33. Holly
THIRTY-THREE
HOLLY
“I want to meet him.”
My head jerked up at the intruder, who was now standing like a giant in the doorway to my office at the back of the restaurant. It used to be Caroline’s, but once I took over all office management tasks, I kicked her and her messy organizational system out.
Cole had his arms crossed over his chest, decked out in his full police officer uniform, and if he thought he could intimidate me, well, he was right.
Even when I knew he was a good man and patient and an excellent father with a great sense of humor, when he put on his uniform, he became someone else entirely. Someone I definitely wouldn’t want to mess with.
“Excuse me?” I leaned back in my office chair and spun it so I was facing him.
“This guy I heard about. I want to meet him.”
“To threaten to beat him up if you don’t like him?”
A twisted smirk curled his lips. “Or worse.”
A laugh slipped from me, making Cole scowl. “You’re joking. Trina would learn not to tell you things.”
“The day my wife starts keeping secrets from me is the day we have problems, but Trina wouldn’t do that, so we won’t. I want to meet him, Holly. Make sure he’s good enough for you and Jonah.”
Something strange hit my senses, making my nose prickle and my eyes burn. Cole was always looking out for me, and as I looked at him, realization hit.
I hadn’t been alone in a really long time. I had friends. Good ones who’d banded around me and supported me. I’d had Caroline and Paul my entire life, even when I fought against them. Cole was doing what any good friend would do.
“You’ll like him,” I said. “He plays and coaches hockey and teaches high school.”
“I know. Already ran a background check.”
Another laugh burst from me. I’d always wanted a sibling, and now I was sensing this was what happened when girls had older brothers from better families. Shameful that it took me so long to see what I had, but my eyes were opening.
“If you ran a check, then why do you still look so suspicious?”
“He took off when you needed help the most. Doesn’t say much about him.”
“Cole…” I stood from the chair and walked toward him. He had to know that wasn’t the truth, not if Trina told him everything. “We were young, and I didn’t let anyone tell him anything. That’s not his fault.”
I considered bringing up that he didn’t exactly chase Trina down when she left town either but didn’t think that would help his mood.
“Fine.” I sighed when he kept glaring at me. “He’s taking Jonah ice skating on Friday. If you’re off duty, we can do something after. Happy now?”
“I’ll change my shift. You guys can come to our place.”
“So you can torture him in the hidden room of your basement?”
A wicked gleam sparked in his eyes. “Only if he deserves it.” Finally, a smile broke out. “Don’t be mad that you have people around you who care. Maybe I want to meet him and check him out, but Trina seemed pretty certain he’s special to you. Robbie and I just want to welcome him to town.”
“He’s not…it’s…” My fears started to spiral. He was leaving. This was six weeks. Graham didn’t need a welcome wagon when he was leaving.
But he loved me. He alluded to it anyway. And I was working on this whole new thing called trusting someone.
“Okay,” I finally said. “I’ll talk to him.” I shoved a finger to his chest. “But no gun belts or taser guns or full SWAT gear allowed.”
“You take all the fun out of everything.”
I laughed. “That’s exactly what Jonah says.”
Cole grinned. “If he’s as good as you say he is, then there shouldn’t be any torture required. See you Friday.”
“Wonderful,” I grumbled, but I didn’t say it to Cole. I said it to his back because he was already walking away.
Man…realizing I had a crew of friends around me who truly cared was great, but if they could be a bit less protective, that might be nice, too.
“Miss Jones?”
I braced myself for who I’d find in the doorway this time, only to smile at Annie. “I’ve asked you a hundred times to call me Holly.”
She gave me a look that said her mother would smack her across the back of her head if she tried. “You have a visitor. Want me to send him back here? Or do you want to take a break and eat with him?”
It had to be Graham…I grabbed my phone. “I’ll come see him.”
Before heading out to the front, I did a quick check on everything in the back. We were in the middle of prime prep time, and the kitchen was busy with prepping everything for dinner.
It didn’t surprise me in the least that this would be when Graham would show up, but as I pushed through the metal doors and immediately found him at the hostess stand waiting, the men with him did surprise me.
Eli and Tanner were huddled close. A grin broke out on my face despite the fact that the last time I saw Eli I wasn’t in a great state of mind, and he had at least had an inkling on my medical issues. Tanner, I hadn’t seen since college, at least not in person, but I saw pictures every once in a while posted on Tracey’s social media feed and from texts.
More friends. It was wild to me how I’d never truly realized how quickly my circle had grown and how it’d been filled with so many good and decent people. All people who knew my past, knew how I’d been raised and how I grew up and cared about me anyway.
It was the wonder of it all, the beauty of it and the shame at how I’d missed it for so long, that had me sliding up to Graham and slipping my arm to his lower back and snuggling in tight to his side.
His arm immediately draped around my back, and his hand rested at my hip. His hand squeezed, getting my attention. “You okay?”
“Perfect.” I grinned up at him. “Hi, guys.”
“Hi, guys,” Tanner mumbled and then lunged for me. “You can hi guys like you saw me yesterday when you did see me yesterday.”
His arms wrapped around me, yanked me from Graham’s hold, and then I shrieked as he lifted me high in the air. “How are things going, Spitfire?”
He used the nickname for me Graham had always used, but that was usually in private. I had no idea he’d even known it. Or remembered it.
“They’re going well. Can you put me down?” He was so much taller than me that my feet were dangling in the air.
“And can you get your greasy hands off her?” Graham grumbled.
Tanner laughed because that was what he always did. Everything but hockey to him was one large joke and game. My feet hit the floor, and then Eli was there.
“You doing okay?” he asked, and this time I didn’t hesitate or freeze to hug him back at his side when he opened his arms for me.
“Doing okay, I think.”
“Sure seems like it. Heard you have a boy.”
“Jonah. He’s fantastic.”
“Hopefully we’ll get to meet him?”
I stepped back, right into Graham’s side, and looked at the two guys I definitely hadn’t expected to see. “How long are you here?”
“This guy”—Tanner pointed his thumb at Graham—“told me not to come, but I decided, screw that. Guys from my team are meeting up in Florida, so I’m heading there next week. Thought I’d stop here on the way.”
“Tampa on the visit?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “Trace said she’s busy with a project. Another time maybe.”
I was hearing from her less and less over the last few months, but she was a woman in a highly male-dominated engineering field. She was getting promoted and working hard, but her life had definitely shrunk to work, then home, and then more work. Granted, if I needed her, she’d be here as fast as possible, but the daily calls and interactions were much less.
“Bummer,” I said and turned to Graham. “Did you guys come to eat?”
“Absolutely,” Eli said.
I grabbed menus and set them at a table near the windows where I could sit and have a view of most of the tables and the front door in case other customers came in and needed help. After their waters and drinks were filled, I brought them back and took the open booth seat next to Graham.
“Let me know when you’re ready to order, and I’ll get that for you.”
“I’ll do it,” Annie said, walking back with a stack of menus and a washrag in her hands. “You stay there, boss.”
“Boss.” Tanner snickered. “She calls you boss.”
I glared at the fool. “I am her boss.”
Annie returned and took our orders, and soon we were eating dinner and laughing. Once Graham was done eating, he draped his arm over the back of the booth like it was natural. Like he’d been doing it every day for years. It didn’t take me long to melt into him, resting my shoulder against his.
“I might have something coming up soon,” Tanner said, and his thumb started rapidly tapping on the table.
“What is it? A trade?” Eli asked.
“Maybe.”
“Really?” Graham asked. “Where? I thought you had two more years left.”
“I do, but the team is making changes, and Iowa’s NHL team doesn’t have room for me. It’s kind of now or never, you know? I could stay for a couple more years, but I really want my shot.”
“What’s your agent saying?” Graham asked. “Is he looking? Or talking to coaches?”
“Yeah.” Tanner’s gaze shifted back and forth, his nerves catching up. Both thumbs started thumping on the table, and then he looked back. “Might be here.”
He cleared his throat and quickly said, “But I’m not, you know…I’ll be happy wherever, I just want my chance. So yeah…maybe the Carolina Ice Kings.”
“No shit?!” Eli said. “That’s incredible. That’d be, holy cow. That’d be awesome, Tan.”
“Don’t jinx it,” he mumbled. “I didn’t want to say anything, but I met with the coach yesterday. Kind of why I showed up here anyway after being told to stay away.”
“Ice Kings.” Graham sighed and shoved back his hair. “We won’t jinx it, but damn…that’d be awesome. Does that mean you can’t tell us who’s leaving?”
“I don’t even know if someone is. It’s all speculation, and it could be anyone, but there are a few right-wingers who are getting older. Team’s solid, though.”
“They get close every year,” Eli said.
I had no idea what that meant until Graham spoke up. “They’d be lucky to have you. You’d be sure to take them all the way to the finals next year.” He turned to me. “The Ice Kings lost in the last series before making it to play for the Stanley Cup.”
“So they’re good.”
“Yeah, they’re good.”
“It’d be a dream.” Tanner groaned and fell back into the booth. Rubbing his hands up and down his face, he said, “This sucks. The waiting. I need to get drunk off my ass and sleep for days, and I also need to run five miles. I don’t think my heart can take it.”
“Don’t go into cardiac arrest around me,” Eli said and popped a tater tot into his mouth. “I’m off duty.”
Graham and I laughed. Tanner scowled at him.
It was just like old times, minus Tracey and the cheap beer Tanner used to drink.
“Where is Jonah?” Graham asked. “Isn’t he usually here this time of day.”
“Yeah, but our friend Ashley called. She’s the one that has the foster kids.” I’d told him about her the other day when I told him about Trina and Cole. “Her older daughters offered to take Jonah to the pool, so they’re all swimming.”
“Pool?” Tanner sat up straight. “I could swim some laps, get rid of all this nervous energy.”
“It’s in Ashley and Robbie’s backyard, so no.”
He pouted and chugged his sweet tea, making a lip-smacking sound. “What am I going to do?”
“I have an idea for tomorrow,” I said. “If you’re still around.”
“I’ll probably be in the morgue after this panic attack I’m about to have.”
Eli chuckled and shoved a tater tot into Tanner’s mouth. He chewed it and stole a handful off Eli’s plate.
“What’s tomorrow?” Graham played with my hair as he asked. “After skating, anyway.”
“My friend Cole invited us over to their house. He’s the cop.”
“Got it. Can the hooligans come?” He gestured to Eli and Tanner.
“Count me out,” Eli said. “I start another round of twelves tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there,” Tanner said. “Not like I have anything else to do except wait.”
“That sounded nice, Tan. Thanks.” Graham must have kicked him because Tanner jumped in the table and cussed like a sailor.
“I just meant waiting sucks,” he muttered, bending close to the table and probably rubbing his shin.
He had to sit for his news. I was waiting for mine. For once it didn’t seem so scary and so nerve-racking.
“Maybe it’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to,” I whispered, feeling uncertain of my burst of semi-positivity.
It sounded lame to my own ears. If everything happened the way it was supposed to, that meant I was supposed to have a mom who didn’t love me, a dad who gave me a shitty upbringing. It meant I was supposed to struggle.
It also meant then that I was supposed to have the friends and family I currently had, and I was starting to think that was a really great thing.
“It will,” Graham whispered and kissed my cheek. “It’ll all work out.”
Odd how it didn’t sound so lame coming from him.
It sounded pretty damn close to perfect.