Chapter 9
“You look exhausted,” Violet said through her microphone to Daisy-Mae, as the parade began moving toward the street to start its route through town.
She needed to distract herself, release that dizzy feeling that was making her light-headed.
I’m not.
I’m not sorry you kissed me, Leo. I only wished it had meant something big to you, that I was the kind of woman you were looking for.
Yeah, she needed a worthy distraction, and focusing on her friend’s exhaustion was a good place to start.
“Mav and I’ve been busy. Especially since the engagement and interviews and such. Everything’s crazy, you know? It’s just a lot of press and scheduling and time apart.”
“You doing okay, though?”
There was something in her friend’s voice that suggested things were far from okay with her and Maverick. The two had started out as friends, fake dating in an attempt to fix his reputation. Then suddenly the whole fake relationship thing went prime time, with public grand gestures. Violet was best friends with Daisy-Mae and even she wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t anymore.
“Yeah, of course. We’re fine,” Daisy-Mae said quickly. “I couldn’t help but notice that you seem more yourself again lately.”
“Me?” She knew her friend was trying to change the subject, but her statement was too intriguing to ignore.
“I’m glad you’re having fun again. Especially today.”
She felt the familiar, unpleasant tug in her gut when she thought about her failed wedding. Today would have been her third wedding anniversary. Long enough that it was time to fully let it go—something she felt like she was finally succeeding at.
“Of course I am,” she said. “Let’s hear it for Armadillo Day!”
“Did you see the giant paper maché statue of Bill?” Daisy-Mae said with a laugh.
She had. Bill, the town’s wild and cranky armadillo had become a bit of a mascot for Sweetheart Creek, and a local artist had recreated the creature at about twenty times life size for one float. It was hideous, and she loved it dearly.
“Who doesn’t love a huge armadillo?” she asked, giggling. She’d bought the Bill T-shirt and ball cap that Brant and April were selling to raise funds for the new animal shelter they were building. “Life is for living, right?”
“It sure is. And it always helps to move on with a tasty crush?”
Violet groaned at Daisy-Mae’s hinting tone. “There are no tasty crushes happening. And lower your voice. You know how easily rumors start around here.” Plus, Leo was only a few feet away from Daisy-Mae and might overhear.
“Well, whatever’s going on, I remember how last year on the anniversary of you and Wyatt…” Daisy-Mae let her voice trail off.
Right. Last year she’d been crying into a drink at the Watering Hole with April and Daisy-Mae, her usual sunny it’s-okay attitude irretrievable for a full eighteen hours while she’d wallowed.
Sure, she’d decided to stay in town and had found a beautiful home, the friends she’d made sticking by her side, but she’d still held so much anger. Why couldn’t Wyatt have expressed his doubts instead of making such a fool out of her in front of everyone? Why had he stolen their day like that? It was supposed to be their moment. It was the event she’d longed for since she was a kid.
Yet she also knew her ex had done her a tremendous favor by running out of that church. Most days she thought she’d forgiven him and moved on, his leaving her stunned and heartbroken at the altar no longer her first thought in the morning when she woke up. But some days it still caught up with her, knocked her down at the knees, reminding her what a failure she was when it came to love, and how that dang curse flowed through the generations with unrelenting determination.
Well, it wouldn’t get her down any longer. Not worth it. She was out searching for love, putting bandage after bandage over her broken heart.
Each day was better and soon she’d be fully healed, if that was truly a possibility. And sure, it likely wouldn’t be today, as it was filled with too many memories not to cause some bumps.
“So what’s going on?” Daisy-Mae prompted.
Oh, man. She’d been incredibly foolish telling Leo she hadn’t minded their kiss. Just because he didn’t seem to be actively pursuing Christine any longer didn’t mean he was ready for true love and a happily ever after with her.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t play innocent. I know that tone.”
“There’s no tone.”
Telling Daisy-Mae would make things messy. Her friend would either try to help or she’d be full of warnings about how busy hockey players were, and how the media could swarm the two of you and ruin it all.
Case in point, Leo had endured a lot of speculation and fuss over him rescuing her—even though nobody knew she had been the one inside the costume. If they started dating and people found out he’d gone all hotheaded to protect her...
Well, she probably wouldn’t be the only weak-kneed woman in the state of Texas.
“You were talking to Leo,” Daisy-Mae prompted.
“Yup.”
“You organized this for him.”
“Yup.”
“You’re trying to help him like I’m helping Maverick with his image.”
“That’s going well, isn’t it?” The parade was moving forward, Leo off to one side, thumbing through the player cards she’d given him. “He’s getting attention from brands and stuff, right?”
“So? Are you going to ask him out?” Daisy-Mae pressed.
“What? Leo? No. Not his type.”
“You have a chance to find love, Vi. You can’t give up.”
“I’m not giving up.”
“Do I need to start clucking like a chicken? Because you like him.”
“Daise! I’ve put myself out there for so many men who just weren’t feeling it the way I was. I was blind and stupid and hurt myself. I can see he’s not into me like that, so there is no way I’m doing anything about my crush. Not this time.”
“So you are crushing.”
“I’m also on a dating app, being selective, and most importantly, looking for men who want someone like me, as well as marriage and love. And they want it soon. Not in ten years.”
“You’re on a dating app?”
“Yes.”
She’d initially taken the step to ensure she didn’t sit at home and brood over the man she couldn’t have. So far, she’d narrowed her selection to a few nice guys, and they were messaging regularly through the app. Next week, in a brave moment, she planned to ask each of her top picks out for coffee to meet them in real life.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around for Dragon Babes more,” Daisy-Mae said.
“It’s fine.” Violet sighed.
“Really, I am. I feel bad.”
“For working hard to connect with the love of your life? Don’t be sorry. I’m just being a mope because I keep falling for men who aren’t into me.”
“It’s okay to mope.”
“I hear men find that very attractive.”
Daisy-Mae choked on a laugh. “I’ve missed you.” Violet felt her friend hug her side through the thick costume.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
“You deserve to find awesome love at its finest, Vi. You’ve worked so hard and been hurt so bad. You’re tough.”
Violet’s eyes welled up. “I don’t feel tough. Half the time I wonder what’s the point of it all?”
“Of what?” Daisy-Mae’s voice had grown cautious.
“Dating and trying? Love? The hope of finding it? Why do I still want it when all it’s done is destroy me?” She held in a sob, the hurt forming a lump in her chest. She was crying in her costume again. In her periphery, she saw Leo turn to face her for a second, as though sensing it.
Leo. She wanted Leo. To make things worse for her heart, she’d heard rumors of trade talks happening between the Dragons and another team thousands of miles away.
Leo was being considered.
Her friend might leave.
Why was she the one stuck behind every time?
“Stupid curse,” she muttered, momentarily forgetting that her headset picked up every sound, relaying it to Daisy-Mae.
“You’re tougher and more determined than some weary old curse that’s got to be wearing off by now,” her friend replied with a tone of authority. “And besides, think of how many potentially horrible love-match dudes it’s already removed from your life.”
Violet groaned, not wanting to consider it.
“Lots, right? Which means it’s got to be losing its strength. I mean, you didn’t even get past flirting with Owen.”
Violet perked up. “Assuming curses are real, and I’m not actually using the idea as a crutch to excuse my own shortcomings or to hold me back, could a curse actually lose strength? Could you break them without knowing?”
“Of course!”
“But with Owen leaving before we started dating, wouldn’t that suggest the curse is getting stronger, since he left before we fell in love?”
“No, not at all. The curse would have let you both fall in love, and then he would have gone back to baseball. Anyway, I believe the next guy’s gonna stick. You’re going to find so much stinking love with him that it blasts the curse all the way back to the grave of the cranky old biddy who summoned bad juju on your great-gran.”
“Bad juju is no match for me or the love I’m going to find,” Violet said, testing the idea out loud. “That dating app isn’t going to know what hit it come tomorrow morning, when I start messaging all those potential matches!”
“That’s the spirit.”
“This’ll be fun!”
With a bounce in her step, Violet reached the street, waving to people sitting in lawn chairs along the sidewalks and curbs.
“This kid over here wants a hug, Dezzie.”
Violet followed Daisy-Mae to the edge of the street. A small body hugged her leg, and she patted the child’s back, then did a few dance moves.
“Next fall, if I haven’t found love yet,” Violet vowed as they moved on, “I’m getting Jackie to take me to some football games.”
“Matchmaker magic!” Daisy-Mae sang as they continued on. “That’s right, baby!”
“Matched up, married off.”
“In the meantime you could tell a certain someone you like him and see what happens. He might be closer than you think when it comes to being on the same page about relationships.”
“He isn’t.”
“Have you asked him?”
“It’s pretty much all we’ve discussed lately.”
“Oh! There’s Mrs. Fisher! Blow her a kiss!”
Daisy-Mae moved gracefully under the streetlights, people swaying with glow sticks as she passed. She looked like a beauty queen in her jersey and hat. Smiling, waving in the January night, moving with the floats.
Violet wanted to be like her when she grew up. Sort of like a modern-day fairy tale, where curses held no power over her.
Actually, a lot like how she’d felt the night of the gala when she’d been Leo’s date. She’d felt like a beautiful, powerful princess. Leo had been such a great support, sending her off to buy a gorgeous dress, setting her up with a makeover that had given her confidence to help him land Family Zone.
As the parade continued toward Main Street, Violet mulled over the idea of telling him how she felt. Try as she might, she just couldn’t see how they would fit together with their different views and wants when it came to love.
The obvious pro to telling him would be that maybe he felt the same way and they might figure out a way to live happily ever after.
The con list was pretty long, though. She didn’t want to wait until he had some giant sum of money stashed away before starting a family. She also wanted true love. That romantic, sweep-you-away kind of love, which hadn’t made it onto Leo’s must-have list. And while she felt flickers of something special between them, the kiss—platonic and spontaneous—had only made things weird. Point in fact, it had taken Leo over a month to even mention it.
Another con was that her telling Leo she liked him could potentially be the end of their friendship. And she needed him. He made her feel special, seen and understood. He was helping her regain her footing in life, get some spunk in her step. She didn’t want to lose that. But the risk of it happening was still way too great.
By the time they reached the end of the parade route, Leo’s cheeks hurt from smiling, and his hand was cramped from signing so many hockey cards. If anyone phoned him right now he was fairly confident he would answer, “And if you post this photo on social media, be sure to tag me and the Dragons!”
At least it had kept his mind busy, because Violet stating that she didn’t regret him kissing her did not compute. Her actions didn’t suggest she was cool with being kissed.
Despite his sore cheeks, he felt the beginnings of another smile. But what if she really was cool with it and that was why she’d acted weird?
The thought brought him to a full grin.
He was cool with kissing.
He’d lost sight of Violet and Daisy-Mae about halfway down Main Street, falling far behind. He’d started near the beginning of the parade and ended near the back, and at one point had been walking with an older dog on a leash. Leo was pretty sure the man who’d given him the leash was the same Brant Wylder who’d named Violet’s cat Onesie.
The dog had been amazing, patient and quiet, even posing for photos with its little vest that said Please Donate to the Future Sweetheart Creek Animal Shelter. The vest had a thoughtfully placed pocket for donations, which Leo had added to. By the time Brant retrieved the animal, Leo had told him if it ever needed a home to call him.
The man had tucked a business card in Leo’s hand with a smile and a promise to phone him on Monday.
Did he even have time to take proper care of a pet, with his frequent travels? And how had that dog wormed its way into his heart so quickly, anyway?
As he passed the food trucks parked along a closed-to-traffic side street, he bought two ciders, certain Violet would be thirsty when he finally found her. Slipping back onto Main, nodding to people as he went, he thought he saw Dezzie barrel into a store called Blue Tumbleweed. He had a feeling Violet couldn’t wait to get out of her costume. Together, they’d driven into town from her house, and she’d slipped into her costume on the field. Did she need him to walk her back there to shed the costume and leave it in his car?
He entered the store, glancing around for a dragon. No sign.
He recognized Violet’s friends April and Hannah, who’d been in the parade on different floats, pitching in to help customers.
Jenny, who he’d met at Thanksgiving, said to him from her spot at the cash register, “She’s in the back performing her metamorphosis.”
“What?”
“She’s getting out of costume.”
“Oh, right. Thanks.” He set the hot paper cups on a nearby windowsill, then ducked behind a mannequin as some giggling women moved past outside. They’d already accosted him twice for selfies and had requested he give them autographs in places Family Zone wouldn’t approve of.
“You hiding?”
Leo turned, to find teammate Dylan O’Neill standing there. The Dragons’ center was out of his cast and due back on the ice as soon as his foot rehab was completed—several weeks, tops.
“Hey, what’s up? Checking out the parade?”
Dylan shrugged and glanced upward. “Yeah, thought I’d pop by. Your cowboy hat’s blinking.”
“Oh.” Leo reached up, removed it and turned off the lights, feeling guilty that Dylan hadn’t been asked to join the parade, but had come out from the city to be a part of the festivities anyway. “You should have been in the parade, man.”
“Nah, the foot.”
“You could’ve walked that far.” The town’s population was barely over 4,000, and for a bit Leo had thought the parade might loop through it twice, just to seem bigger. Then again, Violet had put him in the parade as some sort of favor, not even inviting Maverick to join them—and he lived out here. Although, from what Leo gathered, Maverick was triple-booked these days and unlikely to be able to carve out time for something fun, like tonight. The guy’s career was exploding, and Leo couldn’t wait to see if his own did the same.
He heard a familiar voice across the store, then women whispering.
Jenny was pointing at Dylan, who was poking at a few of her displays. Western wear wasn’t the man’s style, but Leo figured he’d come for something other than a new shirt or buckle.
“Do me a favor and take him with you?” Jenny said to Violet.
She nodded and headed Leo’s way.
“Hey. Are you hiding?” she asked him.
He was still hunched behind the mannequin, but promptly straightened, trying to stop himself from staring at her lips.
She hadn’t minded the kiss. The kiss.
“There you are.” He gave her arm a squeeze, then spun, lifting the cups of cider off the windowsill. “I thought you might be thirsty, and this was the only decaffeinated warm drink I could find from the food trucks.”
“Thanks.”
“I was going to get hot chocolate from one truck, but there was a hissing armadillo with a dish of spilled corn fritters threatening anyone who came near.”
“Sounds like Bill’s discovered Armadillo Day.”
“This town is so odd.”
“One of the many reasons I love it. Want to walk?” She headed for the door, and Leo nodded, following. She looked over her shoulder. “Dylan? You coming?”
“I think I want a pair of boots. You go ahead.” He lifted one nearby. It was pale blue with white stitching and a silver toe plate.
Leo snorted. The dude was so transparent. He obviously cared nothing about the night’s parade and activities. “Those are women’s boots,” he muttered to Dylan as they left.
The man shrugged, set it down and picked up another one.
Violet was giggling by the time they hit the sidewalk. “An enemies-to-lovers story coming up for them in three, two, one…?”
“I can only laugh, thinking about how Jenny might react to the idea.” The poor woman had looked exasperated just having Dylan in her store.
Leo and Violet moved along the street, the occasional person asking for a selfie or autograph. The cowboys, however, made eye contact and tipped their hats in a silent hello. He tipped his hat back, liking the town more and more with each block they walked. He felt like he fit in here.
“This place reminds me of Montana’s cattle country.”
They’d stopped walking and when Violet didn’t answer, he followed her line of sight. Jenny’s float was parked at the end of Main Street. Even Leo could tell that it was the prettiest one, making promises of beauty and dreams.
The flatbed trailer had been covered with shaggy white carpet, and a rose-bedecked archway with small white lights. Bright silk flowers complimented the colored gowns and wedding finery displayed on mannequins, a signal to the town that Jenny was ready to set up prom-goers and anyone recently engaged.
Leo knew Violet could feel his gaze traveling along with hers, but she didn’t bother to look away. She’d always been open about the hope that one day she’d be wearing one of those dresses with the long train and beaded bodice. He admired her strength, her conviction despite her bad luck.
“Tell me.” He scooped her free hand into his, hoping she’d help him understand what a woman like her thought about love, and how he could find it for himself.
Violet tore her eyes away from the float’s flowered archway. It was just waiting for a bride to stand under it and proclaim her love to the man who would soon become her husband. That one moment representing the beginning of something special, a sacred bond.
It all felt so terribly unfair.
She knew Daisy-Mae would get her way, her man, her wedding, her dream. Her friend would be cherished and loved. For always and forever.
But Violet herself? She wasn’t feeling as certain as she had been forty minutes ago, during Daisy-Mae’s pep talk.
“Vi?” Leo prompted softly.
“It’s just…” How could she explain to someone who didn’t believe he could fall in love?
“You like weddings? Hate them?” His voice lowered. “Bad memories?”
Yes to all the above.
And especially today.
“I’m just…conflicted. I still want this, and yeah, it hurts. Today was supposed to be…” Her voice broke, and she sighed.
Leo squeezed her hand. “You still want the whole package.”
She nodded.
“I admire that.”
She turned, searching through the crowds behind them, where entertainers and booths had been moved onto the street once the parade finished. She wasn’t sure why she was thinking of Daisy-Mae right now and how her friend was in the thick of it, figuring it out, struggling through the tough stuff around love.
Could Violet do that with Leo, or were they too different to ever find common ground when it came to a lasting relationship full of love?
And was the temptation to attempt that with him simply because she was feeling wounded, vulnerable and lonely tonight?
Now wasn’t the time to try and solve this dilemma.
“You want a traditional wedding?” Leo asked.
“Yes,” she said, feeling exasperated with his persistence in sticking to the topic. Everything to do with marriage and love was one step in the opposite direction from Leo, and she just wanted to enjoy the calm security of their friendship tonight.
“Yeah? Big or small?”
“Can we not do this right now?”
“Do what?”
“This.” She waved her hand. Why had she told him she hadn’t minded the kiss? Why?
“I’m curious, though. I want to understand and see it the way you do.”
She stared at Jenny’s float again, mentally choosing which dress she’d wear to her own wedding. What was the danger in telling him what she wanted? It might actually protect her, send him a step or two further away from her, widen that distance she so desperately needed in order to think straight tonight.
She faced him, voice firm. “I want biggish.”
“Why’s that?”
Her breath left her as the familiar image came to mind of what her wedding day would be like. Her walking down the aisle as the center of attention. Everyone standing to watch her pass. The little girls wanting to grow up to be like her.
“You’ll never look as radiant and beautiful as you do on your wedding day. I want that day,” she said firmly. “The whole, entire day. Not just the dress-up part. I want everyone in my life to celebrate with me. To celebrate love. I want the wedding to mark the beginning of an unbreakable bond I hope we’ll always have. A husband and partner who’ll be there even when his fears are striking at him. A man who’ll be there with me through all of the changes life throws at us. Moving in together, having children, changing jobs, vacations, retirement, sickness, health, grandchildren. Everything. Shoulder to shoulder, through thick and thin.”
“That sounds beautiful.” Leo squeezed her hand again.
She gently extracted it from his. His gaze was filled with genuine caring, and she knew she trusted him implicitly. Maybe even more than she’d ever trusted Wyatt. Leo was filling so many holes in her life, holes she hadn’t even realized existed.
But he was just a friend. An important friend.
She turned away, afraid that her true feelings, which had been growing stronger and stronger, might show.
She reminded herself that his sweet words and attentiveness were an exercise, a workout drill that would bring him closer to his ultimate goal of finding a partner, not a lover, friend and wife all wrapped into one.
Leo wished Violet would look at him, allow him to show her he might be boyfriend material. But she kept gazing past him. She was being that fierce, angry panda he so adored, and he wanted to gently swing her face to his, and kiss her. Not an exuberant kiss this time. A real one.
The kind a girlfriend would want.
He was working on opening up his thinking and was realizing that he wanted love, weddings and happily ever afters with someone he understood and enjoyed being around.
Someone like Violet.
Somehow, those popular visions around relationships that he’d never understood all seemed to make sense when he was with her.
“I like that you still believe in love and want a wedding,” he said.
She crumpled the paper cup her cider had been in and tossed it in the trash. “Yeah, well, Wyatt doesn’t get to destroy me or what I want. He left town, you know. He couldn’t take the heat after leaving me at the altar.”
“And you stayed.”
“I did.”
“I think I’d like a wedding. In a church.”
She yawned, the angry panda suddenly gone, replaced by exhaustion. “I think I need to go home.”
“Want to grab your costume? I’ll give you a ride.”
He’d parked at the school after driving them in from her place. He’d thought they’d have a bit more time together tonight, mingling during the event, but something was irking Violet and he longed to settle her.
“I’ll pick up Dezzie tomorrow when the streets are less busy.”
They weaved through the crowds and walked the few blocks to the school.
“Are you ever going to buy a new car?” she asked, waiting for Leo to unlock the doors of his ancient vehicle.
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Probably on the day I feel like my future is unfolding as it should and I can breathe again.”
He looked at her over his car’s rusty roof. He hoped that day would come soon.
“Good idea, because Christine probably wouldn’t be caught dead in this thing.” Violet climbed in, patting the dash of the car. “No offense, old girl.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m ever giving her a ride anywhere.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “I give up.”
“You give up?”
He nodded. “I’ve realized I want something more than a partnership. Something like what you’ve described.”
He had her attention now. He could feel it zeroing in on him in the small cab. “But you’re waiting, right? Until you have lots of money?”
“To start a family? I don’t know. I’d still like to be financially secure, as well as have the time to be fully present.”
Violet remained quiet, arms crossed, as they drove to the edge of town, then down her driveway. The porch light was on, and he could see Onesie sitting on the railing, waiting for them, his tail flicking back and forth as if they’d been out past the cat’s appointed curfew.
“I heard a rumor,” Violet said, her voice flat, as he stopped the car.
Leo gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Yeah?”
“About a trade.”
He swallowed, wishing there was a way to skip this conversation. They were two months out until this season’s trading deadline, but his name was on at least one list. He still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. In terms of his career, likely good. In terms of him and Violet, not so good.
“I might get moved,” he said. He was afraid to be hopeful regarding his time in the league. Trades could be a sign of moving up or of moving down.
“So they’re talking about it?”
“There have been discussions.” Unless he’d end up close to his family in Montana, he wasn’t in favor of being traded. He wanted to settle here in Texas, and specifically in a place closer to Peach Blossom Hollow than San Antonio. A place that was feeling as much like home as much as Montana did.
Violet popped out of his car without a goodbye, moving way too fast to her front door for her mood to be considered calm or okay.
Leo climbed out of the driver’s seat slowly, wondering if he’d be invited in, or if she was too angry about the possibility of a trade.
He trailed after her, afraid of how she was reacting, what she might say and, ultimately, how she might hurt him. Because without realizing quite how he’d gotten to this point, she held his heart and could dash it with a few careless, hurting words.
“I don’t think the talks are that serious,” he said, coming up the porch steps as she flung open her door, keys bunched in her hand.
Once inside, she kicked off her shoes, and he followed, not removing his boots. If she was going to yell at him, he wanted it to be about something impersonal, such as his footwear.
“They don’t mind moving players like me, though. New ones who are unattached. Not yet settled into the city, team, or the like.”
Violet’s keys thumped down on her kitchen counter with a jangle as she muttered something about a curse. She flung open the fridge door and pulled out a can of root beer. Nothing for him. Not even a bite of her homemade kimchi—an old family recipe she’d wrangled from her mother.
She was upset. Really upset.
“Maybe I should go.”
He’d been hoping to kiss her tonight, show her that he was developing feelings for her that he thought might be love, but that idea now looked like a bad one. Or maybe it was good? She’d taught him that sometimes when a woman was upset or mad, she was hurting inside and just needed some kindness. Nice words, a hug, a kiss. Reassurance that she was loved.
“You could be traded anytime in the next eight weeks?” Violet asked.
“Nine.”
She turned on the tablet that was sitting on the counter. A photo of her smiling face flashed up, along with what looked like a bio, before she quickly closed the app and opened her calendar. She jabbed at it with a shaking hand, counting the weeks. “Eight.”
“Good. That helps decrease the odds of me being traded.” He lifted her hand from the tablet and swiped back to her picture in the first app. “What’s this?”
His heart fell as he realized what it was. A dating app. One with a notification icon that blared out the number ten. As in ten matches waiting for her to choose from. Or maybe it was ten messages from someone who liked her, who saw the same wonderful potential that Leo did?
Her profile photo was beautiful, her smile bright and sunny. He skimmed her bio. No surprise; it was well-written.
She snatched her tablet away from him and shut it off, then stared at him, jaw jutting as though she was daring him to mention the app.
“I’m not going to laugh at you.”
“Good. Because, FYI, I’m on this thing because you never bothered to find someone for me.”
And he never would. He was starting to realize he’d never intended to. Not to be a jerk, but because so few men, even the top athletes he knew, would ever be good enough to set up with his sweet friend.
“I think it’s brave.” He gestured to the tablet. “Putting yourself out there.”
Her jaw relaxed, and he scooped her hands up in his own. “I’m glad you still want a partner.”
“Some of us are looking for love.”
She pulled away from him, busying herself with her root beer.
“A partner means a friend,” he said. “It means laughter and fun. And love, too. It’s the whole package. If you find the right person, you can have it all.”
“Right!” She looked at him, her face awash with a weak, relieved smile. For a second he thought she was going to kiss him. Then she grew somber. “But you don’t fall in love.”
“I think I just never had the right woman in my life. I’m sure I’ll soon learn how to recognize it,” he said quietly. He shifted closer and brushed her bangs away from her forehead. “You’re such an angry panda tonight. Are you okay?”
She gave him a fiery look, and he chuckled.
“I happen to like that side of you.” He tipped his head, angling it so his lips lined up with hers. Violet froze, but she didn’t push him away, and he gave her the gentle kiss he’d been thinking about all night.
Violet couldn’t think. She could barely breathe.
Leo was kissing her. Like, for real kissing her. On purpose. With intent.
He leaned away, but she gripped his face between her palms and kissed him back, long and slow.
Best kiss ever.
Maybe the man was coming around, after all.
Wait. What was she thinking?
Her head was all messed up today, with it being her supposed-to-be wedding anniversary, and she was being swayed by desperation, sadness and longing, as well as the way he seemed to be turning his thoughts around regarding romance and love.
He might decide he was open to the idea, but that didn’t mean he was going to fall in love with her. He could be rebounding after losing the Christine dream, attaching himself to Violet because of the way she was helping his career. He could simply be saying the right things, like she’d taught him to.
Then there was the blaring fact that he was doing well as a rookie and had made it onto a trade list. If he was traded, he’d be leaving. If not this season, possibly the next.
Him kissing her could even be a reaction to the way she was pulling back tonight. His expression when he’d spotted her on the dating app hadn’t been a happy one, though he’d said the right things. He’d looked the way she felt about Daisy-Mae slipping away from their friendship, as she fell further and deeper in love.
But the biggest thing—Violet wasn’t willing to settle for anything less than love, and still didn’t know if he truly understood what she needed. Leo was one giant risk, a man who could be swept far away from her in eight weeks or less.
She broke the kiss and stepped back, shaking her head. “This isn’t right. It’s not what either of us needs.”
“What if it is?”
“I want more than you can give.”
“But you’re right about partners—the love, friendship, and helping each other. I believe in that. I understand why things didn’t work out with Christine now. I was trying to force a stupid partner idea on us, when love and friendship are the foundation a relationship needs.”
Violet looked down, wishing he wasn’t so darn perfect. He was always there at the right time, doing and saying the right thing, making her feel seen and adored, his moods leveling out her own.
It would be so easy to say yes.
“Vi?”
“You’re a seriously fantastic friend, Leo. But I’m feeling vulnerable tonight.” She made sure her voice lacked emotion. “You’re saying things you might not understand. Words that mean really deep and important things to me.”
He reached for her hand. “I know we’d be great together.”
Violet inhaled a deep breath and held it. Her mind was screaming for her to say yes, because they were so great together, and it was straight-up awful when they were apart.
“Leo, when I fall, I fall hard. And I can’t change our relationship on a whim.”
She had it in her to fall in love again, but not to have her heart shattered. It could be broken only so many times before you simply couldn’t put it back together again.
“It’s not a whim.”
“I fear this is nothing more than an opportunistic moment.”
“I am not ‘failing up’ like your old date was.” His eyes flashed with that unfamiliar anger. He looked ready to fight her on this.
“You can’t just replace the Christine dream with a Violet vision,” she said, feeling slightly panicky. She wanted so badly to jump into his arms, but was afraid that what he was offering was different from her hopes.
“I’m not trying to. They’re very, very different.”
“The stakes are too high to dive into something like this tonight. You need to let me sleep on it. I can’t let us fumble over the line, especially if we’re both feeling vulnerable right now. Me about Wyatt and the wedding that never was, and you about giving up on Christine.”
“I’m not feeling vulnerable.”
“You need to leave,” she begged, feeling her resolve weaken. “Please. Before we make a mistake that’ll ruin our friendship.”
Leo stared at her for a long moment, jaw set, eyes flashing.
“Please, Leo. You’re too important to me.”
When she didn’t stand down, he pushed away from the counter. He adjusted his cowboy hat, turned and left, his boots pounding down her front steps, his black jersey fading into the night as he headed to his car.