Chapter 30
He Wasn’t My Hockey Player
Mia
A figure moved in the doorway.
“Justin! Thank god, Jus—” I stopped, because the man standing in the doorway was not Justin.
He was tall and well-built and could have been a hockey player, but he wasn’t my hockey player. My cheeks flushed and I had to swallow back tears. I just couldn’t handle anything more today.
“Sorry, I thought—”
“Mia?” Jess, Justin’s twin, peered at me over the stranger’s shoulder. She gave him a shove so she could pass him. “You look like you’ve had a day. Come on in, take a minute.”
I had no fight to resist. I let her lead me past the stranger and into the living room. Once there, she gently pushed me down onto the couch.
“Alek, why don’t you go get us something at the store?” she said in a low voice to the man who was presumably Alek.
Wait…Alek Denbrowski?
His brows drew together. “What?”
“I don’t care,” Jess muttered. “Just go.”
Alek stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. He turned to me. “Sorry, I’ll leave you with Jess. I need to get something.”
Jess shoved him out the doorway. She looked at me and asked, “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water? Um…a sandwich?”
I shook my head, then said, “Maybe coffee would help.”
“Give me a minute.” She hurried off.
How was I going to explain myself?
She came back with two cups of coffee, setting them on the coffee table in front of me. “One’s black, one has cream and sugar.”
“Black is good. Thank you.”
Jess pulled one cup back toward her and sat in the chair beside the couch. “I heard you call for Justin. I’ve been talking to him, and I know the two of you…reconnected. And I also know he’d want me to do anything I could to help you. So what do you need? Money? A kidney?”
A laugh almost pushed out. “I didn’t come to ask for anything…I just… It’s been a horrible day and I needed to clear my head and I drove by and…”
“And you thought Justin was here, but it was just Alek. Should I call Justin?”
“No! He’s got his hockey thing going on, right? The retreat and team bonding thing?”
She smiled at me and patted my leg. “One call and he’d be here.”
It was too much. I shook my head and broke down in tears.
Jess was great. She grabbed a box of tissues and sat beside me on the couch, wrapping an arm around me and letting me cry it out. When I felt like I had some control again, I sat up, and she let her arm drop.
I wiped at my eyes and nose. “I’m sorry, I just…”
“Don’t apologize. I won’t push, but I’m happy to be a listening ear if you need it. Sometimes getting it out helps.”
I snorted, which meant I needed to blow my nose again.
“Is your mom okay? I know she’s not been well.”
I sighed. “She’s doing as well as she can. But—” And then it all spilled out. I didn’t have the strength to hold back. What I said was rambling and probably didn’t make a lot of sense to Jess, but she let me talk, passed me tissues, and even got me to drink the coffee.
“We’ll be okay. My friend has offered to let us stay with her—her son is best friends with Arne—till we find our own place. I have my job, so I just need to look into rentals.”
“Did you leave anything in your house that you want? Alek and I can come with you, and Alek is intimidating if he needs to be.”
“That’s Alek Denbrowski?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. Justin talk about us?”
I nodded.
“He’s not as bad as Justin thinks.”
I felt a smile pulling at my mouth. “Justin is trying to be okay with you two, I promise.”
“Yeah, he is. But back to your problem. I might be able to help.”
A small bubble of hope expanded in my chest. I wasn’t alone. I had people, even someone like Jess, who I barely knew, who were willing to help. “You know someone who has a place available for rent?” Maybe even in my price range?
“Kind of. Alek signed with Seattle. We were house shopping and came up here to go through the stuff in the house, but we need to get back to Washington for some viewings. It would be a lifesaver if you could stay here for a bit while we look at places the real estate agent found.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Maybe for a week or two? I’ll let you know how it goes, but I feel unsettled there while we only have a hotel to stay in. There’s stuff we still have to pack up in Toronto, and some things here to ship out once we have a place.”
“You don’t need someone—”
“I’d feel better. Now that people know Justin’s been staying, I’d rather it wasn’t empty. You’ve been here with Justin, so you’re familiar with everything. Please say you’ll stay. I wouldn’t have bothered you, but if you’re looking for a place, then it kills two birds.”
I’d have been willing to bet what little savings I had that she’d have left the house empty before I showed up, but it was kind of her to offer.
If Arne and I stayed, I could make sure the house was clean—maybe do a bit of the gardening that Justin had fussed about.
It was such an answer to all my prayers that I couldn’t say no.
If it was just me… But for Arne, I wouldn’t be too proud.
“I know you’re being kind, but yeah, I’ll take you up on that offer. It’ll give me time to work things out. I can get the garbage bins out, mow the lawn—anything like that.”
“Thanks, Mia. Something tells me Grandma would be happy to have you here.”
Justin
Cooper would have banned all cell phones at his retreat if possible. It wasn’t. Players needed to know if their agents called. The family guys were giving up a lot of their offseason time and wouldn’t cut themselves off from their spouses and kids.
So, when we came out of a training session, I checked my phone like the others. There was a message from Jess,
CALL ME!
I dialed immediately.
“Justin! You okay to talk?”
All the worst-case scenarios started scrolling through my head. Mom? Dad? Alek? “Is everyone okay?”
She sighed. “Physically, everyone is good. But Mia stopped by the house.”
“Why?” It wasn’t to see me, since she knew I was in Toronto. Had she known Jess was there? She couldn’t be hurt, or Jess would have said, but she wouldn’t have stopped at Grandma’s place without a reason. Arne? Her mother?
“She was upset. Ended up crying.”
The edges of the phone dug into my palm as I forced myself to listen to what my twin had to say instead of immediately heading for BC. “What’s wrong?”
“She had a fight with her family.”
Mia, fighting with her mother? Bruce, sure, but… “What happened?”
“Her siblings are leaving and her mother wants Arne to help more. I didn’t get all the details, because she was upset, but she’s moved out.”
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
“She moved out.”
That was big. Huge. I didn’t understand what exactly had caused it, but I would help. Did she have a place to stay? Did she have her things? “We should—”
Jess cut me off. “I asked her to stay at Grandma’s house so Alek and I can house hunt in Seattle.”
“Didn’t you just find a place?”
“I lied.” I could see her rolling her eyes, even though I didn’t have video on. “Mia agreed to it, so Alek and I are leaving tomorrow and she’s moving into the place with her son for a couple of weeks.”
I let the tension out in a long breath. “Thanks, Jess. Thanks so much.” The thought of Mia worrying or maybe taking a room in a cheap motel where she and Arne wouldn’t be safe would have eaten me up.
“You need to come.”
I couldn’t have heard her right. “What? I’m supposed to give her space.”
“She needs you, Justin. She’s got some big decisions to make, and you want to be part of that.”
Jess definitely got the brains between the two of us. “Absolutely. I’ll be there as soon as possible. Thanks—for giving her a place to stay, and for telling me. Does Mia know you’re calling me?”
“She’s a little distracted. She’s gone back to her friend’s place. Someone with a kid that’s friends with hers?”
“Barney.”
“I thought her son was Arne.”
“Yeah, Barney is his friend. They think they’re twins because of the names.”
“Wow. I never would have predicted my brother would keep track of someone’s kid’s friends. I hope this works out for you, Jus. I really do.”
“It will.” I would make sure of it.
But that meant leaving, and I had to explain it to my captain.
“What the fuck do you mean?” Cooper wasn’t happy. He’d been counting on me and I didn’t want to let him down, but Mia and Arne were my top priority. “You promised you’d be here—I’m herding cats, trying to keep the team together.”
Guilt made me hesitate. This team had been my family for the last few years, and I owed them. Owed Cooper. I wanted us to win the Cup together. But not at the cost of Mia. I drew in a breath and found the way to make him understand. “If Callie called and needed you, would you hesitate?”
His eyes narrowed. “This is about the woman back in BC?”
I nodded. “Jess phoned—Mia’s life has upended, and I’m going to make sure I’m part of what shakes out.”
He stared at me for several moments. “When will you be back?”
I shrugged. “As soon as I can, but I’m staying as long as she and Arne need me.”
“Arne?”
“Her son. He’s six. Could be a pretty good hockey player.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my linemate?”
My cheeks felt warm. “It’s not that big a deal.”
“JJ, you’re smiling.”
He was right, I was. I was going to see Mia. And if she’d broken with her family… This was my chance. I was going after it with every resource I had.
He sighed. “I won’t try to stop you. But keep me posted, and I hope it goes the way you want. And if you can get back again before the week is over…”
“Coop, if I can work things out with Mia, I’ll be playing better than after any number of training and bonding sessions. No more buried issues to pop up. I might even smile again.”
He rolled his eyes but stepped back to let me go.