Chapter 32 Tanner
Tanner
He couldn’t persuade her to stay. Although Tanner had suspected it would happen, it still felt like she’d taken a cheese grater to his heart when Avery pulled away again, gathering her shoes to creep back to her shared room in the early hours of the morning with a stilted goodbye and flushed cheeks.
He knew he’d pushed too hard, said too much, both on the dance floor and in bed. But even if this thing between them was only ever one-sided, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
Hiding the matching ache in his chest and his shoulder throughout the journey home, Tanner fended off the nosy comments and teasing from Dex and a concerned avalanche of questions about the upcoming surgery from his mom.
Wanting nothing more than some time alone to brood when they dropped him off at home, he was thwarted by both his brother’s request to take a look around and the appearance of his own G-Wagon on the driveway.
The latter wasn’t entirely unexpected, given that Tanner had supplied Mats with the code to the gates and the alarm.
Hidden a key for him, too. Appreciating that his old Boston teammate had given up his time to deliver the car—and that Dex had recently put him up for an entire month in the UK—Tanner resigned himself to being a good host.
What he didn’t expect was to find Arlo in the pool.
“Dude, I can see why you like it here.” Lifting his shades, Arlo squinted at him from the crocodile pool float. “It’s not so bad for the middle of nowhere.”
Mats rose to his feet. “He said you wouldn’t mind him tagging along. Didn’t leave me much choice and your phone went to voicemail.”
“Nah, it’s fine. He said he’d come visit soon.” Tanner made the introductions. “Mats—this is my brother, Dex.”
“Hi.” Mats gave his brother a measured smile that didn’t do much to lighten his serious face. His hand casually covered the fresh, puckered scar on his neck under the guise of rubbing at his jaw—a gesture Tanner had seen him make many times since the accident.
When Arlo raised a glass of something chilled in a jaunty salute, his teeth flashing white against his tanned face, Dex nodded a friendly greeting. The two had crossed paths a handful of times over the years.
“Thanks for bringing my car, man,” Tanner said gratefully to Mats. “How’s your off-season going?”
The heavyweight grunted. “Not bad so far. Spent three weeks with one of my sisters back home in Sweden—got to catch up with my nieces. Still want to fit in a golf trip to Arizona, if I can.”
“Ten weeks before training camp starts, so you’ve got time.” Shielding his eyes against the sun, Tanner battled the sinking sensation in his gut. “Looks like I’ve had all the golf I’m gonna get this summer.”
“Sorry about your shoulder.” Mats wasn’t one to mince words.
Replying with a shrug, Tanner caught Dex’s look of sympathy. “I was fooling myself that the strengthening exercises would solve the issue.”
Arlo paddled to the edge of the pool. “That’s why I’m here. We need to make sure we’ve considered all the options before you commit to anything rash.”
Yeah, as if he hadn’t done that already. “I wouldn’t be opting for the surgical stabilization if I thought there was an alternative,” Tanner grunted. “Six months off isn’t ideal at this point.” Or any point.
“You’ll be back before you know it.” Mats made the statement with an unswerving faith that Tanner appreciated more than the big guy would ever know.
“We still need to discuss it,” Arlo pushed. “Wouldn’t hurt to have a plan B up our sleeves. Although slacking on full pay doesn’t exactly blow, I guess. Good job you signed the contract before this happened. Some of us have to slog it out for our money.”
“Your life doesn’t suck so much that you can’t take the time to freeload on my hospitality.
” Struck by the paralyzing thought that plan B might involve a whole other fucking career, Tanner scooped up a bright yellow ball from the ground and lobbed it in Arlo’s direction with his left hand. “How long are you staying?”
Arlo just dodged and smirked. The ball bobbed away from him on a ripple of water. “Haven’t decided yet. But I can work from anywhere.”
“And you, man?” he asked Mats.
“Until next weekend, if it’s OK with you.”
“Sounds great.”
Tanner left them to it for quarter of an hour or so, taking Dex inside to show him around. When they were done, they made coffee for everyone and took it back onto the patio, pulling up a chair each and stretching out.
“It’s a great house. D’you think you’ll buy it?” his brother asked. “Or are you still looking around?”
Releasing the strap on the sling and dropping it beside him, Tanner rubbed at his neck. “Can’t imagine anything else suiting me better.”
“Still makes more sense to rent given the circumstances,” Arlo interjected. “Gives you more options.”
If they’d been alone, Tanner would have grilled him about money.
The need to know more about his current financial position itched like prickly heat beneath his skin.
Instead, he shelved that discussion for later and said, “Fisher’s a cool coach.
I’m lucky they’re still willing to give me a chance. ”
“You’ll be bored here as soon as you’re back on the ice.
” With a laugh, Arlo sent a handful of water in a sweeping arc over Tanner’s legs before heaving himself out of the pool to flop onto one of the chairs.
He reached for his mug of coffee. “And then you’ll be begging me to push for a trade to a bigger team. ”
Tanner found his eyes traveling to Avery’s temporary workshop and his knee bounced. “Don’t count on it.”
“How was the wedding?” Mats asked, as if he could sense a change of conversation would be welcome.
“It was cool. Good fun,” drawled Dex with an easy smile. “They did their first dance to ‘Sexy and I Know It.’”
“Savannah was happy, which is the main thing.” Tanner knew his cousin had looked gorgeous but he couldn’t have described her dress to save his life. Avery’s, on the other hand, was seared into his memory. Especially how it had looked bunched around her waist.
To hide a sudden surge of hunger that threatened to make itself embarrassingly obvious, he pushed to his feet and wandered over to the edge of the pool, kneeling to read the floating thermometer.
“Give it a year and she’ll be moaning about him stacking the dishwasher wrong,” Arlo grinned.
Tanner made a noise of disagreement. Dragging his t-shirt over his head, he lowered himself onto the pool edge and dangled his feet in the water.
“You haven’t met my cousin—she’s a gremlin.
It’ll be Griff moaning about the dishwasher and Savannah won’t give two shits.
Neither will he, to be fair. He knows he’s lucky to have her. ”
“Saw Lily out last week.”
“Yeah?”
“She asked after you.” Arlo’s mouth kicked up at the corner.
With a noncommittal grunt, Tanner smothered a yawn. He had no interest in his ex-girlfriend.
“She’s single again. The quarterback is history. Oh, and rumor has it, Bethany Jenner has called time on her marriage.” Arlo carried on running his mouth off and this one hit a nerve.
His shoulders hunching, Tanner’s fingers gripped the edge of the pool. The news was hardly a fucking surprise. Hitting on your husband’s players wasn’t the best sign of a healthy marriage.
“Shut up, dude.” Mats’s intervention was uncharacteristic. He stretched out a beefy leg and kicked Arlo’s chair. “He doesn’t want to know. Read the room.”
Scooping up his phone instead, Arlo started talking asset management as he scrolled, expounding on short-term versus long-term benefits. He wanted Tanner to buy a boat. He could be pretty liberal with cash flow for a financial advisor.
“It’ll be a good investment. You can offset some of the expenses—”
Tanner’s brother cut across him. “Boats are never a good investment.”
“I didn’t know you had one.” Arlo arched an eyebrow.
“I don’t own a racehorse either,” Dex said with a lazy shrug, “but I know I’d probably be poorer for buying one.”
“Around a third of people in Sweden own a boat.” Mats, the voice of reason, added his input. “They’re fun but they don’t make money.”
Tanner rotated shoulder muscles pleasantly warmed by the sun and was relieved to find it felt OK.
“I’m not that bothered, anyway. I doubt I’d use it enough to be worth the slip rental and upkeep.
I’m not gonna splash out on anything I don’t have to until the surgery’s done and I’ve decided if I want to buy this place. ”
Arlo pulled a face. “There’s nothing happening in Pine Springs, man,” he groused. “Think of the fun we had in Boston. And Dallas. I don’t want to settle somewhere I’m outnumbered by trees.”
“No one’s asking you to settle here,” Tanner pointed out. “We don’t need to live in each other’s pockets.”
“Don’t give me that. You know you can’t manage without me.” Arlo leaned over to swing a punch at Tanner’s ribs which was easy enough to dodge. “I’m the brains to your muscles. We make the perfect team.”
They talked movies, travel, and sports for the next couple hours as the afternoon whiled away into a balmy early evening.
Dex offered to cook and no one opposed the idea.
From the scant contents of the fridge, he produced a pasta concoction that was devoured with no leftovers and they took a bottle of bourbon back outside.
Opening the banking app on his phone for a quick once-over, Tanner was just trying to remember why he might have made a hefty withdrawal of cash toward the beginning of the month when Arlo brought up Avery.
“I can’t believe I finally get to meet the Scholarship Savior in person after all this time. Unless she’s blown you off again already.”
Arlo had been privy to the weeks of confusion and disappointment when Tanner’s texts and calls went unanswered during that first semester at college.
He’d offloaded on his roommate numerous times while he tried to work out why Avery wasn’t replying, and it hadn’t made Arlo much of a fan.
His snarky jibe caught Tanner off-guard, skating as it did a little too close to the truth.
Tanner pocketed his phone with a frown, his chest tight with the doubt over whether those few wonderful hours last night had changed anything between him and Avery. “You’ll see her tomorrow. She’s using the outbuilding as her workshop at the moment.”
“I hope you’re charging her rent,” Arlo said, tipping his head back to gaze up at the sky.
“As if,” snorted Dex, nudging the side of Tanner’s sneaker with a grin. “Ya boy’s got it bad. They were all over each other at the wedding.”
The combination of his brother’s teasing and the memories of exactly how “all over” each other he and Avery had been sent a flush of heat to Tanner’s groin. He felt like a goddamn teenager.
“So you’re actually together now?” Arlo side-eyed him curiously.
“Not exactly,” Tanner admitted, drumming fidgety fingers on the arm of his chair. “It’s complicated.”
“Always fucking complicated with that one,” Arlo murmured under his breath, tapping away on his phone at the same time with a scowl on his face. “Couldn’t you at least play the field for a bit? Have yourself some fun.”
Dex huffed out a laugh. “Oh, he’s having fun, don’t you worry. And Avery’s great. She’s just gonna make him work for it.”
“No bad thing,” said Mats succinctly. “Easy is overrated.”
“I like easy,” Arlo objected.
Fiddling with his watch strap, Tanner flashed him a grin. “That’s because you’re always looking for a shortcut. Some of us understand that the end result is sweeter for putting in the hours.”
And, as the others continued to drop dubious pearls of wisdom about women and dating, Tanner tuned them all out. While he was helpless to do anything about his shoulder and the upcoming surgery, devising a plan to win Avery’s trust had to be within his capabilities.
She needed someone on her side. Someone to take care of her the way she looked after her mom. The hours they’d spent in his hotel room at the wedding had been so exceptional he knew he’d be replaying them tonight in the solitude of his own bed.
Somehow, he needed to show her that every night could be just as good if she’d only give him a chance.