Chapter Thirty-Seven #3
The simple act carried more force than the empty restaurant, private hotels or every night they had spent behind a locked door.
Tessa looked toward their joined hands.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You look strange.”
“I’m sitting in a restaurant holding your hand.”
“Yes.”
“People can see.”
“Yes.”
“Your analysis is limited tonight.”
Matvei moved his thumb across her fingers.
“You scared?”
“A little.”
“Of what?”
Tessa looked around.
No one appeared to be photographing them.
That did not mean no one had.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
“What tomorrow?”
“Someone posts that they saw us. People put together the timing. They ask when it started.”
“We tell truth.”
Tessa squeezed his hand.
“Elaine gave me a written reprimand.”
His expression hardened.
“I deserved it.”
“No.”
“Do not start.”
Matvei looked away.
Tessa waited.
When he returned his gaze, the anger had become quieter.
“You still get job.”
“Yes.”
“Because good reporter.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Yes, I am.”
Matvei leaned back.
“You never say.”
“I have recently covered a Stanley Cup championship and been hired to document a professional expansion team from its first season. I am attempting confidence.”
“Good.”
Tessa laughed.
The menus opened.
They ordered wine and dinner. Matvei chose steak again. Tessa selected seafood again, partly for the symmetry and partly because she still did not understand several items on the menu enough to risk them.
This time, the server did not need to explain her choice twice.
Their first glasses arrived.
Matvei lifted his.
“To Tides.”
Tessa raised hers.
“To being allowed in public.”
“Same.”
“Not remotely.”
“Both good.”
She touched her glass against his.
The wine tasted like relief.
During dinner, they discussed the job.
The first day did not technically begin for two weeks, but Tides news would continue arriving throughout the summer. A head coach announcement was expected soon. Player-acquisition mechanisms and expansion rules would be finalized before the league’s draft.
Tessa’s mind had already begun organizing stories.
Matvei noticed.
“You work now.”
“I am talking.”
“Work eyes.”
“What are work eyes?”
“You look far.”
“That sounds concerning.”
“You make list.”
Tessa smiled.
“I am thinking about the first roster.”
“Yes.”
“And training camp.”
“Yes.”
“Claire said they are planning regional events in Charlottetown and Moncton.”
“You go home.”
“Prince Edward Island is not all my home.”
“You know.”
“I do.”
Her parents would be pleased by the proximity, though perhaps confused by the decision to leave the NHL immediately after covering the Cup. Her mother would understand the women’s hockey part.
Andrew would mostly ask whether Tessa could get him merchandise before it sold out.
“You tell family?” Matvei asked.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to tell you first.”
His expression changed.
The answer mattered.
“I’ll call them tomorrow,” she said. “Nina already knows.”
“Of course.”
“She demanded the earliest available information.”
“She knows everything.”
“Almost.”
Matvei took a drink.
“My mother asks meet.”
Tessa’s pulse shifted.
“When?”
“Summer.”
“In Russia?”
“No. She comes Halifax maybe before season.”
“That would be easier.”
“You are scared.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She raised you.”
“Yes.”
“She watches every game.”
“Yes.”
“She knows there is a secret reporter in your life.”
Matvei’s mouth shifted.
“Now not secret.”
“Tell her my name before she arrives.”
“I do.”
“And my job.”
“Tides.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
The future expanded quietly around the table.
A public relationship.
His family.
Her new beat.
None of it solved every problem. The Convoy organization still needed to learn about them. Fans and readers would form opinions once the relationship became visible. Tessa’s reprimand remained in her file. Elaine’s trust would require months or years to rebuild.
But the direction no longer depended on hiding.
When they left, Matvei held her hand through the dining room.
Several people watched.
One man congratulated him near the door. Matvei thanked him. The man glanced toward Tessa but said nothing.
Outside, the Halifax night remained warm and bright enough that the sky had not fully darkened.
Matvei stopped on the sidewalk.
Tessa looked toward him.
“What?”
“Walk.”
“Where?”
He gestured toward the waterfront.
“In these shoes?”
“You wear.”
“That does not make them appropriate for distance.”
“You complain.”
“Normal date.”
Matvei smiled.
They walked.
No hats.
No separate streets.
No checking behind them before their hands met.
The city continued around them.
Tessa allowed herself to be seen.
Viktor’s cookout began the next afternoon.
His house stood outside the center of Halifax on a property large enough to contain a backyard, pool and children’s play structure without any of them appearing crowded. Cars lined both sides of the long driveway when Matvei arrived.
Tessa sat beside him in the passenger seat.
Her anxiety had increased with every turn.
“You can still take me home.”
“No.”
“I am allowed to be nervous.”
“Yes.”
“Your teammates are going to think I reported on them for an entire season while secretly infiltrating their social circle.”
“You did not infiltrate.”
“I am arriving at the captain’s house as the starting goaltender’s girlfriend one week after covering the parade.”
“Yes.”
Matvei parked near the end of the driveway.
“That is the entire issue.”
He turned toward her.
“You are Tides reporter.”
“Not officially until July.”
“No recorder?”
Tessa looked down at the small purse in her lap.
“No recorder.”
“No notebook?”
“No notebook.”
“Then girlfriend.”
The label warmed her.
It did not remove the nerves.
Matvei got out and walked around the truck.
Tessa opened her door before he reached it.
“You ruin.”
“I know how doors work.”
“Date.”
“This is a cookout.”
“Still.”
He offered his hand.
Tessa took it.
They walked toward the backyard together.
Voices carried beyond the house. Children shouted near the pool. Music played from speakers somewhere near the patio. The smell of grilled meat reached the driveway.
They entered through a side gate.
Joona saw them first.
Of course he did.
He stood near a table holding a paper plate piled high enough that several items appeared at risk. His eyes moved from Matvei to Tessa, then down toward their joined hands.
His mouth opened.
Tessa prepared for shouting.
Joona placed the plate on the nearest surface and pointed.
“I know.”
The volume drew every nearby head.
Viktor stood near the grill wearing shorts, sandals and an apron that read CAPTAIN OF THE GRILL. His wife was beside him carrying a bowl of salad. Cole sat near the patio with his daughter on his lap. Carver and McCrae stood farther back near a cooler.
Everyone looked.
Tessa’s instinct told her to release Matvei’s hand.
She kept holding it.
Joona crossed the patio quickly.
“I know,” he repeated.
“You know nothing,” Matvei said.
“I know Helsinki.”
Tessa stared.
“What do you know about Helsinki?”
Joona’s confidence faltered slightly.
“You walk.”
“Yes.”
“Together.”
“Yes.”
“Then strange.”
“That describes most of the tournament.”
Joona looked between them.
“You date?”
Matvei answered.
“Yes.”
The single word entered the backyard.
Cole leaned back in his chair.
“Finally.”
Tessa turned toward him.
“You knew?”
“I did not know,” Cole said. “But Belly started checking his phone during team dinners, and then you wrote that Atlanta story and he told me he trusted you before he read it.”
Tessa looked at Matvei.
“You told him that?”
“No.”
Cole laughed.
“You absolutely did.”
Matvei frowned toward him.
Viktor turned something on the grill before speaking.
“How long?”
Tessa and Matvei answered at the same time.
“January,” Tessa said.
“Helsinki,” Matvei said.
The backyard became quiet.
Joona looked delighted.
“Helsinki.”
“Nothing happened until the tournament ended,” Tessa said.
Matvei looked toward her.
“That is not completely true.”
She stared.
“We kissed Christmas.”
“I am going to push you into the pool.”
Joona laughed loudly.
Viktor’s wife covered a smile behind the salad bowl.
Tessa felt heat move through her entire face.
“This is exactly why I considered staying home.”
Matvei placed one arm around her waist.
“No.”
Viktor handed the grill tongs toward McCrae and approached them.
His expression held amusement but not anger.
“You’re still on the beat?”
“No,” Tessa said. “The Tribune hired me to cover the Tides.”
The announcement changed the reaction.
Viktor smiled immediately.
“You got it.”
“You knew I applied?”
“Frank told me you were thinking about it.”
Tessa blinked.
“When did Frank speak to you?”
“At the parade.”
“Frank has been back in Halifax for two days and is already telling players about internal Tribune applications?”
“He said you were considering a change. He did not give me details.”
“That is still a detail.”
Viktor ignored the complaint and embraced her.
The contact surprised Tessa enough that she remained stiff for half a second before returning it.
“Congratulations,” he said.
“Thank you.”
He stepped back.
Then looked toward Matvei.
“You could have told us.”
Matvei shrugged.
“Why?”
Viktor stared at him.
“Because she spent the season interviewing us while the two of you apparently conducted an international secret operation.”
“No secret,” Joona said. “I see.”
“You saw them walking,” Viktor replied.
“Yes.”
“In a city.”
“Together.”
“Good work.”
Joona looked satisfied anyway.
Cole approached with his daughter balanced against one shoulder.
“Congratulations,” he said to Tessa. “On the job and on surviving Belly.”
Matvei looked offended.
“You live with toddler.”
“Exactly. I know patience.”
The woman beside Cole joined them. He introduced her as Megan.
Tessa recognized her from the Cup celebration but had never spoken with her.
Megan smiled.
“I’m glad there’s finally another person who understands what it is like to watch these two pretend they don’t care what anyone says about them.”
“I do not pretend,” Matvei said.
Cole laughed.
Tessa looked toward the rest of the backyard.
No one appeared angry.