Page 46 of Playmaker

“No kidding.” I paused. “I’m glad you had that support. Especially from your family.”

“Me too. I went through some periods where I wanted to give it up, and they kept me going.”

The pang of envy over that support was almost physically painful. “You wanted to quit?”

She shrugged. “Not seriously. But you know how it is—when you’re a teenager and everything is a bigger crisis than it actually is, so an embarrassingly bad game just feels like the end of the world.”

“Oh, man. Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Did you ever have those moments?”

“Absolutely. I don’t think I ever wanted to quit hockey, but there were days when I wondered if I was cut out for it. Like after a really bad loss, or if I’d taken some awful penalty that had cost us the game. That stuff is tough to shake off now. Back then?” I whistled, shaking my head.

“Ugh, no kidding. I think also I saw how much my family was struggling so hard to make it work for me, and I’d just… I’d feel like I was letting them down. One season, my U16 team came in dead last in our division, and I thought, what the hell am I doing? My parents are killing themselves to make this happen for me, and my team just went 12-26-12.”

I winced. “Ouch.”

“It was bad.” Lila shuddered. “I do not miss that season. So I was all ready to give it up and be done with it, but my parents sat me down and said I wasn’t a failure. The whole team had been a mess, and there were already rumors that the entire coaching staff was getting replaced—which they were. They reminded me that they knew I had talent, and that I’d worked so hard to get where I was. I shouldn’t give it up because of bad season. Then Dad told me about Cleveland in the men’s league, and how they had these two godawful seasons during their rebuild. Then five years later, they won the Cup. So… I shouldn’t let a funk drive me away from the sport I love, you know?”

The story, especially that last part, had a lump rising in my throat. My mom had been that supportive. My brother and sister, too. But had my dad ever sat me down and reminded me that even teams at his level could have catastrophically terrible seasons followed by glory years? No. Not once.

I’d have worked every shift available at my childhood practice rink’s concession stand in exchange for just one pep talk like that from my father.

I swallowed the last of my drink, and as I pushed the glass away, I said, “I’m really glad you had that kind of support.”

“Me too.” She smiled. “I wouldn’t be here without it.”

“I don’t know.” I returned the smile. “Somehow I think you’re exactly the kind of tenacious and stubborn player who’d have clawed her way to this level no matter what.”

She laughed, making the bar a few degrees warmer. “Well, I’m just glad I didn’t have to do that. Not without help, anyway.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

We exchanged smiles.

Then Lila looked around, and her spine slowly straightened. “Are we… Are we the only ones left?”

“Are we?” I glanced at the other side of our table, which was empty. When I scanned the room, sure enough, there wasn’t a single familiar face in sight. A handful of people were still here, but no one from the Bearcats. Which meant… I grabbed my phone, then laughed when I saw the screen. “Oh crap! It’s almost 1:00!”

“It is?” Lila flipped her phone over so she could see the screen, and the way she laughed did things to my heart that I was too tired to think too much about. “Oh shit. We should get some sleep!”

“Yeah, we should.” I pushed my chair back. “We’re going to be dead on our skates tomorrow morning.”

She groaned as she got up too. “Ugh. Can’t we have maintenance days tomorrow?”

“I wish.”

We paid our tabs, then headed for the elevator. On the way up to our floor, I stole a glance at her in the mirror, drinking in the sculpted, tattooed arms, and how that tank top sat just right. God, this woman was gorgeous.

And without all the animosity between us, I was lucky I could think around her. After tonight’s conversation? Getting a more intimate look at her past—ather—than I’d ever had?

Jesus. I was never going to concentrate on the ice again.

Chapter 17

Lila

“Okay, you’ve been on another planet lately.” Faith dropped onto the couch and eyed me. “What’s going on?”