Chapter 31
~Daley~
Jane bursts through my kitchen door ten minutes earlier than usual on Monday morning, drops her bag on the kitchen table and turns to where I stand by the coffee machine.
“If you don’t tell me right now that you rode that man hard all night long and sent him packing with a sore back and a smile on his face, I’m going to have you committed. ”
I can’t stop the giggle that bursts out of me. “I think you’re the one who needs to be committed. Being this obsessed with another person’s sex life can’t be healthy.”
“You are ridiculous.” I try to pull the corners of my mouth back down but it’s a lost cause. Every time Deacon’s face appears in my memory, warmth floods my chest and a moment later, I’m smiling again. “But yes, I did.”
Her high-pitched squeal could wake up dogs two streets over. “I knew it! I mean, I didn’t know if you’d go through with it, but the way that man looked at you all day on Saturday? He obviously wanted to. I’m so proud of you!”
“Being proud of me for having sex is bizarre. It’s not the first time, you know. You really do need some help,” I tease her, grabbing two mugs and pouring us both a cup of coffee to start our day. We both take a seat at the table and Jane leans forward, reaching over to clasp my hand.
“I’m proud of you because it means you let go of whatever hang-ups were holding you back. Emotionally, that’s a big deal for you, because you like this man. I mean really like him. I can tell.”
More memories flit through my mind; not just our time in bed, but the easy conversation too, him opening up about his marriage, me talking about my past. How natural it all felt, how easy. “I do like him,” I admit, even though it’s obviously not a secret. “More than I should.”
Jane's smile immediately melts into a scowl. “Don’t do that. There’s no ‘should’ here. You like him and he likes you. That means it’s just the right amount. The big question is: are you going to see him again?”
I relay Deacon’s idea to her. “He wants to do an experiment and see how things go if I go and spend the weekend with him at his house.”
“An experiment, huh?” My friend’s eyes twinkle in delight. “He’s got your number.”
He really does.
I fill her in on the rest of Deacon’s plan, how he’s going to plant the idea of River inviting me up so I have an excuse for visiting Sioux Falls. “There are still a million reasons this might not work, but I promised him I wouldn’t fixate on any of that and just take it step-by-step.”
Jane nods her agreement but makes one suggestion. “Don’t wait too long to talk about it with River. You’ll worry about it until you do, and if he finds out another way, it’ll be awkward. He’s a good young man and he wants you to be happy. He’ll be on your side.”
Everything she says is true, but I’m not quite there yet. “I don’t want to make things awkward between him and Deacon if nothing comes from it. It’s too soon to make any big announcement, but if it feels like it could be something long-term, I’ll tell him.”
The twinkle is back in her eyes. “So you think it might be long-term?”
“I haven’t disproven that hypothesis yet,” is all I’ll say.
River’s call comes later that evening, almost as soon as my last student for the day is out the door. He must have been watching the clock and waiting for me to finish, and I hit the accept button for his video call with a smile on my face.
“Hey! How was practice today?”
My greeting is a little over-enthusiastic but thankfully, he either doesn’t notice or just chalks it up to me still being excited about him being on an NHL team.
“Well, I got run into the boards pretty hard during a scrimmage,” he groans, rolling his shoulders and wincing at the motion. “Definitely noticed the size and weight difference from the guys in my junior league.”
I grimace in sympathy as I take a seat on the couch, in the same spot I sat during my conversation with Deacon on Saturday. “Ouch. You’re okay, though?”
“I’ll be fine.” He shares a little more about his day before shifting the conversation to me. “Jonny mentioned earlier that he and Brayden had breakfast with you yesterday.”
“You mean when you sent them over to check on me?” I tease him, and when he looks down to avoid my eyes, I laugh.
“They mentioned that Deke stayed over?” he adds, the curiosity thick in his voice.
I do my best to sound nonchalant. “People were all over him at the showcase and he thought it might get out of hand if he stayed at the lodge or the inn, so he crashed in your room instead. I hope that’s okay.”
“I would have moved a few things around if I knew he’d be in there,” he tells me with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t expect my team captain to see all my PeeWee pictures.”
Despite his protests, I can tell the idea of Deacon seeing all his trophies actually pleases him, so I don’t have the heart to tell him Deacon probably didn’t look at anything in his room given how little time he actually spent in there.
“I’m sure his bedroom growing up looked just the same.
We all had breakfast together when the boys came over and then he went back to Sioux Falls.
He was a big hit at the showcase, and everyone was still buzzing about it during their lessons today.
Please thank him for me again when you can. ”
I add in that last bit to make it sound like I don’t have a way of contacting Deacon directly, and River nods. “We talked about it a little bit today, actually. He also mentioned to me that you’d be welcome to come up for this media day we’re having on Friday.”
He goes on to tell me about it, using almost exactly the same turns of phrase Deacon did when he described it to me on Saturday. Deacon’s influence seeps into every word.
“Would you like to come?” he asks when his explanation finishes. “I know it’s a long way just for the day, especially since I’ll be leaving almost right away afterwards, but you can stay at my apartment if you’d rather spend the night and make the drive back on Saturday.”
The ease with which Deacon got River to play into his plan both impresses me and makes me feel a little guilty. “Do you want me to come?”
He looks appalled that I would think otherwise. “Of course, if you want to. He said it’s for families, and you’re my only family.”
No matter how many times I hear him say things like that, it always pricks at my heart. River has plenty of friends and each season, his team becomes like a second family to him, but when it comes right down to it, it’s just the two of us and has been for his entire life.
That’s exactly why I can’t tell him about Deacon just yet. He has enough changes going on in his life to be worried about me too.
However, it also doesn’t stop me from proceeding with the plan. “I’ve actually got some shopping to do that would be easier in the city, so that would work out well. I could stay at your place and do that on Saturday.”
His genuine smile lights up the phone screen. “Okay, great. I’ll find out what time everything starts and let you know.”
We chat a little more before hanging up, leaving me with three more days to get through before the next stage of my experiment with Deacon can begin.