Page 8 of Replay (Toronto Blaze #3)

You Have Much to Learn, Padawan

Josh

I was in a great mood when I got back to my condo. Katie was talking to me, the donairs had been spectacular, and Fitch was making a late dinner. Two donairs didn’t fuel a hockey player, so this was excellent.

“Hey, you got extra?”

He rolled his eyes as he turned down the heat. “Of course I have extra. But didn’t you say you were picking something up when you were out?”

I opened the cupboard to get out the plates. “Yeah, but it was just a couple of donairs. I’m still hungry.”

“What are—never mind. Let’s eat.”

He plated the stir-fry he’d put together.

He was an awesome cook. When Cooper had asked if I wanted another roommate after Bongo got his own place, I’d said yes immediately.

I liked people, got along with almost everyone, and didn’t like being alone.

Once I found out how well Fitchy cooked, I made a deal where I’d get the groceries and clean up if he’d prepare the meals.

Even though he was ten years older than me, we were working out great as roommates.

We sat down at the breakfast bar with our food.

“You’re in a good mood,” he commented. “Did your plan work with Katie?”

“I think so.” I took a bite, slightly burning my tongue, but it was worth it. “This is fantastic.”

He smiled. He liked to hear when he’d done well.

I thought life with his ex hadn’t been smooth even before they moved to Edmonton, when apparently things blew up big-time.

He didn’t really talk about it, but word got around.

I didn’t know what the problem had been with his wife, but if letting him know he was a good cook helped him, I was happy to do it.

“Thanks. Are you two friends now?”

I swallowed. “Pretty sure. She didn’t say it, but she didn’t kick me out, even when I mentioned what went down in high school. And I asked her about a TV show I knew she’d watched, and she talked about it, a lot.”

“Did you watch it?”

I scooped up more food. “Yeah. It was one of the things we did. Even after we broke up, I kept watching the things we used to watch together. People always said we were different, but we had fun even before we started having sex.”

Fitch paused. “Were you… Maybe this is too personal, but were you her first?”

I nodded. “She was mine too.” I stopped eating. “It wasn’t good, what our parents did. We could have been something really special.”

His smile twisted. “Yeah, but it might have gone totally off the rails anyway.”

“You’re talking about yourself?”

“I am, but it applies to a lot of people.”

He’d never mentioned his wife before. Did this mean he wanted to talk? “You’re from Sweden, right?”

“I was born there. My family moved to California when I was ten.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that. That’s why your English is so good?”

“Most Swedes learn English.”

I scraped the last of the food from my plate. “I don’t speak any other languages.”

“Most North Americans don’t.”

That sounded like something that should be fixed. But right now, I wanted to know more about Fitch. “So, was your ex from Sweden too?”

“No, I met her in California. USC.”

So he’d gone the college route. I wasn’t surprised. “You played in school after you were drafted? Were you college sweethearts?”

He pushed his plate away. “I guess you could say that. We met my junior year.” He stopped, and I thought that was it.

Then he continued. “I’d been drafted by LA, so we knew I was staying there.

I played well, and she enjoyed being a WAG.

The women were all pretty tight. But I didn’t want to just play hockey, I wanted the Cup. ”

I nodded. I felt the same. Didn’t every hockey player?

“I was in my thirties, a free agent, and LA didn’t look like management was trying that hard to win. My agent got an offer from Edmonton, and they’re a competitive team. Lost to Minnesota just before Minnesota—well, you know.”

Yeah, we knew. They won the Cup by beating us.

“She said she’d give Edmonton a try. Maybe she thought she did, but anything different from LA was a problem. The house, the weather, the other WAGs. We started fighting, about stupid things.”

That would suck.

“She visited LA while I was on a road trip. And then, the next road trip, she went back and stayed there.”

“Sorry about that.”

He shrugged. “Our families were supportive, and I thought we were strong, but apparently not. If Katie’s family and yours are opposed, plus with the stress this life puts on partners…well, maybe that’s too much opposition.”

I got what he was saying, but I wasn’t giving up on Katie. Time to move on.

“So did you get a degree? I went from juniors to the AHL to the NHL. No college.”

He stood to pick up our plates. “Yes. Just because I was drafted didn’t mean I’d play.”

People had told me to have a backup plan in case hockey didn’t work out, but I’d never listened to them. I’d been sure I’d play, and here I was.

I stood—I was supposed to clean up when he cooked. “Hey, that’s my job.” I grabbed the rest of the dishes and took them over, hip checking him away from the sink.

“I don’t have anything else to do right now.”

I shook my head, blocking him from the sink. “You can go play a game or watch TV or something. We’ve got, like, fifty million channels and streaming sites.” I started running the water in the sink, and the sneaky fucker put some dishes in the dishwasher. “Hey!”

He backed off once his hands were empty. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Anything good out to watch lately?”

Huh. We hadn’t spent that much time together in the evening.

I was usually out somewhere, or he was. There’d been a bunch of guys coming back for the preseason I’d met up with, and I’d been around for training camp, checking on the newbies and helping out where I could.

“What do you like? Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, chick flicks…”

He leaned against the island, hopefully not checking on whether I did a proper job on the dishes. I preferred a roommate who wasn’t a mess, but I didn’t want a clean freak who’d be on my case all the time.

“Action. Thrillers and suspense.”

“Okay, maybe there’s a new James Bond or Mission Impossible ?”

“I’m going to take a guess here and say that’s not what you watch.”

I put the frying pan in the drying rack and pulled the sink plug. “No, I’m big into Star Wars , loved the Dune movies, stuff like that.”

“So, you like baby Yoda?”

I stared at him. “You mean Grogu?”

He stared back. “Is that baby Yoda?”

I wiped my hands and hung up the towel. “You have much to learn, Padawan.”

“I don’t need to follow your imaginary world.”

I crossed my arms. “Because James Bond is so real?”

He grinned. “You got me. MI6 is not quite like the Bond movies.”

I wasn’t going out tonight and had nothing really to do except try to figure out my next move with Katie. “Tell you what, you find something you like and I’ll watch it with you. And then you watch something I want.”

He grinned. “Any limits on what I can pick?”

I rubbed my hand on my pants. “I don’t like scary stuff. Call me a wimp if you want, but I don’t like horror.”

“I don’t either. What about something just a little scary? Not a lot of blood, but some suspense.”

I shrugged. “I’ll try, but if I don’t like it, I’m not going to keep watching.”

“Same here.”

“Beer?” I asked.

“Sure.”

I grabbed two out of the fridge and followed him into the living room. I had a big couch with lots of lounging space, since I often had a bunch of hockey players here, and a couple of recliners. A huge TV and gaming system with killer sound.

I’d re-signed with the Blaze a couple of years ago, for five years and pretty good money. If I kept playing at this level, I could maybe pick what team I wanted to play with next. Right now, I was happy with the Blaze. And if Katie was here in Toronto for another year…

Fitch settled in a recliner and I spread out on the couch after I gave him his beer.

“So what are we watching? James Bond?”

He waggled his brows. “Have you seen Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ?”

I frowned at him. “Never heard of that.”

“As a Swede, I have to correct that gap in your life.”

* * *

“That was sick, man.” The movie had definitely been disturbing.

Fitch turned to me, his eyebrows drawn together. “Was it too much?”

“Right on the line.”

“What are you going to inflict on me in return?”

“I have to think about it.”

He smirked at me. “You’ve got time. We have a game tomorrow night.”

Right . Even if we weren’t playing in every preseason game, we needed to watch.

See what these newbies were like and how our opponents were looking.

Injuries happened, and any of the guys trying out might be playing by season’s end.

“Yeah. Any of these new guys in particular you think might make it?”

He shrugged. “You’d know. This has been your team for a couple of years now.”

“Yeah, but you’ve played longer than me.”

“Calling me old?”

I grinned. “If the gray hair fits.”

He threw a pillow at me. Then we talked about the guys who were still battling for a spot. I thought Luke Walker showed a lot of promise on defense. He was Mitchy’s old roommate.

Plus, the name was cool. I could call him Skywalker if he was playing with us.

Then it was time to go to bed. It had been a good day—mending bridges with Katie and getting to know my new teammate. Even if that movie was sick.

“Hey, Ducky, can I say something?”

“Sure.”

“It relates to what we were talking about before—relationships.”

He didn’t look like it was a good thing, but I still wanted to hear it. He did have a lot more experience with women than me, since he’d been married.

“I’m glad you’ve talked to her, cleared the air. But…”

“But what?”

“But there was a reason you two split up.”

“Yeah, our parents.”

“They played a part, yes, but?—”

“Spit it out!”

He sighed. “You’re going to have to deal with your mother and her parents if you do get back together with her. They might still want to break you up.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but the way my mother reacted? Maybe there would still be things with Katie’s parents too. “I’m going to talk to Katie and not just listen to them.”

“You didn’t before.”

“I know, but—” He lifted a hand and I waited. Better listen in case it was something I needed to know.

“The fact that you were convinced to break up with her, and she didn’t fight it? I’m just saying, you might have had issues beyond your parents. And if that hasn’t changed, the outcome won’t either. Relationships aren’t easy. Maybe this one isn’t going to work out for you.”

I didn’t say anything, and he went into his room.

Fuck.

I’d thought if I convinced Katie to go out with me, and I didn’t listen to my mom and her parents, we’d be good. But he had a point. Why did I believe them so easily? Was I just a dupe? Had I changed?

And what had happened with Katie?