GRANT
SEVENTY-NINE
SEPTEMBER, THIS SEASON
Puck Kings
Easy E
Anyone want to grab food after training camp?
Sully
At what point are you all planning on removing Miller from this chat?
Mavvy
Ouch, Goalie Daddy. Play by those rules and you’ll be out of the chat soon too.
Sully
What a fucking relief that would be.
Me
No food for me. I’m busy.
Easy E
… do you have other friends?
Mitchy
He doesn’t have to tell us every detail of his life, Ethan.
Easy E
Are you sure about that? Feels like that’s part of the bro code.
Me
I don’t have other friends. I’m just busy!
Easy E
Does that mean you’re hanging out with your new brother-in-law?
Me
I would appreciate it if you stopped calling Coach my brother-in-law. I don’t like it.
Huddy Boy
He kind of is, G.
Mavvy
He totally is.
Me
I’m blocking you all so I can have an afternoon of peace.
Sully
Once you do that, Everett, you’re never going to want to go back.
“Sorry I’m late.” Amelia closes the door to my apartment with a thud. “My meeting ran long.”
“I’m in the living room” I answer, tossing my book on the coffee table.
“Hi.” She smiles from the entryway and drapes her team jacket over the back of the couch. “How was practice?”
“Humbling. I’m not as fast as I was seven years ago.” I pat the spot next to me, smiling when she drops on the cushions and puts her legs in my lap. “I also had some hip pain. Is this my life now that I’m approaching thirty?”
“You haven’t even scratched the surface.” Lia laughs. “Talk to me when you hit thirty-five and start taking vitamins.”
“Goddamn gut health. How was your first day?”
“Great. Darcy and I talked about our goals for this upcoming season. Making it back to the Stanley Cup finals is the top priority, but we also focused on player development. I met my new personal assistant, and Simon Buttecker was actually respectful. All in all, a good day.”
“How’s the assistant? Do we like her?”
“Simone is a lifesaver. My life is significantly more organized after two hours with her. She has different calendars for different events I have to attend, and I love her.”
“Glad to hear it.” I squeeze her ankle and rest my elbow on the arm of the couch. “What else do you have on your agenda today?”
“Nothing besides watching last night’s episode of my new favorite reality show.” She rubs her hands together with a grin. “I can’t wait to see which couple is kicked out of the villa.”
“Do you feel like taking a field trip before you put on your sweatpants?”
“I could be persuaded. Do I have to dress up?”
“Nope. I’m going like this.” I gesture to my gray shirt and athletic shorts. “We’re keeping it casual around here.”
“A field trip sounds fun.” Her eyes twinkle. “Let me take off my makeup, and I’ll be ready to go.”
Ten minutes later, she meets me by the front door. The jean shorts and white tank top she changed into make me push her against the wall and kiss her, and she giggles when I cup the back of her head so she doesn’t knock her skull against a picture.
“I think I have a problem.” I kiss her ear and tug on her beltloop. “I’m addicted to you, Lia, and I don’t want to find a cure.”
“There are worse problems to have.” She rests her hand on the back of my neck. “Is this a time-sensitive field trip? Or do we have some wiggle room to do other activities first?”
“The other activities are going to have to wait, baby, but I promise I’ll make it worth your while.” I pull away, reluctant to let her go. I check through the peephole, glad to find the coast is clear. “Ready?”
“What are we going to do the day someone runs into us?” Lia follows me into the hallway, walking by my side. “How do we play it off?”
“I’m considering a trade to Baltimore. You’re trying to convince me to join the team.” I shrug. “Something like that.”
“I’m not a fan of that,” she admits when we step in the elevator.
“I love you, but I don’t want to ever coach you.
That would be too murky, and I’d never want someone to question my leadership decisions based on personal relationships.
” She follows it up with a wince. “I’m sorry. Was that too harsh?”
“Not at all. I get why you say that, and it doesn’t bother me. Guess we get to keep being rivals and using trash talking as foreplay, baby.”
We pile into my car and link hands over the center console. Lia hands me a hat and I put it on backward. She slides on a pair of sunglasses and smiles.
“What a beautiful day,” she says. “Are you going to keep where we’re going a secret?”
“Only for a few minutes,” I say.
“You do know I don’t like surprises, right?”
“I remember you mentioning it, yeah.” I drum my fingers on my thigh at a stoplight. My notebook is sitting in my pocket, and her feelings toward surprises is jotted down somewhere in there. “I promise it’s a good surprise.”
“Worth the wait, I’m sure.” Amelia relaxes in the seat. “Lainey and Sienna want to take another trip to the East Coast, and I suggested Thanksgiving. Sienna’s team is playing the DC Titans for the Thanksgiving Day game, so it should work out perfectly.”
“I’m glad you told them about me. They’re important to you, and it sucks keeping the people you love in the dark about things that make you happy.”
“The more I think about it, the more I think you should tell your teammates about us. It’s not fair that the people close to me know while your best friends don’t.”
“Really?” I glance at her. “You’d be okay with that?”
“If you trust them, I trust them.”
“They wouldn’t have anything bad to say about you or our situation. Liam is married to someone who works for the team. Mitchy is dating Lexi, and Ethan has slept with half the city.”
“I slept with him once,” she says, and I whip my head to gape at her. “I’m totally kidding, but that reaction was so worth it.”
“Brat.” I pinch her thigh. “Ethan plays the outgoing guy well, but I think deep down, he does all of the flirting and social media pages because he’s lonely. I have a feeling he’s missing something in his life.”
“Sometimes the happiest people are the saddest ones.” Lia folds her hand over mine on her leg. “I’m glad you all are so close. That’s not always the case in locker rooms.”
“I got lucky. If I had a crisis, they’d be there. Hell. Look at Riley. Liam, Maverick, Hudson and I taught him how to drive again after his accident. You don’t do that with casual acquaintances. Those guys are my brothers.”
We pass the rest of the drive talking about our training camp schedules.
Off the highway, we take quieter roads with sidewalks and big lawns and houses with wraparound porches.
We pass couples walking their dogs and a park with swing sets.
The properties are bigger, and there’s a Little Free Library on the corner.
“Are we meeting someone?” she asks, looking out the window.
“Nope.” I pull into a long driveway and cut off the engine. With high hedges and line of tall landscaping, the house can’t be seen from the street. “Come on.”
Amelia follows me to the porch. I fumble with the lockbox and grab the key waiting for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch her run her fingers along the banisters, her gaze flicking to the columns.
“The porch is so wide. You could fit rocking chairs out here,” she says.
“And some potted plants.”
“I doubt I’d be able to keep them alive.”
I unlock the front door, pushing it open. Stepping into the foyer, I give her arm a gentle tug and bring her inside with me.
“What do you think about this space?”
“It’s beautiful.” Lia lifts her chin and admires the vaulted ceiling. “Are you asking my opinion because you think I should be an interior designer? I kind of like my coaching gig, Grant, and I’m pretty good at it.”
“I’m asking your opinion because I want to buy us—you—a house. This house, if you like it.”
Her hand covers her mouth. A piece of hair falls in her face, and she rests her cheek on my shoulder.
“You want to buy me a house?” she whispers, and I kiss the top of her head.
“Yeah, baby. You said you wanted a place where we didn’t have to hide, so I spent all summer trying to find somewhere that might be right.” I gesture around. “This feels right.”
“It feels very, very right,” Amelia says. The words crack, and she wipes her cheek. “Will you show me the rest of the house?”
We walk hand in hand to the living room and family room.
I point out the dining room that seats twenty and the kitchen with enough counter space to bring in a whole culinary team.
There’s a bedroom downstairs and four more upstairs, complete with a primary suite boasting a walk-in closet and a spa-like bathroom.
“Beautiful.” She touches the custom shelves in the closet. “Plenty of room for all my heels.”
“There’s an acre of land between the houses on both sides, and the property sits on eight acres.” I lead her to the floor-to-ceiling window in the bedroom that overlooks grass as far as the eye can see. “The backyard has a pool, outdoor kitchen, and a hot tub. And do you see that?”
“What?” Lia stands on her toes, her nose pressed against the glass. “If you tell me we have sheep and goats, I’m going to cry all over again.”
“No animals, but plenty of room for them.” I tap the window and point to the back left corner. “There’s a pond over there. It’s shallow, so it’ll freeze in the winter. We’d have our own hockey rink right at home. No need to pick an arena to skate in.”
“Grant.” She rests her hand at the base of my spine. There’s a tremble to her touch, the press of her fingers a sign of the emotions she’s holding in. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything. It’s a big step, and I’m springing it on you. I haven’t put in an offer, and I never would without you fully being onboard with this plan. I see a future with you, Lia. A long, exciting future, but we can—”
“Yes.” Her lips twitch. “Yes, Grant.”
“Yes?”
“Yes to the house, to living together. Yes to anything and everything. I don’t care what it is. I want to do it with you.”
“Fuck.” I sweep her off her feet, laughing when she buries her face in my neck. “Are you sure?”
“You want to buy me a house, and I love you.” She smiles against my cheek, the curve of her smile pressed right into my skin. “I’m really, really sure.”
“I love you too.” I set her down, a laugh bursting out of me. “Holy shit. Are we really going to do this?”
“You’re in. I’m in. We’re doing this.” Lia takes my hand. “Show me the dining room again. I want to imagine what it will be like when it’s filled with all of our family and friends.”
I lead her to the stairs with her hand in mine.
I don’t know who decided I was the lucky one that would end up with this life, but I wish I could thank them. I’m starting another season with my favorite guys. I have the best girl by my side and a future to look forward to together.
I was wrong before.
This is as good as it gets. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and standing in the dining room with its wood beams and natural light, I know home isn’t a place. It’s a person, and Lia is mine.