Giving her a somewhat bashful look, I smiled. “You got your best heels on for tile shopping?” I teased. Helena looked strikingly professional, her pencil skirt hugging her hips and ass just right. It was a look I’d never seen on her. There was something exciting about that.
I told the voice inside my head to pipe down.
The way she glanced down at her feet, like she hadn’t even realized what shoes she was wearing, was endearing, If this was how she dressed for work, it probably wasn’t as novel to her as it was to me. Which was a sad thought. If Helena and I hadn’t gone our separate ways, maybe I’d be as totally used to this as she was.
“I promise, I won’t slow us down,” she teased, raising an eyebrow as she surveyed the half-scrawled autograph in my hands. “But I guess you might. Does this happen a lot?”
It struck me that as novel as Helena’s work was to me, mine was just as unfamiliar to her. She hadn’t had years to get used to what it was like for me to be a Puma.
Finishing the autograph, I gave Jack, the receptionist, a grin as I handed the paper back. Leading Helena out of the building, somehow managing to resist the way my hand itched to press against her back as she walked through the door before me, I shrugged my shoulder slightly.
“It happens a lot in Lunengrove.” Which made sense since people here loved having an NHL player from their little town. Having grown up here, I totally understood it. “I mean, it happens in Salt Lake, too, but not like this.” People here were always so excited to see me. It was... nice. Weird, but nice.
Helena nodded, sliding into the front seat of my rental car. “About that…” She bit her lip, not quite meeting my eye as I settled beside her. “I have kind of a hockey-related favor to ask.”
Silence thickened between us as I waited for Helena to carry on. It was hard to imagine what kind of favor she would ask me. Let alone one that would make her this uncomfortable!
“My nephew, Ethan, he’s totally into hockey. He’s on the school team.” I’d known Kate and Brian had a kid, even though Helena and I had been broken up before Ethan was born, so I nodded. “I don’t know, I guess I was hoping you might find time to drop in on them. Ethan would be so excited.”
For a moment, I didn’t say anything. I expected there to be more. Dropping in on some kids playing hockey was hardly a difficult favor for me to fulfill! When Helena didn’t say anything else, it made me realize that really was everything she was asking of me.
“Yeah, of course!” I promised easily. “That’s no trouble. I’d love to see the school team anyway, spent many great years on it,” I joked. “And I’m doing my training on that ice. It’s... kind of nice to be back on it, actually.” Very different from the rink in Salt Lake. It gave me a good perspective on how far I’d come.
Once we got in my car, I shook my head. “That’s hardly asking much,” I pointed out. “You’re acting like you wanted a kidney or something and we both know we don’t share a blood type,” I joked.
We’d both found out our blood types when we were 18, donating blood for the first time. After that, we’d always joked that we weren’t a perfect match because we couldn’t give the other person an organ if they needed one.
Helena’s eyes widened, then she laughed, the sound so familiar that for a moment I felt like we were teenagers again. In the rearview mirror, she met my gaze, shaking her head slightly.
“I know it’s not a big thing,” she assured me. “But… well, you know what my family were like to you.” Helena’s parents had never been rude exactly, but they’d made it pretty clear they saw me as a distraction.
Especially when Helena helped tutor me. They were always pressuring her to put her own studies first, since I could hardly help her get into a good university.
“Ethan’s different, though,” Helena rushed to assure me. “And Kate does her best with him. She’s tried to get into hockey since he showed an interest in it.”
Helena’s family had always seen sport as something other people did. For them, it had been all about academics. It was what had made me so unpopular. I couldn’t blame them, school had been tough for me. Since then, I recognized that it wasn’t necessarily because I was stupid. But without Helena’s help, I doubted I would have ever known that.
“It’s nice that she’s trying,” I commented. “And you know hockey, at least,” I added with a small smile as we drove out of the parking lot. Helena had learned hockey for me, but I was sure she remembered the rules well. She would definitely have refreshed her knowledge for Ethan.
Helena had always been very good when it came to making sure other people felt appreciated. “I’ll meet the school team,” I promised. “I’ll even say it was you who suggested it, so you get all the best aunt kudos.”
Helena grinned, her whole body seeming to relax. She must’ve dreaded having to ask me. I would have wondered why she bothered, but I knew her well enough to guess. She might not have felt comfortable asking me for a favor, but she would’ve overcome that for her nephew. Whatever went on between Helena and her sister, none of it was his fault.
“Thank you, Sam,” she said softly. “I don’t think you understand quite how many aunt points I’m going to get for this!” Her eyes twinkled
