Page 43

CHAPTER 42

GRADY

A s much as I wanted to head to Holden Cove for the grand opening of Love, ME, there was no way. We had a game in Toronto that same night. I knew better than to think Jill had scheduled the opening for a day I was guaranteed to be busy. She wasn’t like that. And she probably had never looked at a Brawlers season schedule in her life.

I’d been checking my phone enough that AJ was back to mean mugging me, but I wanted to see if any photos of the store got posted to the newly opened Instagram account. All it had up so far was a “coming soon” square. It was dying to see what she’d done with the old shoe store. But more than anything, I was hoping for a shot of her. It had been weeks since I’d seen her, and I’d worn a hole in the photos I had of her on my phone.

“Game time, Holloway. You ready?”

“Yeah, asshole,” I said, tossing my phone in my bag and turning to my locker to get dressed.

“We’ve got these guys,” Cooper said, nodding his head with a shit eating grin on his face. I hoped he was still wearing it after the third period.

Training camp and the preseason games had given us enough time to get Michum sorted on the line. We weren’t exactly perfect, but we were getting there. If nothing else, we’d learned where we were weak, so as we headed out onto the ice, we knew what was going to break first.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I shouted as we piled in after the first period.

We were up one-nothing, and so far things had been running smoothly. I grabbed my water bottle, chugging it before ripping my pads off. I laid on the floor, stretching my hamstrings out as the rest of the guys did their thing. Some sat with their eyes closed, meditating on the bench. A few took quick cold showers to cool down and get their blood pumping. I usually liked to listen to a playlist for breaks, so I reached for my phone, spotting the notification as soon as the screen lit up.

Love,Me.Books has a new post.

I sat up straight, my eyes glued to the little squares. It was a carousel of images, one showing the front of the store, all decked out with balloons and lights. Then there was one of the inside, taken from up high, showing off the whole thing. Rows of bookshelves and a bright yellow corner with a pastel tent set up.

“The kids’ corner,” I mumbled to myself, laughing. It looked great.

But then I swiped and found the image I’d been looking for. Jill was standing with one arm on Joey’s shoulder and the other around Cash’s waist. LeAnn was next to her husband and Jill’s parents were on the other side of Cash. It was the whole family, smiling and laughing and looking so happy. A mean stab of jealousy got me right in the chest and I rubbed at the spot, my eyes fixed on Jill’s beaming smile.

“She in the middle?” AJ asked, bending low to look over my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I said, ready to ignore whatever shit came out of his mouth next.

“She’s pretty. That her store or something?”

“Yep. She just opened it tonight.”

“Oh, wow. Good for her.”

I looked up at him, trying to read if he was shitting me or something. But he just raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“You gonna just say it?”

“Say what?”

“Don’t be a dick, AJ. Just spit it out. Give me grief for still caring about her or whatever and get it over with.”

He sat on the bench, his giant goalie leg pads right in my face. “Holloway, you played like an ace out there. If this is what was on your mind, I don’t want to do anything but encourage you to keep at it.”

“You were the one who told me to drop her.”

He snickered, like he knew exactly what I was talking about but wasn’t going to own it. “That was before I saw how she fucking broke you.” My chest burned, because she had and I still felt it. “But right now you don’t look broken, man. You look hopeful. So whatever you’re thinking, keep thinking it.” He pushed off the bench and went back to his locker.

I turned back to my phone, swiping through the rest of the photos, but none were of her. I stared at the family shot for the rest of the break, my playlist blaring in my ears. When it came time to go back out, I was even more amped than at the start of the game. And by the end of the third period it showed; I scored two goals and we won, four-nothing.

AJ had said I looked hopeful, but that wasn’t just it. I had an idea. But I was going to need help pulling it off.

“Hey, Coop,” I asked as we boarded the jet. “Your wife like to read?”

Cooper smiled. “You bet. She’s voracious.”

“Perfect. That’s absolutely perfect.”