“Meet me in the coffee shop. Don’t primp all day.” Her father chuckled and then his shadow retreated from under the door.
Georgia stood there on the carpeting a moment longer, just listening. She really should say something to Leo. Apologize for throwing herself at him. But the shower started up on his side of their wall. So of course her mind was flooded with images of Leo getting naked and stepping under the spray as water droplets ran down his pecs . . .
Lord. She would stay on her own side of the door. Joining him in the shower was not the right way to untangle this mess.
Instead, she went into her own bathroom. Avoiding her own sex-flushed face in the mirror, she took the quickest shower in history before joining her father in the coffee shop.
“Good workout?” he asked when she sat down in front of him ten minutes later.
“Yup.” Don’t you dare blush, she coached herself.
“Decaf or regular?” he asked her. “It’s sort of late in the day, so I didn’t want to guess.”
“Decaf,” she said quickly. “Thanks.”
When her father got up to get her a cup of coffee, she wrote a two word text to Leo’s old number. I’m sorry.
The reply was quick: I’m not.
Georgia stuffed her phone into her bag and tried not to wonder what that meant. Her father returned with coffee for her and a cookie to share. He broke off a corner and pushed the little plate toward her. “What’s up in the world of PR?”
She looked up into his gray eyes and tried to decide if she should be honest, or if that was just picking fights. “Damage control, of course. Lots of questions about the rumored skirmish between the new coach and his player.”
He waved his hand as if he couldn’t believe that anyone would bother with such trivial matters. “When we win, they won’t have to bug you with that bullshit.”
“If you play Leo tomorrow, the questions will stop.” The comment just popped out before she could think better of it. Good grief. It was really not her place to weigh in on coaching decisions.
Her father’s eyes widened at her audacity. Then he snorted. “No, they won’t. Gossip follows its own rules. I’ll play Trevi when I’m good and ready.”
Yikes. Georgia couldn’t decide if that sounded encouraging or not. “Why wouldn’t you play him, though?” she pressed. This was a dangerous conversation. But they’d gone years without mentioning Leo, and now she was starting to realize how odd that really was. He’d been such a big part of her life for so long. “I’m not trying to influence you, but I just don’t get it. What do you have against him, anyway?” It felt risky to bring up the past. Neither one of them wanted to relive the worst days of her life. But Leo was here amongst them, and thinking about it was inevitable.
“I don’t trust him,” her father grunted.
“Why?” The word hung in the air over their heads. This was the most they’d said about Leo in six years.
His gray eyes squinted down at his cup. “I just don’t.”
It was hard to imagine a less satisfying answer. But Georgia had pushed him as far as he was going to go.
So she changed the subject, which was the same thing she’d done with anyone in the last six years who asked her about Leo.
FOURTEEN
A cold shower wasn’t going to cut it. So Leo took a lengthy, soapy shower wherein he relieved some tension in a crucial way.
Then he turned off the water and took a deep breath of the steamy air, which seemed to be tinged with optimism. He and Georgia were going to get back together and stay that way. Maybe she didn’t quite realize it yet, but it was clear as ice to him. Their spark was still there, and stronger than ever.
She seemed skittish as hell, but he’d figure out why and then fix it.
Her job was one obvious question mark, though. I can’t date a player, she’d said when he’d asked if they could go to the benefit together. And, sure, a woman had to be professional at work. But he wasn’t just some player she might have hooked up with in the locker room. He and Georgia had known each other all their lives. If they were together, it would hardly be a cheap scandal.
He toweled off, humming to himself. Georgia had broken his heart once before, but he’d survived it. The summer after graduation hadn’t been the worst of it, because he’d held out hope that she’d come to her senses before it was too late.
But then September had come with no reprieve, and he’d gone off alone to his first days at Harkness College. He was so homesick and lonely he could hardly breathe. The skaters on his team were wicked good and none too nice to the rookies. The first year had sucked, and at the core of his misery was the empty place in his chest where her love for him had been.
He’d been nineteen years old and absolutely floored by the pain she’d caused him.
That was a long time ago, though. Now he was stronger in every conceivable way. Georgia wasn’t immune to him, either—that much was obvious. She wanted him, even if she didn’t yet see that they were meant to be back together.
He could work on that.
Leo put on khakis and a nice shirt. He knocked on Georgia’s door, but there was no answer. So he texted Silas instead, and the two of them walked a block to the team dinner at a Thai restaurant. The hostess led them to a private room in back, where players were already gathering.
“Rookie!” O’Doul called out. “Hope you brought your credit card.” His laugh was rough. “I’m ordering a twenty-five-year-old bottle of single malt. I think they just sent the delivery boy across town to buy it.”
“Aw, yes!” Bayer chuckled. “I love a good rookie dinner.”
This particular ritual—ordering the sun and stars at a team dinner and leaving the rookie the check—was familiar to Leo, though it had been over a year since the Muskegon Muskrats pulled the same crap on him.
Whatever. At least they were at a Thai place and not some top-shelf steak joint. He was getting off easy, considering.
Leo ended up in a corner on a bench, hemmed in by Bayer, O’Doul, and Silas. The guys gleefully ordered every fucking thing on the menu. “Sure, we’d love to try the sea scallops. Better make it a double order. Scallops are small.”
He would be a good sport about it, of course. The smiling faces around the table were just beginning to feel familiar. Berreki with his three missing teeth. He never wore his bridge. And Johnson, who was the grandpa of the team at thirty-eight. He had a daughter in college but he was a wild man nonetheless.
Leo hoped he’d get the chance to really be a part of this team. It was all up to him, of course. And Coach Karl.