and heading to the kitchen to get us a drink and not giving her a chance to respond.

The moment I returned with the two glasses, she looked up at me, reaching for hers.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice low.

“You’re welcome. Shove over.” I winked, watching as she shifted to the left for me to sit down.

She took a sip of her wine, then leaned forward, placing her glass on the table while I did the same, then I looked over at her. She could barely meet my eyes. I knew she was embarrassed about sharing her feelings, but she didn’t need to be, not anymore.

“About the other night,” I started.

“Levi, really, we don’t have to talk about this. I should never have said anything. I don’t know what it was I was doing,” she said, getting up off the couch. “Really, I was in love with Duncan.”

I grabbed her wrist, stopping her from getting up, and when she turned to look at me, I shook my head.

“Scarlett, you can say whatever you want, but I know you. I don’t doubt you loved him, as a friend, but don’t try to tell me now that you were in love with him because you’ve already told me the truth.”

Scarlett slowly sank down to the couch, her eyes locked with mine.

“I spoke to Scottie,” I admitted. “I’m sorry I couldn’t crawl out of my head long enough to tell you how I felt about you.”

Scarlett looked at me. I could see the questions in her eyes.

I didn’t want to rehash the past, anymore.

We’d done that enough. I was ready to move forward.

Without another word, I placed my hand on her cheek and took her mouth with mine, kissing her hard.

When I finally pulled back, she was breathless, but the look in her eyes said it all.

I stood up, taking her hand in mine and led her down the hall to my bedroom where I planned to take what I should have taken years ago.