After a one-night stand flips a grumpy hockey goalie's bad luck, he pursues his team's new dental assistant to rebound his abysmal season.
Trapped in a small town, my life has been planned, controlled, and boring. After my sister and I failed to kee...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I'm sorry." Paige didn't mask her disappointment through the screen. "It's not the same."
"I know." I wiped my teary eyes and took in the mess behind her. "You've already replaced me with a sewing factory."
In three weeks, fabric, buttons, zippers, and threads vomited over the condo. Sewing remembrance stuffed animals for families who lost someone special warmed one heart after another, and it was both healing and purposeful for her.
"Nothing will change except Brody's got his couch back, and you can worry less. We're only a short flight apart, Bridezilla."
"I will always worry about you." Her sad smile gutted me. "But if Connor—"
"Does anything, then Brody can use his balls as batting practice." My heart squeezed with the urge to hug her. Each day, I slipped closer to feeling at home here, but the pain of being so far from my sister remained. "You need a bigger home for your charity."
"What time is Connor done?"
"Normally, five, but he's signing the closing docs so six, I hope."
His house sold quickly, the buyer walking in and loving all of the improvements. Our penthouse waterfront condo here didn't yet feet like home, but, for once, my life's uncertainty brought excitement.
"Oh shit." It was already five-thirty, so I headed into the kitchen. The space was small but modern, with state-of-the-art everything. "I haven't started the tarts yet."
"Good thing you pitted the cherries already."
"Good thing," I agreed and pulled the bowl from the fridge.
Relatively speaking, my boyfriend had twenty hours left in his two-day break, enough time for one last shared moment before the Whalers' last road trip before the playoffs.
Yes, boyfriend. The ass asked me in a hand-scribbled note on an airline cocktail napkin. I'd framed it and smiled at it hanging over our kitchen table.
Morgan,
You make me harder than a brick, my brain stupid, and my heart hurt. You've wedged yourself into all dimensions of my life and now you're stuck. Might as well stay where you belong.
Sorry, I'm bad at this. Be my girlfriend and we'll work all this shit out.
Connor
"Tell me about the job," Paige said.
"It's a general practice, three blocks over so I can walk. Huge Whalers fans." I was one thousand percent sure that's why Dr. Tanner hired me, but couldn't stop smiling while I baked and updated Paige on the job and Connor's playoffs schedule.
Whalers' wives and girlfriends received the same health benefits as the players, which I needed until my work visa was granted but should be soon. Hockey players had a lot of pull there. Especially the hometown hero hockey boy everyone expected to extend his win streak into the playoffs.
