“Sure.” He fell in line and shot Katie a backwardglance. She was still eyeing him with a question mark etched on her face.
With a devilish grin, Paige handed him two huge-ass bowlsand an even huger-ass bag of chips in the kitchen. “You have to help while wetalk. Refill these for me?” She bent and scraped a mishmash of scraps offplates into the trash while he washed his hands. “So you’re thinking ofselling?”
A few chips found their way into his mouth before hefinished his task, folded his arms over his chest, and leaned against thecounter. “I’m not sure. I own a place in the Bay Area, and before I got traded,I thought I’d sell the condo here. Since everything’s changed, I’m consideringselling them both and buying something bigger in Denver.”
She began rinsing and stacking plates. “Do you plan to livethere alone?”
The question caught him off guard. Wasn’t that kinda personal? She continued, herback to him. “I only ask because a sweetheart, kids, parents, anyone that mightlive with you all come into play when you’re evaluating a potential home. Forinstance, if seniors were to move in with you, you’d want to look at somethingon one level. A girlfriend with kids, on the other hand, would mean searchingin certain school districts.”
He chuffed—loudly. “Neither of those scenarios applies. Norwill they ever.”
She pivoted partway, eyes wide. “Never? Are your folksgone?”
“Good as gone.” He could hear the bitterness in his ownvoice. Something flashed across her face before she turned back to her dishes,spurring him to move on before she could utter the question no doubt playing inher mind. With a cough, he said, “And as far as girlfriends, with or withoutkids, that’s not happening either.”
A knowing nod. “Ah. You don’t dorelationships. Nothing permanent anyway.”
Excuse me? Unsure exactly why, her remark bothunsettled and irritated him. A second later, he understood why she’d made it.“I take it when you met Becks, he didn’t do relationships either.”
She chuckled. “He changed girlfriends as often as he changedsocks.”
Genuine curiosity seized him. He moved closer, resting hiship against the counter beside her. “So how did it all happen? I mean, Ithought he’d wear the King of Bachelors crown the rest of his life. Nooffense.”
“None taken. For the record, I never set out to take awayhis crown.” Her gaze slid to the side and grew dreamy. “We just … We happened to both be wrangling with difficult situationsand sort of fell into a friendship. Nothing physical. I guess we became eachother’s comfort zone when everything got out of control, without anyexpectations. The rest fell into place.”
Huh. Not what he’d expected to hear.At all. “Friends first?”
She swung her gaze to him, giving him a smile that lit hergreen eyes. “Uh-huh. We got to know each other and grew close. We were intimatewithout being intimate, if that makes sense.” A happy littleshrug. “And here we are.”
Intimate. There was that word again,the version of it that didn’t include sex, and it persisted in puzzling him. Ashe opened his mouth to ask her what, he wasn’t sure, Miller appeared fromnowhere, and T.J. took a few paces back. Miller curled an arm around his wife’swaist, pinning her from behind.
She craned her neck, giving Miller a smoky look, pecked hislips, and stroked his arm while whispering something that sounded distinctlylike, “I love you, tiger.”
They’d obviously traveled into their own zone, apart fromeveryone else.
Awkward. T.J. ducked out of the kitchen with thechips and blended into the group, losing himself in banter that had nothing todo with hockey, blanking out the last few weeks—without having to be halfwaythrough a bottle of Jameson. A nice change of pace, sparing him the guilt thatusually accompanied the drinking.
Hours later, a little lighter in spiritsthan when he’d first arrived, T.J. climbed into his Hummer. “Neverthought I’d see the day Beckett Fucking Miller was stupid-in-love.” T.J. shookhis head. By settling down, Miller had broken some kind of bro code—well,bachelor code anyway—and T.J. felt like he was all alonein a lifeboat, drifting aimlessly in a vast ocean. But he’d never seen Millerhappier, and he couldn’t shake the thought he was missing something. Somethingvital.
T.J.’s own objections to letting himselffall again reared up like an oversized, creepy jack-in-the-box, shocking himfrom even contemplating going down the same path as Miller’s. The visual was bone-jarring. No, that life was not for him.
CHAPTER 8
You Before Me
Days later, T.J. was driving to thearena when his phone buzzed. He swiped the screen.
“Hey, Millsy.”
“What’s up, Shanny?”
“Just heading in for a Blizzard PR appearance. Where youat?”
“Boston. So how’re things with the new team?”
“They’re a good bunch of guys.” And unlike his oldteammates, these guys actually talked to him, worked with him. They hadn’texactly fallen over themselves to welcome him, but that was normal. It was upto T.J. to fit himself into their routines and rituals. He’d alreadylearned not to skate up the middle after a three-on-one drill. That areabelonged to one of his linemates; he’d discoveredthat the hard way. Besides earning T.J. a spate of curses, the guy had sulkedfor hours, grousing that T.J. had messed with his mojo.
“Yep, and LeBrun’s one of theleague’s best. San Jose might’ve done you a big favor. So you still planning on selling your place?”
“Maybe. Paige, er, Andie’s been sending me some houses that make it damntempting. But I haven’t decided, so she’s taking a low-key approach, which Iappreciate.”
“My girl’s all kinda smart likethat.” T.J. didn’t miss the note of pride in Miller’s voice.
“Yeah, except she married you, which brings some of thosesmarts into question.”
“Asshole. Look, ah, she’s one of the reasons I called.”
A little siren clanged in T.J.’s head. “Everything allright?”
“Yeah, everything’s great—more than great. But I’m on theroad for a few weeks and won’t get a chance to see her. So do me a solid andcheck in on her from time to time? She, ah …” He paused and cleared his throat.“She’s pregnant.” His voice cracked on the
