Chapter 14 #2
I flipped him off before sighing and looking towards Lizzie’s house.
She’d had a phone call, one with the superintendent she couldn’t miss, and I knew we were both dreading this goodbye.
She would come up to Portland for a game soon, and I would come home every time that I could.
But I didn’t know if it was going to be enough.
“Go to her. Take these last moments. We’ll take care of your girl.”
I sighed, finished my goodbyes, and headed towards Lizzie.
No, she hadn’t blamed me for leaving. Not in that reality
At least, that’s how I felt we had ended things before.
Before I could knock on her door, she opened it and stepped onto the back porch.
Though it was still hot as hell, she wore a loose-knit wrap around her shoulders and tiny shorts and a tank top.
It was the hottest fucking thing. I wanted to take her back into that house and have my way with her, but she raised a brow.
“I don’t think so, mister. You had to get on the road like twenty minutes ago.”
“I wasn’t going to go without saying goodbye.”
I moved forward and then cupped her face. She slipped her fingers in my belt loops, and that familiar gesture nearly sent me over the edge.
“I love you,” I said softly.
“I know. And I love you too.” I crushed my mouth to hers, needing her more than air. When I ran my hands over the wrap and then under, so I could trap her, she groaned into me before pushing me away slightly.
“Go. If you’re late for training, your coach is going to yell at me.”
“He’ll kick my ass. You’ll be safe.”
“I don’t know about that. If you want me to come and hang out with the WAGs or whatever name they’re going to be changing their organization to soon, then you’re going to need to make sure that we don’t start off with a bad impression.
Where I make you late to your flight because I’m keeping you here. ”
“I don’t want to leave.”
She looked up at me then and patted my cheek. “Yes, you do. You need the ice. I’ve always known that, Atlas.”
“Come with me,” I blurted, my heart thudding.
I didn’t want to go. Which made no sense because while on the road, it wasn’t like she would be coming with me anyway.
I’d be leaving her alone in my high-rise apartment in Portland, feeling like shit.
Other people made it work, and hell, most people my age in the league already had two or three children, and that’s just the way things were.
You got married early, and you had babies.
But I’d waited.
“I love you,” I whispered when she didn’t say anything.
“I wanted to hear you say that before. That you wanted me with you. And I know us figuring out our lives separately was what was needed, even if it was terrible. But I love you. And you know that I’m going to visit. But I can’t leave the school in a lurch.”
“We’re going to make this work,” I vowed.
“You know it. Other people make this work for them, and so will we.”
“I don’t know if this is my last year,” I whispered. I thought so, but I didn’t know.
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. My leaving the school in the hands of that new hire and a superintendent who doesn’t really like us would hurt the students this year. But there are teaching jobs in Portland.”
My eyes widened. “Lizzie—”
“You know it, and I know it. If you’re not done after this year, and you want to sign again, I’ll go with you. But that’s a decision we’ll make together, okay? I love you. Now go kick ass and bring home a Cup. I’m very needy here.”
I crushed my mouth to hers once again, my heart thudding.
If we didn’t want this to be my last year, Lizzie would come. She would stay in Portland, and we would make it work. Or maybe I could get traded to Denver, or some shit. I didn’t know, but my mind went in a thousand different directions, and then my chest tightened.
“I can see your hamster wheels spinning right now. Go get in the car. Drive safely, and tell me when you get there. In fact, go through the whole routine where you get to the airport, and tell me through security and so on.”
“I used to do that before. And I thought you hated it.”
“I never hated it. Although now you can send photos on phones. It’s so fancy.”
“Technology is amazing, isn’t it?” I kissed her jaw, her lips, her temple, and then I let out a deep breath before turning to get into my SUV.
I would be driving down to Denver because it was easier to catch a direct flight there, but I wouldn’t be going alone.
Rune would be heading down with me, then he would run a few errands that he needed to do in the city, before coming back to town.
I’d thought about having Lizzie come with me, but saying goodbye in the airport parking lot would lead to random photographs we didn’t want on the internet, and a goodbye I didn’t want to think about.
I wanted to stay, but I needed to go.
The story of my life.
I drove past, meeting her gaze and her small smile, and swallowed hard, before heading down the long road out of Ashford Creek, and back towards my reality.
A reality I wasn’t quite sure where I fit in any longer.
I would have to figure it out this year. No matter the cost.
* * *
“Took you long enough,” Thomas said as he hugged me tightly. Then he kissed me hard on the cheek and headed towards his stall.
I rolled my eyes and set down my bag.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier for you guys to invite me all over to your homes and help babysit your kids.”
“Excuse me, I only have five kids,” Reynolds said.
“Six!” Jacob called out from the other side of the locker room.
Reynolds cursed. “Yes, six.” He put his head in his hands and gave a dramatic sigh. “How do I have six kids?”
“Well, Reynolds, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much,” Thomas began.
I shoved his shoulder back and laughed right along with everyone else in the room.
“You’re making sure Danielle has helped, though, right?” I asked my right wing.
Reynolds looked up and nodded. “Fuck yeah. We didn’t mean to have the last two sets of twins. I mean, I love them, but we thought maybe three kids would be great, and then boom, four.”
“And you didn’t think to get snipped?” Thomas asked.
Benny sighed. “I did get snipped. But I didn’t go for the checkup, and apparently it didn’t work the first time.”
I cringed. “Dear god.”
“I know. So during our lovely off-season, I got my vasectomy, and Patrice will not let me near her,” he said with a laugh.
“Good on Danielle,” I said as I began to change.
It would take me longer than everyone else to get into my gear, but my practice started later.
We wouldn’t have a full team session and meeting until the next day.
Today was just the first introduction, where the old guys would get to know the new guys.
And I could practically feel the ice calling to me.
“Wait, vasectomies don’t always work?” Thomas asked, eyes wide. Then he pulled out his phone and began to type dramatically.
“How much do you want to bet that he’s making sure that his wife has a few pregnancy tests right now?” Benny asked softly.
I snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised. They already have the three kids that they wanted.”
“And then you end up with double. Twins change everything.”
“Congrats, though. Thanks for sending the pics during the break.”
“No problem, man. Hey, Danielle does want you over, though. She has a friend—”
I held up my hand, used to the guys trying to set me up. Usually, it was their wives, but the guys tried their hand too.
“Please, don’t.”
“Yeah, why would he need somebody when he finally got Lizzie back?”
I glared at the younger goalie.
“You and Lizzie?” Thomas asked, practically bouncing on his toes. “It’s about fucking time.”
Others began to come up to me then, and I pushed them all away, pride mixing with annoyance.
“First, she’s Elizabeth to all of you. She’s my Lizzie.”
“Like Pride and Prejudice?” one of the rookies asked. Everyone glared at him, and I beamed.
“If you’re calling me Mr. Darcy, I’ll go with it.”
“Look at you, knowing the literature,” Benny said, smacking the back of my head. “Seriously though, congrats. Is she out here?”
My stomach twisted, and I shook my head. “No. I am trying to figure this all out. She’s a teacher, and can’t just leave the school in a bind, you know?”
“Long distance is hard, but Danielle and I did it when she was finishing school. You can make it work.”
I rubbed my chin, knowing I would need to shave soon. I couldn’t start off with a beard, considering we were going to make it to the damn playoffs. “Yeah. I know.”
“You got a picture?” one of the guys asked who didn’t know about my long history with Elizabeth. While most people didn’t, because I had kept her out of the news for good reason, I’d gotten drunk a couple of times and spilled everything to the closest people on my team.
If I wanted Lizzie out here with me at games, the world was going to get to know her, and we were going to have to find a path.
All that mattered, though, was that she was mine. And we were going to make it work.
“You don’t need to add anything to your spank bank, Hoss,” someone called out.
“You do realize that I can kick all of your asses,” I growled.
“Goalie fight!” another person called out, and then somebody pulled out the picture of their latest girlfriend, and the attention shifted.
“Hey, Carter,” one of the admins said from the doorway. “Samuel wants you in the training room before you get dressed.”
“Do you want him naked?” Jacob asked, teasing.
I rolled my eyes and got my phone. “Okay. Tell Coach I might be late, though,” I told Ben.
“I don’t want to get killed.”
“I’ve got you,” Thomas said. “But I bet if Reynolds just showed pictures of the twins, he could get anything he wanted.”
Reynolds’s eyes lit up. “Do you think?”
I let them and the center of their line, who finally showed up late, chirp at each other, and made my way down the hall to the training room.