As such, I feel comfortable in reiterating to him once again that he’s being a dumbass where Mollie’s concerned. When he proposed, instead of saying yes, she told him that she was considering a yearlong job in Australia as she’s a travel blogger.
Just as I told him during intermission, a year apart isn’t that big a deal. Not when they could have forty or fifty years together.
He nods with a sheepish smile. “I know, man. You’re right. I get it. I just have to get over having my feelings bruised that she wants to go.”
“Well, get over it,” I say pointedly as I pick up my beer. “And tomorrow, I suggest you start making things right. Put the engagement ring on her finger while telling her it’s cool if she takes the job—say you’ll get married when she gets back. It’s that simple.”
“Simple,” Kane murmurs as if he’s testing the weight of that word on his tongue. Then he blinks before turning more toward me. “Speaking of simple… how are things with you and Ella?”
I fill him in on the major points since we last spoke about my own dilemma with my woman, recounting everything since the kiss we shared after I fixed the garbage disposal to our evening watching Lucy at her debate match and ice cream after.
“What’s the next move?” Kane asks.
I shrug. “I’m not sure. I had asked her out to dinner for tomorrow night, but she’s already got plans to go out with Mr. Ordinary.”
“What the fuck?” Kane exclaims, his eyebrows shooting high. “You mean she’s still seeing someone?”
“Same guy we tailed at the food festival,” I mutter.
“And you’re okay with that?” he asks tentatively.
“No, I’m not okay with that,” I snap, lifting my glass and draining it. “But I also can’t demand she stop seeing him. I have nothing trustworthy to offer her, so the best I can do is assure I’m confident she’ll choose me in the end.”
Wincing, Kane shakes his head. “That’s some fucked-up relationship mess. I’ll take my issues with Mollie over yours any day.”
“Tell me about it,” I grouse, then signal the bartender for another beer.
“Are they… I mean, is she…” Kane stumbles around for the right words.
“Having sex?” I practically spit out.
“Yeah.”
“No,” I reply with surety in my voice.
“And you know that how?” Kane asks.
I’m not about to tell him that it was a bit more than a kiss after the garbage disposal, and that I got a breathless admission from her because she was so lost in the haze of lust I’d created.
“I just know,” I say. “Because I know Ella. She won’t make that move with him unless her heart is in it for the long haul, and she won’t do that while she’s still considering me.”
“And are you sure she’s considering you?” Kane asks, prompting me to frown at such a question. “I mean… she’s going out with the guy tomorrow night, and you’ve yet to make any personal headway with her at all.”
Well, fuck… when he says it that way, I realize I need to up my game.
“You need a bold move,” Kane says with a firm nod. He drains his beer as the bartender brought him one from my prior signal, “Need to show her you’re serious. Can’t just sit around and wait for her to have free time from the other guy she’s dating to have some time for you.”
I snicker, smiling at the suggestion. I’ve always known I’d need a pretty big move; I just wasn’t sure when to pull it out.
“I have a bold move to make,” I say, twisting on my stool. “The question is how and when.”
“Sex?” he queries, and I roll my eyes.
“Sex was never our problem, and it would be easy to fall back into bed. It’s not a bad move, but would only be a band-aid for our problems.”
“What were your problems?” Kane asks, and it’s an intrusive question, yet I don’t mind. We’re teammates, close friends, and we both have our own female problems we talk to each other about.
“I didn’t see her,” I reply in a low voice, my throat threatening to close off as I admit my failures. “Or rather, she felt like I didn’t see her, so how she felt is what’s important.”
“Valid?” he pushes.
I nod. “For a long time, I just assumed she was happy being married to me. I thought she understood and accepted our travel schedule because she came up in the league with me, so I assumed she could handle me being gone so much.”
Kane frowns. “I don’t know Ella since y’all separated around the time I came to the team, but she’s been a team wife a long time. She knows that travel is just part of the job.”
“Of course she does,” I rush to defend her. “And she didn’t mind the travel. It was more that when I was home, my attention wasn’t going to her. I often chose other hockey activities, extra workouts, or hanging with my teammates over spending time with her. I got complacent. Thought things were great because we were still dynamite in the sack. I missed all the warning signs, and I didn’t listen when she tried to tell me she was sad and lonely.”
“Say no more, my man,” Kane commiserates with a heavy hand on my shoulder. “I’d suggest you make your bold move sooner rather than later. If she’s dating someone, you don’t want him to make a bolder move first.”
“She’s going on a date tomorrow, and we’re leaving the day after for an extended road trip,” I mutter, hating more than ever the fact I have to travel for my job. For the first time in my career, I resent it when, before, it was just an accepted part of my job.
“You could crash her date,” Kane suggests wickedly.
“I think that ship has sailed.” I laugh, thinking about how pissed she was when I crashed her date at the food festival.
“Baden is having surgery next week,” Kane murmurs, and my chin jerks inward at such an abrupt change of subject.
He’s talking about the Vengeance’s backup goalie from last year. Currently, he’s on injured reserve, having suffered a horrible spinal injury. He intervened with a group of guys who were trying to mug a woman. After being stabbed multiple times, he was beaten with a crowbar. One of the blows from the crowbar on his back caused a spinal contusion and left him with almost complete paralysis in his legs. He’s had one surgery already and has been in a rehab hospital here in Phoenix, but he’s undergoing a new type of surgery next week to hopefully help him regain functional use of his legs.
“What’s your point?” I ask. Everyone on the team is completely up to speed on Baden’s treatment, recovery, and prognosis, which isn’t all that promising. We get almost daily updates—not only from management but also from teammates who visit him. We all rotate, so he has someone going to see him every day when we’re in town.
“My point is I bet there’s not a minute that goes by that Baden doesn’t ponder everything he wished he’d done before losing his legs. We are never guaranteed tomorrow, so in my opinion, you should not wait another moment to pull out your bold move. You want your wife back? Then I suggest you get on it. Now.”