I laugh loudly. “Man, that wedding is a shitshow.”
“And expensive. So fucking expensive,” he says, laughing with me. “I’m ready for it to be over.”
“I think we all are,” I say before sipping on my coffee. The air is warm against my face, but if Shea’s drinking coffee, I’ll drink coffee. “They’re really good together, though. I watched that happen. They’re solid.”
“I know,” he agrees. “He loves her more than I ever thought he could, and it’s nice to see her in love and happy with the man she always wanted.”
“Yeah. They say it takes the right man to help a woman grow.”
He nods. “I like that.”
“My mom used to say that.” I swallow hard around the lump in my throat.
My mom taught me so much about love. How to love a woman, how to treat them and make them feel worthy. She raised me to be a man who could be a good husband, which is why I don’t understand why she is having issues with Posey and me. I ignored all my mom’s texts and her voice mails. Wes told me she was pretty upset, but even he told her she couldn’t be acting like that. He told her Posey was it for me, and I appreciate that. That’s what I need, support, but Mom doesn’t know how to do that. The thing is, if she had a good reason—Posey was cheating, or she stole my money or something—it would be different. That’s not even close to the issue. She doesn’t like Posey because she has money.
What the ever-loving fuck?
“Speaking of your mom—”
I hold my breath, the cup at my lips as I wait for him to ask me the question I really don’t want him to ask.
“What happened with her yesterday? You seemed pretty upset.”
I blow out a breath as I lower my cup. I stare at the black liquid as it sloshes a bit from the bumps on the cart path. “Can I ask you something?”
I feel him look at me, though I don’t look back at him. After a second, he says, “Sure…”
“How do you feel about me?”
“Feel about you?”
“Yes. What do you think of me?”
He sucks in air through his teeth. “So, we’re jumping right in?”
“Yup,” I sigh. “Figure it’s the point of this.”
“I underestimated you.”
I grin. “I don’t want any unopened doors. I love Posey. I want to be wanted.”
His laser-like blue eyes meet mine, and he nods slowly. “Okay… Well, your golf game is shit.” My face breaks as he laughs. “I kid, I kid. Not really—it does suck—but that’s not what I think of you.”
I find I’m sweating as I wait for him to answer.
“You actually terrify me.”
“Excuse me?” I ask, because surely I heard him wrong.
He still laughs. “Seriously,” he says simply, turning along the path. “I’m glad I didn’t know about you and Posey from the start. I would have tried to break you up.”
That doesn’t surprise me, but I ask, “You would have? Why?”
“Oh yeah, because you are the kind of guy Posey would fall for and would never recover from.”
Talk about being kicked in the chest. I exhale sharply as I nod. “Well, it’s the same for me. If I ever lost her, I know I wouldn’t come back from that.”
“Exactly, and while I want her to have that person, I wanted her to wait awhile. Live a bit, figure out life. But then, you can’t control when the right person comes into your life.”
“So, you think I’m the right person for her?”
“I do,” he admits. “Which is really hard for me because Shelli found hers early, and I was convinced I’d have some time with Posey, but no such luck.”
I smirk. “I would apologize, but I can’t.”
“Don’t want you to,” he says, looking over at me. “Elli and I discussed how I felt after you two lost the first pregnancy. Elli has and always will be pro-Boon, and while it’s taken me a while, I’m there now. Point is, she asked me if I’d have rather Posey’s heart be broken over and over again before she found you or she found you now. It took me back to all the years I didn’t have Elli. All the women and heartache I went through, and I realized I wanted Posey to be unbelievably happy. With you, she is.”
I meet his gaze. “Then why do you constantly look at me like you want to kill me?”
He laughs, his blue eyes blazing. “Because you’re taking my sunshine away. My baby girl. As great as you are for her, it doesn’t stop that pain of knowing I won’t be the number one man in her life anymore. That you are now.”
Now, I’ve been kicked in the balls. I let out a slow exhale as I look away.
“Don’t worry. You’ll see how it is when your kids grow up and meet the person they’re meant to be with.”
I beam. “I can’t wait to be a dad.”
“It’s pretty damn awesome. Hard but rewarding.”
“Yeah,” I say slowly. “Not sure how this will work with the team and all.”
He waves me off. “That can be decided later. Right now, enjoy the fact that you’re having a baby, you’re getting married, and we’re about to win the Cup for the second year in a row.”
We knock knuckles before he turns back around to the hole we’re at. There is now a line to tee off, but that’s probably for the best since we aren’t done talking. “My mom doesn’t want me to marry Posey.”
I can feel the anger radiating off Shea, and I feel the same. “Wow, I never saw that coming.”
“I want to say I didn’t, but I don’t believe she ever truly liked Posey.”
“Why?”
I don’t know what to do. Do I lie? I don’t want to cause bad blood between our parents, but in all reality, will my mom even be in my life after Monday? In my head, I keep going over and over what I’ll say or do if she comes. I want her there—but only if she can accept Posey. If she can’t, then she doesn’t need to show up. It’s that simple. But am I doing the right thing? I don’t have a dad to talk to, so I guess Shea was put here for this problem I am having.
“Can this stay between us? I don’t want bad blood between Elli and my mom, and I don’t want Posey’s feelings to be hurt.”
He nods. “Of course.”
“Okay. I guess I need to explain how we’ve gotten to where we are. My ex-fiancée came from really old money, and when she left me, she said it was because I wasn’t from the right class—I guess since I don’t come from money. I come from nothing. And because of how Julia treated me, my mom has this thing about me being around people who are better than me.”
I look over to see him bringing in his brows. “We’re not better than you,” he insists. “If anything, some could say you’re better than us. I earned my money from hockey, but Elli comes from money, Posey comes from money, and well, you don’t. But look at you now. You are self-made. We all work hard, but in the end, we have something to fall back on. You’ve worked your ass off for everything you have, Boon, and I respect that. You should be proud of that. I know your story. I know how you clawed your way into the NHL. No one is better than anyone else. We are equals.”