She nodded, that same thoughtful expression on her face. “I went to the University of Toronto, just like I wanted,” she said, giving a soft smile. “But city life wasn’t for me. I thought it would be all adventure all the time. Going to see some cutting edge new play at the theater, trying exotic foods from all over the world.”
These were the kinds of things Helena had talked about when we’d been dating. And while I didn’t attend much theater in Salt Lake City, there were plenty of restaurants exposing me to cuisines I’d never had the opportunity to try in our small town.
Helena shrugged. “But I wanted somebody to do all those things with. And making friends was… hard. A lot more difficult than I expected. Obviously, I talked to people on my course, and I joined in with extra-curricular things.”
After a small pause, she carried on, “Everyone was just so busy, all the time. It never seemed as if people had time for one another.”
These weren’t experiences I shared with Helena. For me, making friends had never been difficult. Playing hockey came with instant friends. Same interests, often the same experiences. It was easy enough to make connections; your team became family.
In a way, it had been one of the things that had helped me get over Helena. Moving to Salt Lake City on my own had been tough, but it hadn’t taken long before I’d become part of the team. There was little similarity between my experiences and the ones Helena had had. It sounded tough.
It was impossible not to wonder how different it might have been if we’d moved together.
Shaking my head, I decided not to focus on that. “How long have you been back in Lunengrove?”
The line moved up, both of us moving with it. “Nearly five years,” Helena answered. “You know, I always thought law in a small town would be nothing but wills. That seemed pretty morbid when I was 25.” She chuckled, making me smile softly at her. It made sense that someone straight out of law school might not want to immediately focus their career on end-of-life law.
“But there’s a lot more to it than that,” Helena continued. “You get to see people live. A family might make a new will when they have a new baby, or they might need the contracts for a lease looked over if they’re moving house.”
She grinned at me. “Or building a house. I promise, even if I wasn’t Charlotte’s best friend, I would have been one of the first people in town to know Pat was buying a place for the two of them.”
I smiled back, but my mind was racing through all the things Helena had said. More so than that, my mind was replaying how excited she sounded. Passionate. Helena had always talked with a passion that I only associated with hockey. Hockey and her.
Focusing too much on how I enjoyed listening to her was unhelpful. Instead, I smiled back, giving a nod. “Yeah, I don’t think Pat ever planned for it to be an actual secret. Not to mention that I don’t think he can keep a secret from Charlotte.”
“It’s nice that you... like it here. Have you got a house? Or... a husband to build you one?” It was an awkward question; I managed to make it mostly sound like a joke. I was pretty sure that Helena wasn’t married. I hadn’t heard anything about it and she wasn’t wearing a ring. But, it had been ten years. She could have been married and divorced by now.
Her eyes widened, followed a few seconds later by a laugh. “I do have a house,” she answered, shaking her head slightly. “But it’s husband-free.” The way she phrased it made me chuckle. I’d heard of houses being pet-free, but never spouse-free!
“It’s not far from the house Pat’s building, actually,” she added. “I think that’s part of why he picked the area. Charlotte and I like the idea of being close enough to walk to one another’s houses.”
I couldn’t help but remember that the rest of Helena’s family lived way on the other side of town.
“What about you?” she asked. “What’s living in Salt Lake like?”
For a moment, I wondered if that was an accusation. But why would it be? Helena and I had gone our separate ways. I was honestly interested in her life now; it wasn’t hard to imagine that she might feel the same way about me.
“It’s alright. They don’t get proper winters, not like what we’re used to, so that’s kind of weird.” I shrugged. Helena’s question might not have been about the weather in Salt Lake City, but it was the first thing that had come to my mind.
“I have a husband-free house, too,” I added after a moment’s pause, giving Helena a grin that implied that I didn’t have a wife at home either. “I thought about getting a dog, but being away for games, it seems harsh. My ex, Becca, she had a dog but when we broke up she took him with her.”
That had sucked but it also made sense. Jasper had been Becca’s dog; I wouldn’t have had the time to be a dog parent on my own. Everyone on the team who had pets, had them with someone else. Except for Felix, who just had dogs with other dogs.
“Oh, that must’ve been awful,” Helena sympathized. “I mean, breaking up sucks anyway, right? Losing a dog at the same time must make it so much worse.”
Was it weird that Helena could be sympathetic towards me breaking up with someone else? Maybe. It felt a little strange. But Helena had always been a good person. It didn’t surprise me that her first thought on hearing about a breakup was to commiserate with how I must
