Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
R owdy
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? You look upset.”
Tressy shook her head, her gaze barely glancing off me as she reached for the door handle on my truck. Krista pouted in the back seat. She hadn’t wanted to leave the farm, even though we’d been there for almost three hours.
I knew something had happened when Tressy joined us after taking that phone call, but I hadn’t said anything then. Tressy seemed determined to keep a smile on her face for Krista, and I’d gone along because I didn’t want either of them upset.
It’d taken her an hour to finally tell me she and Krista had to return home tonight because “she had a situation to deal with.” I’d been expecting it, but it’d still knocked me back a few steps. I’d tried to ask a few times if everything was okay, but she’d just given me that smile and nodded.
And now, she gave me that same smile, and I gritted my teeth .
“Thank you, but no. I don’t need you to hold my hand while I do my job.”
Fuck, that’s not what’d I’d meant, and dammit, she knew it. But for some reason, she was pushing me away, and it fucking sucked.
“Sorry. I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, Tressy. I’m not trying to be an asshole. I’m worried about you.”
Her mouth twisted into something resembling a smile and she shook her head. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind. I can’t thank you and your family enough for taking us in these past few days. And our time together has been…amazing.”
Now she did look at me and I saw her regret and longing and sadness so clearly. I reached for her hand resting on her thigh, but she curled her fingers into a fist.
“I can’t, Rowdy.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I have to go.”
I wanted to punch Donny, the mechanic, for fixing her fucking car sooner than I’d expected. I know he’d meant well, going out of his way to get the damn thing taken care of over the weekend, but still…
“You don’t have to go forever. You can come back. Take care of whatever you need to, and I’ll be here.”
She frowned. “You’re not taking that job?”
I shook my head as she frowned. “This is home, Tressy. This is my team. These are my guys. I’m not abandoning them.”
“I thought you wanted more.”
“Maybe I realized I can have more. I just have to be willing to take it. You can, too. Come back.”
She slid a glance over her shoulder at Krista, who was still pouting, even though she’d fallen asleep.
“It’s only been three days.”
I heard what she didn’t say. That three days wasn’t enough time to fall in love. That she didn’t believe what we shared was real. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was the delusional one. Or maybe she just didn’t want to see what was staring her in the face.
I wanted to lean across the console and pull her onto my lap and kiss her until she realized what she’d be giving up if she didn’t come back. To remind her of the heat we generated together. That wasn’t an illusion.
But she’d put up an invisible wall between us. And it was pissing me off.
“It’s been three goddamn amazing days.”
She dipped her head and took an audible breath. “And now I have to go back to my life.”
Well, damn. I guess that told me everything I needed to know about where I fit in her life.
Nowhere.
“Hey, Pop. You got a minute?”
Monday morning, my dad sat at his desk in his office in the arena, scowling at the monitor. He looked pissed, but the Colonel didn’t play well with technology. Or, more accurately, technology didn’t like my dad. He was a master of spreadsheets and a whiz with financial software, but computers died on him faster than they did anyone else. No one could figure out why. Key cards for hotel rooms also gave him trouble, for someone reason. They never stayed magnetized.
Mom liked to joke that his personality was so magnetic, the key cards gave up and died on him.
My dad looked up, saw me, and his eyebrows drew together even harder.
“Of course. Guess you better close the door. This looks like that kind of conversation.”
Since he wasn’t wrong, I shut the door then fell into the chair in front of his desk. I only had a few minutes before I had to be in the locker room to get ready for practice, but I wasn’t sure how to start.
Leaning my elbows on my knees, I looked my dad straight in the eyes. And noticed for the first time that he was starting to show his age. A few more lines around his eyes and mouth. A little less meat on his bones. He was eighteen years older than my mom, who still sometimes got mistaken for Rain’s sister, so that put him in his late sixties. And I really didn’t want to think about that.
But isn’t that the point of your talk?
“So, I’ve been thinking about my future, and –”
“You gonna take that coaching position in Lancaster?”
My mouth dropped open in shock for two seconds before I leaned back into the chair and shook my head.
“How long have you known?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Hockey’s a big game but a small community. I’ve been waiting for you to come have this talk, but you were a little, um, distracted the past few days. Heard from Tressy yet?”
Glancing away, I shook my head. “No, but that’s not what I want to talk to you about. And yeah, they offered me a job, but I’m not taking it.”
Pop’s scowl returned. “What do you mean you’re not taking it? It’s a hell of an opportunity for you.”
His response didn’t surprise me. It’s exactly what I’d expected him to say.
“Yeah, it probably is. But, Pop, this is my team. These are my guys. This is my home.”
“And it’ll always be here for you. But this is a chance to make a mark on a bigger stage. Push you out of your comfort zone. You’ve been getting awful comfortable here the past few years. And that’s not a criticism.” He held up a hand like I might try to interrupt, which I wasn’t. “It’s just… Maybe a challenge would be a good thing right now.”
“I’m going to have enough of a challenge convincing Tressy to take me on full time, Pop. But it’s time for me to take on some of your grunt work running the team.”
My dad’s brows rose as he leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking and groaning. It reminded me of all the times he sat behind that desk and rightfully punished me for all the stupid shit I did as a teenager, or the talks we’d have after I did something stupid my first years back from college.
Lately, though, I hadn’t been in here, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to change a lot of things in my life.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what are you planning to do? With Tressy, I mean.”
He looked so damn nosy, I had to laugh. “You got any suggestions?”
“I just might. Tressy’s got a spine. I like her. And her daughter. And your mom got pretty attached to them both. The little girl wrapped your mom around her finger pretty damn fast.”
“I thought you were gonna dole out advice?”
“I’m getting there.” My dad shook his head. “Always so impatient. That’s part of your problem, kid. Sometimes you’ve got to take your time getting where you want to go.”
“I seem to remember you telling me you knew in less than two days that you wanted to marry Mom.”
My dad’s gaze narrowed. “You going to let me talk or interrupt every couple of seconds?”
I bit back a grin and shook my head. “Floor’s all yours.”
“Uh huh. Like I was saying, you’re too damn impatient. Sometimes, you gotta take a step back and let her come to you.”
“Honestly, Pop, I’m afraid if I don’t keep reminding her I’m here, she’s gonna forget me.”
“I saw the way that girl looked at you. I don’t think she’s gonna forget you. You make a pretty damn big impression on people. But don’t go blowing up her inbox.”
“Did you just use an actual relevant social media reference correctly?”
“See?” He pointed a finger at me. “That right there is what’s gonna get you in trouble, son. You don’t know when to keep your mouth shut.”
He was right. Usually, I didn’t.
“Yeah, well, I did keep it shut this time. I didn’t tell her how much I wanted her and Krista to stay, and she walked out the damn door, like I didn’t matter.”
“The woman’s got a life of her own and a business to run, according to your mother. Maybe you didn’t show her that you understand those things are just as important to her as you want to be.”
Fuck. Had I really been that mindless?
“Shit.”
“Now,” my dad leaned back in his chair, looking like the cat that ate the mouse, “maybe you want to take a different approach when you contact her next time.”
“So when are you going to fix whatever happened between you and Tressy?”
My jaw locked against the urge to say something really inappropriate to my sister. Rain didn’t deserve to have my mood taken out on her. But if she continued to ask questions, I wasn’t going to be responsible for what came out of my mouth.
Monday practices after a game weekend were usually optional, but most of the team was here today. I’d thought maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with a lot of people, and I could skate and chew over what my dad and I had talked about. Didn’t look like that was in the cards .
“Hello to you, too, Rainbow Brite.” I yanked my right skate laces so hard, I heard them groan. “Don’t you have somewhere else you could be?”
As I grabbed my left skate and shoved my foot in it, Rain just continued to stare down at me.
“For your information, I finalized the designs for the Christmas sweaters this morning and signed on another couple of sponsors for the wine tasting in February.” She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare down at me. “What did you do this morning? Besides mope?”
I huffed out a laugh at her bratty sass and looked up. “Since when do you care?”
“Since I’ve never seen you like this. I don’t like it. It’s weird. Snap out of it.”
I stood, towering over her, the skates giving me an extra couple of inches of height.
“I’m fine, Rainy.”
Her brows rose as she stared up at me. “But are you really?
Taking the few steps to close the distance between us, she wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me. Tight. Like she wanted to squeeze the bad mood out of me. With a sigh, I hugged her back, dropping a kiss on her head and ruffling her hair, because I knew she hated it.
“I love you, too, big brother,” she muttered into my practice sweater. “But you’re a big damn idiot if you don’t track her down and tell her how you feel.”
Sighing, I let my head fall back so I was looking at the ceiling. “Rain?—”
“She ain’t wrong, man.”
My eyes closed. “Jesus Christ.”
Kane had somehow managed to creep up on me, the first of my teammates to even attempt to talk to me today. My face had scared them all off, I guess. Probably the smart choice because my first instinct was to tell Kane to go fuck himself. I managed to keep my mouth shut, but only barely.
“Just hear me out, man. Then you can tell me to fuck off. I ain’t seen you happy like you were with her in years. Man, she literally fell into your lap. If that ain’t fate giving you a massive slap upside the head, I don’t know what is.”
“Kane—”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Rebel added his two cents, “I think she really liked you. No idea why, but if you don’t figure your shit out, she’s not gonna wait. Hell, I wouldn’t wait for you.”
I heard a rumble of voices behind me and turned to find the entire team gathered behind Kane and Rebel.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I scowled at them all. “When did everyone become so damn interested in my fucking love life?”
The guys exchanged looks with each other like I was speaking another language.
Finally, Reid, looked at me with those puppy-dog eyes. “’Cause you’re our captain.”
The other guys shrugged and nodded, like it was the most natural thing in the world. And like I was delusional if I didn’t know what they were talking about.
Well, shit, what the hell was I supposed to say to that?
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but…”
But what? They weren’t wrong.
Rain took a step back, crossed her arms over her chest and smirked up at me, like she’d won. I don’t know what the hell she thought she’d won, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask.
“Look, I planned to text her later and ask how’s she’s doing.”
“You should probably call,” goalie Kaden Felix chimed in, shoving a hand through his mop of brown hair and pushing it off his face. “Girls—uh,” he flashed Rain a look when she glared at him, “women like when you call them. You know, make an effort. ”
Like a bunch of robots, all the other guys nodded their heads like they knew what they were talking about.
“How the hell would you—would any of you know what women like, considering most of you aren’t even in a relationship with one. Only KooKoo’s got an actual girlfriend, and she’s not even in the country.”
Pontus “KooKoo” Kokkenen grinned like a loon. “She is coming for visit in two weeks. Just got notice.”
“Aw, KooKoo, that’s great.” Rain skirted around me to give the brawny forward a hug. “I can’t wait to meet her. She seems like such a sweetheart online.”
“She is amazing. Smart and funny and?—”
“So why’s she with you?” Rebel snarked, earning him a smack from Rain on the chest and one from Kane on the back of his head.
Just when I thought maybe I’d been let off the hook, Kane just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“So when you gonna call her?”
Fuck me. “When I’m damn good and ready? Now are we gonna practice or not?”
I didn’t wait to hear anything else. Just took my ass down the tunnel to the ice and tried to figure out what the hell to say when I called Tressy after practice.