Page 25

CHAPTER 25

EVIE

I’m nervous when I drive over to Alec’s house to meet his family before the game. Not because of Megan, obviously, since she and I talk so frequently. But I haven’t seen or spoken to Alec’s parents since he and I started dating.

I know they’ve always loved me. But that doesn’t mean they’ll think I’m right for Alec.

To be fair, Megan has insisted at least twenty times that my worry is unfounded, and her mother and father are thrilled for me and Alec.

But I’ll feel better once I’ve seen them and can judge for myself.

Megan is waiting for me on the front porch when I pull into the driveway, her smile wide, her arm waving with way too much enthusiasm. She meets me at the car, bouncing on her toes while I lift Juno out of her car seat. Juno has outgrown her infant carrier now, so once she’s out of the car, I drop her right into Megan’s arms.

“Oh my gosh!” Megan sing-songs. “She’s so big! Oh Juno, you love your Auntie Megan, don’t you? Yes, you do!”

Alec’s mom is waiting for me at the front door.

She has a few more wrinkles than she did the last time I saw her, but she’s still as lovely as she’s always been, with warm brown eyes and a smile that reminds me of Alec. She pulls me into the warmest hug, then looks me right in the eye, her hands pressed against either cheek. “I knew giving you that cinnamon roll recipe was a good idea,” she says.

Alec’s father is a little more reserved when he says hello, but he still shakes my hand and pats me on the shoulder. “If my son’s phone calls to me the past few weeks are any indication, you’re good enough for him, and that’s good enough for me.”

“See?” Megan says. “I told you there was nothing to worry about.”

She’s right. At least, when it comes to her family.

But there’s still one storm cloud looming over my holiday plans.

Devon is still coming to dinner.

He’s supposed to arrive sometime tomorrow night, just in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday. We haven’t talked too much about his plans. I gave him Alec’s address, and he knows we’re eating with the entire Sheridan family.

What he doesn’t know is that Alec and I are together.

I can’t decide if it was a mistake not to tell him, but I was afraid it might influence his decision to come. And for Juno’s sake, I didn’t want that to happen.

I’ll just tell him about Alec as soon as he gets here, when it’s too late for him to change his plans. Hopefully, as soon as he meets Juno, he’ll fall as much in love with her as the rest of us are, and nothing else will matter.

It should be easy if she’s in her Appies gear because my baby is the cutest thing on the planet in Appies turquoise and gray.

By the time the five of us finally make it to the Summit for the game, the arena is buzzing with energy and excitement, and I eat it up. It’s been years since I’ve done this, and I can’t wait to get inside the arena—and not just to see Alec play, though he’s definitely the biggest part of my excitement. But it also just feels good to be back at a game.

“Just like old times, huh?” Megan says, giving my arm a squeeze.

I point at Juno, who is strapped to my chest in her sling, facing outward. “Really? Just like old times?”

Megan rolls her eyes and laughs. “Okay, fine. The baby is new.” Juno’s diaper bag slips off her shoulder, dropping onto her elbow, and Megan grunts. “Oof,” she says as she shifts it back up. “What did you pack in here?”

“A bottle for Juno, a water bottle for me, two extra baby outfits, a full day’s worth of diapers and wipes, a blanket, and three different teething toys,” I say without missing a beat.

“You’re seriously gonna need all that during one hockey game?”

“I hope not,” I say. “But I’m prepared for every possible contingency.”

Once we arrive at our seats, I introduce Alec’s family to Gracie and Bailey, who are sitting nearby, then turn my attention to warmups. Most of the guys warm up without their helmets on, so it’s easy to spot Alec skating a wide loop around the Appies’ half of the ice. I wait for him to look up, to search for me in the stands, but he keeps his focus down. Which is totally fine. This is not a moment I need to be about me. But something about the set of his shoulders has me worried. I could be wrong, but he looks like something is bothering him.

Then again, it’s not like I’m familiar with Alec’s warmup routine. This could be totally normal.

Megan’s dad passes a bucket of popcorn down the row, and Megan takes a big handful before offering some to me. I do the same, careful not to drop any in Juno’s hair while I watch Alec work on his stick handling.

“Have you and Alec said I love you yet?” Megan asks in between bites like it’s not a monumentally enormous question.

I practically choke on my popcorn. “Seriously? You’re just tossing out that question like it’s no big deal?”

“Why not? I’m curious.”

“It hasn’t even been a month, ” I say.

“Yes, it has been. You kissed him before the Halloween thing, and that was definitely a month ago.”

“It was three weeks ago,” I correct. “And that is way too soon to be saying any I love yous.”

“You guys are no fun,” Megan says. “You’ve basically known each other forever. You should just say it already. I bet you already feel it.”

It’s possible she’s right, but if she is, I’m definitely not telling her before I tell her brother.

Eventually, Parker drops into the seat beside me, and we chat for the last few minutes of warmups. The entire time, something niggles in the back of my brain. A quiet discomfort telling me that all is not right with the world. Is it Alec? Was there really something bothering him during warmups?

I look down to check on Juno and find her perfectly content, pacifier in her mouth and noise-cancelling headphones snug on her ears. Yesterday, Alec brought over a pair in Appies turquoise and gray, tiny logos centered on each earpiece. He had them made just for her, and I’m so glad he did because it’s really loud in here, and I wouldn’t have thought to get her any.

She seems fine, so what else could it be?

When my phone buzzes from the outside pocket of my diaper bag, I scramble for it, already expecting bad news. Which is weird. I’m not the kind of person who usually gets premonitions.

But sure enough, the text on my phone is definitely bad news. It even came with its own warning label. Hey, Evie. Bad news.

Devon

Hey, Evie. Bad news. I’ve got to go to California for a few days, so I can’t come for Thanksgiving. But this is big. Could even be huge. I wish I could see you and Juno, but I can’t miss this opportunity. I’ll let you know more soon.

I read the text once, then again, then a third time.

He’s not coming.

For weeks, I’ve been preparing my mind, thinking through how co-parenting is going to look, making room to let him back in, at least in part, because I wanted Juno to know her father.

And he’s not. freaking. coming.

I force a breath out through my nose and hand my phone to Megan, my eyes locked on the Zamboni driver as he moves from one side of the ice to the other.

Beside me, I hear Megan swear under her breath before her arm wraps around my shoulders. “You okay?”

I breathe out a disbelieving laugh. “Honestly, I don’t know why I ever believed him. This is Devon we’re talking about. Of course he isn’t coming. I should have known from the start.”

“No,” Megan says, her tone firm. “There is no you should have in this situation. He told you he was coming. That he wanted to meet his daughter. You had every reason to believe him.”

I shoot her a knowing look. “Did I, though?”

“Okay, so maybe he doesn’t have the best track record.” She holds my gaze for a long moment. “Break down the feelings for me. Sad? Angry? Annoyed? What do you have going on?”

I take a deep breath and wrap my arms a little tighter around Juno, grateful that she’s too little to know the disappointment of her father not coming.

“Is it terrible that I mostly just feel relieved?” I look over at Megan. “I was trying to rally and be optimistic for Juno’s sake, but I don’t want her to have a father who makes empty promises. He’ll just keep breaking her heart, Megan. Even if he came this time. Would there be a next? Would he ever decide to prioritize her over his own selfish desires?”

“I don’t know,” she says, giving my shoulders another squeeze. “But it’s your job to protect her, and if you don’t think you can trust him, it’s okay to keep him at a distance until he’s earned the right to be present.”

“If he ever earns it,” I say. But after this, I’m not sure I want to give him the chance. I can’t live the rest of our lives with the possibility of his involvement looming over us. He either wants to be Juno’s father or he doesn’t. End of story.

Our conversation slows as the overhead lights in the arena dim, and turquoise strobe lights flash across the ice. The national anthem plays, the teams are introduced, and then it’s game on.

Only, Alec isn’t on the ice.

I scoot forward in my seat, anxious to find him, and Megan does the same. “Did he not start? I don’t remember the last time he didn’t start.”

A few more minutes pass before a line change finally brings Alec onto the ice. I practically hold my breath as I watch him play. He’s playing well, but something feels different. When I moved into my new house, Alec transferred his sports subscription package to me so I could continue watching his games. I have been diligent, watching every Appies game he’s played since we started dating, so I’ve gotten used to the way he moves on the ice. It’s why I was so excited to finally come see him play in person.

But tonight, there’s a physicality and a roughness to his game that I haven’t seen before. Even as a defenseman, he’s not the kind of player who will ever throw the first punch. When he was in college, he spent very little time in the penalty box relative to other players, and when I dug up his stats on his Appies seasons, the same held true. He uses his speed and his ability to read the game more than he uses his body. But he’s using his body tonight.

A lot.

He looks like a tightly coiled spring ready to explode if someone touches him the wrong way. If I didn’t know him so well, I might not notice anything. But there’s definitely something off.

“Um, what has gotten into him?” Megan says at the end of the first period.

I bite my lip. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play like this.”

She glances at the scoreboard. “I mean, they’re killing it, so maybe it’s not a bad thing?”

Van’s wife, Amelia turns in her seat and looks up at me. “Alec’s really on fire tonight.”

I nod and smile, and we chat for a few minutes about the game, but I can’t quite shake the tension spreading up my shoulders, making my neck feel tight.

We’re two minutes into the second period before Alec is back in, this time paired with Theo as his defensive partner.

I cross my fingers for Alec as the game shifts from one defensive zone to the other. It’s hard to follow all the action when I’m semi-distracted by Juno, so I happily surrender her when Alec’s mom asks if she can hold her for a while.

I’ve just moved back to my seat and gotten Juno’s sling off when Megan gasps, and I turn my eyes back to the ice. “What is it? What happened?”

“He was hit,” she says. “I think Alec was hit with the puck.”

At first, I can’t find Alec on the ice for all the players surrounding him, but then they move out of the way, and I finally see his face.

His bleeding face.

“Oh gosh, Megan. He’s bleeding. Is he bleeding?”

She wraps an arm around me. “He’s bleeding. But he’s okay. He’s still on his feet.”

We watch in silence as he crosses the ice and heads into the tunnel. Play continues without him, but I have zero interest in watching the game.

“I have to get to him,” I say, spinning in my seat, looking toward the aisle.

Parker lifts her hands, gently placing them on my arms and stopping my momentum. “You can’t get to him,” she says gently. “But I’m sure he’s okay.” She drops her hands and pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to text one of the trainers and see if he can get me an update from the medical team.”

I force myself to take a deep breath while we wait for a response.

Parker smiles warmly. “It’s not his first injury,” she says, her voice infused with a measure of calm I wish I could steal and have for myself.

“Definitely not,” Megan adds.

I think of the bruises and scars I’ve noticed on Alec’s body over the past few weeks. Some he’s had a story for, others he hasn’t been able to identify at all. That’s how many there are. Not very many on his face, though, which is lucky because he has such a pretty face.

I force another calming breath. “Does this feeling ever go away? This…worry?”

Parker’s eyes turn sympathetic. I’m not sure how long she and Logan have been together, but she has to know exactly what this is like. “Not really,” she says gently. “But you do get a little more used to it.”

Down on the ice, the Appies score, and I look down to see that it was Logan who made the goal. I feel bad for keeping Parker’s attention off the game, but she waves away my concern. “He’s done it before, and he’ll do it again.” Her phone pings with an incoming message, and she looks down. “Okay. Eleven stitches on his left cheek, but otherwise, he’s totally fine.”

I sink back into my chair while Megan relays the information down to her parents, but barely another moment passes before a cheer erupts in the arena because Alec is back on the ice.

With eleven stitches in his freaking face.

Megan laughs, but I only shake my head. “What is he doing? Is he for real going to keep playing? With stitches?”

Parker shrugs. “Hockey players are a different breed. He wouldn’t be the first one to do it.”

I watch the rest of the game with my heart in my throat. With two minutes to go, the Appies are up by two—they’re all playing like machines—and I start to relax. Alec has been in more minutes of the third period than the first two combined, and I have to wonder if the coach sees what I see. That he’s literally managing to be everywhere at once. He’s blocking, he’s passing, he’s reading the game with expert eyes. I don’t know what came over him. If it’s having his family in the stands, if it’s having me in the stands. With less than a minute left, Alec sprints after the puck, pulling up in front of the boards before sending it over to Theo, but then his body twists and contorts, and he’s down, flat on his back. He drops his stick and lifts his gloved hands to his knee.

I gasp, shooting to my feet. “It’s his knee,” I say to Megan, but it’s stupid to even say it out loud because of course it’s his knee. Even someone who doesn’t know his history would guess. Juno is in my arms now, and I clutch her against me as I watch the trainers gathering around Alec. The refs have stopped play, and his teammates are hovering nearby. Nathan is closest to him, and since I can’t see Alec’s face, I watch Nathan’s, looking for any clues as to what’s going on.

A minute later, Alec is lifted to his feet and Nathan and Van move in beside him, bracing him between them as they move off the ice.

“Okay, now I really do have to get to him,” I say.

“I’ll come too,” Megan says. “ Can we get to him? Will they let us back?”

I look over to Parker, who is still sitting on my other side. “I can get you downstairs, at least,” she says. “But it’ll be up to the medical staff to get you closer than that.”