It took another twenty minutes for Callan to arrive. Roxy expected the wait since Lindsay warned her he would likely participate in a press conference after the game. Seeing him walk through the door launched her heart into warp speed.
She got to her feet and hurried forward just as he spotted her and headed into the room. She was sure her smile was as wide and goofy as his.
Did he sense it? she wondered. Could he read in her expression what she so wanted to tell him?
She was only a foot or two away from him with her arms lifting to embrace him when a woman’s voice said, “There you are, Callan. We’ve been waiting for ages for you to get here.”
His head whipped around as he half-turned to see the older couple who had just walked into the room behind him. Roxy had seen them pop into the room a couple times, but they hadn’t interacted with anyone. Who on earth were they?
Seconds later, she had her answer.
“Mother…Father,” Callan said. “What are you doing here?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Callan felt like he’d been stuck in an emotional blender and set on high.
He had been pumped and excited all afternoon, anticipating the game to come. It was the first preseason he ever remembered feeling that way.
That anticipation continued to build as he joined his team at the arena, sat through the usual team meeting, and started warming up. When they hit the ice for their pre-game warmup, he’d been thrilled to spot Roxy, Rashied, and Duane in the stands. It made the night even more exciting knowing they’d be in the crowd cheering him on.
It also helped fill the void left by G-Man’s notable absence.
Thoughts of his grandfather had added a heaviness to everything else he was feeling throughout the day. G-Man had been at every one of his home games, proudly wearing Callan’s jersey and cheering him on. Knowing this would be the first game without him left a hole in his heart.
When he saw Roxy wearing his name and number, it left his heart not only whole again, but overwhelmed by love for her.
It propelled him to one of the best games of his career. Granted, it was only the preseason, but he felt sure it was a sign of things to come. He was ready to kick this upcoming season’s ass.
He carried his enthusiasm and a swell of pride with him when he participated in the postgame interviews along with Luke, who scored the team’s other goal, and Christian, who performed a perfect shutout in front of the net. He fielded the questions surrounding his shift to the second line without saying anything about what led to Elias Bouchard receiving his waivers, news that broke earlier that day.
Not even a face-to-face run-in with Knox after the press conference had diminished his mood. The assistant coach caught him in the corridor wearing a glower.
“Bet you’re feeling rather full of yourself, Murph,” he’d said.
It took a moment for Callan to decide how to respond. Knox’s sneer and bitter tone prompted a snarky response, but he reflected on Grizzly’s advice and ultimately opted to go with his gut instead.
“I might be feeling a little full of myself,” he replied, “but I think I deserve it tonight. So do you.”
Knox frowned. “Me?”
“Yes. You’re the coach who put together the offense that won tonight’s game.”
Knox’s frown eased. He shoved his hands into his pockets as though not sure how to respond.
“I’m sure it stuck in your gut to put me on that second line in light of your personal feelings about me,” Callan had continued. “But you rose above that to put together a winning offense. It tells me you might be a coach worth respecting.”
“Might?” Knox said dryly.
“Hey, respect works both ways.”
Knox’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue the point.
“Look,” Callan said, “we’ve got a history. That’s something we both have to work on moving past. I’m not the same person I was when we were younger. Hell, I’m not even the same person I was earlier this year. You’re starting to realize that or you wouldn’t have made the decisions you made regarding my role on the team. I’m working on reminding myself that you might not be the same person you were either.”
“How generous of you.”
Callan could relate to Knox’s sarcasm, so he let it go. “We’re on the same side here. We both want The Siege to win it all. If we can find a way to work together, we have the chance to do something really amazing this season. You’ve worked hard to get where you are. Don’t you want to make the most of it?”
Knox’s brow furrowed. “Do you really think you’ll be able to keep this up, Murph?”
“If I don’t, you can have the pleasure of placing me on waivers.”
Finally, Knox had found a smile. “I guess that’s true.”
“What do you say, Coach?” Callan asked, extending his hand. “Can we make this work so we can both be part of a championship team?”
After a brief hesitation, Knox accepted the handshake. “As long as you continue playing your ass off, I’ll try to lay off it.”
“Works for me,” Callan had said.
And he headed to the family room feeling like he was on top of the world.
Now here he was, standing between his parents and a shocked Roxy feeling as though he was on the brink of losing everything that mattered.
Roxy had lifted her arms to greet him. The moment he addressed his parents, her smile fell from her face. She lowered her arms and stepped back.
Fuck me…she’s freaking out, he thought.
And went into instant panic mode.
“Is that any way to greet your parents?” his father asked in a voice that carried. “I rescheduled my work in order to fly down to surprise you.”
As usual, he sounded irritated. His tone had heads turning to see what was happening. It added more weight to the anxiety pressing on Callan chest, so he ignored him.
“We discussed getting together in a few days, Mother,” he said in a tight voice.
“Nonsense,” she replied. “You can’t expect us to come into town and not see our son.”
His jaw tensed and released as his temper spiked. Because she blatantly disregarded his wishes, Roxy now looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.
“I already have plans this evening,” he said.
His mother turned her flat gaze to Roxy as though she was to blame for Callan’s rude behavior. “Plans with her?” she asked. “Who is this person?”
The disapproval on her face fueled the fire of Callan’s temper. It was clear his parents wouldn’t make Roxy feel welcome. They would just embarrass her like they were embarrassing him while the other people in the room observed everything. When he slid another quick glance at Roxy, he saw the discomfort in her expression. If he had thought introducing her to his parents was a bad idea before, this nightmare scene made it a hundred times worse.
So what left his mouth was, “She’s my real estate agent.”
The resulting stillness in the room made the few tittering laughs from some of the female onlookers even more pronounced. Callan saw the color lift in Roxy’s cheeks and realized in an instant that he had just managed to embarrass her far worse than anything his parents might have said.