Room for You (9 page)

I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed my phone, both relieved and disappointed to see it was a text from Andy.

LET’S MAKE IT 5:00, I’M STARVING. SHAW.

I couldn’t help myself, I texted back…

YOU JUST WANT TO SEE ME SOONER. I LOVE YOU TOO, YOU SEXY BEAST.

I was groggy as hell and needed to wake up. “All right, D, we have just enough time for a quick jog before I gotta get in the shower.”

Diesel raised his brows and glared at me from his dog bed, not budging.

“Come on, lazy ass!” I shouted as I grabbed his leash from the hook by the fridge. The metallic clinging of the chain excited Diesel as he jumped off his bed and bounced over to me. I bent down, secured the leash to his collar and out the door we went.

It was early June and the air was still crisp and comfortable, perfect jogging weather. I walked a few blocks from my condo to Lake Calhoun, popped my ear buds in, and Diesel and I took off. The lake was crowded today … people jogging, out on the lake in paddleboats, picnicking. I ran past two teenagers sitting on a bench swapping more spit than a couple of porn stars. I just shook my head. To my right, a couple lay on a plaid blanket reading books and chomping on grapes. She looked around quickly and held her book up in front of them, pulling him in close.

Come on, Brody, focus
.

Up ahead I noticed an older couple holding each other cheek-to-cheek near the lake shoreline, looking out at the water. As I got closer I tried to see what they were looking at and I realized they weren’t looking at anything, the water was clear.

They were slow dancing … with no music.

I came to a stop and shook my head in frustration. I felt … off, disconnected. I needed to get my shit together and get this run in, I blasted Korn on my iPod and started again, trying to shut the rest of the world out and focus on my pace. A girl ran toward me, giving me a mega-watt smile as she passed. She was a cute brunette with green eyes, but they were nothing compared to Kacie’s. They didn’t have the same sparkle, the same life in them; they did nothing for me.

“Screw this, Diesel. I’m not feeling it today.”

A scalding hot shower made me feel remotely better after that disappointing run. Despite Andy working right near my condo, I didn’t get to see him often and was looking forward to shooting the shit with him over a beer, or five.

When I got to the bar, he was already sitting at our normal table in the corner. As I got to the table, he flashed me a big smile and stood to shake my hand.

“What’s up, brother?” I pulled him in for a bear hug.

“Wow, you showered for me? Trying to get lucky?” He laughed, pushing one of the beers he’d already ordered toward me.

I lifted the beer to my lips and took several big gulps. “Something like that,” I answered, looking around for Jan, our usual waitress. “I’m starving, let’s order.”

“Yeah, I can’t stay out late tonight, I have to eat and run. Blaire is making dinner.” He grimaced.

Blaire was superficial, materialistic, a mega-bitch, and unfortunately … my best friend’s wife. She and Andy met in college and married shortly after I signed my first big contract with the Wild. A little too convenient, if you asked me.

They lived about thirty minutes outside of the city in the biggest house in their town. She drove the most expensive luxury car they could find and had a whole slew of people employed at their house. One time at a charity dinner, someone asked her what she did for a living and she said she didn’t work outside of the home, but she was a “house manager.” I choked on my drink and she shot eye daggers at me. She hasn’t liked me since, not that she was a big fan of mine before that.

“Making dinner? I thought you wanted a burger,” I said, finishing off my first beer.

“Uh, yes. She’s trying to be more domestic, so she’s cooking duck tonight. Needless to say I don’t want to go to bed starving, so I’m going to eat a big dinner now and then make her dinner magically disappear. At least pretending I like her cooking will get me laid tonight.”

I tried to shake the thought out of my head of anyone being forced to suffer through fucking that woman. I didn’t know how he’d survived this long without that Black Widow killing him already.

“So this weekend, what happened?” Andy asked, after we ordered burgers, onion rings and another round of beer.

“The weather happened. It was one crappy misfortune after another. Next thing I knew, my truck was axle deep in mud in the driveway of this inn up north. Thankfully, they were inviting and let me stay for a couple days.”

“An inn? Sounds like a total snoozefest. Was it all old retired people, or what?”

“No, actually. There were quite a few people there.” I grinned.

Andy leaned forward and stared right into my eyes, raising a curious eyebrow. “Uh-oh, what’s her name?”

“What are you talking about?” I shot back at him, looking around the bar to avoid eye contact.

He shook his head, his face beaming with pride like he’d just figured out some big secret. “No way, Brody. I know you better than anyone on this planet, don’t bullshit me. I’ve seen that look before. What’s. Her. Name.”

I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. I had no chance of getting this girl to talk to me again if her name was in some tabloid tomorrow morning. “Kacie. Kacie Jensen. Now can we drop it, please?”

Andy sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. “Please tell me you were careful. Am I going to have a paternity suit to deal with right after Christmas? It would really ruin my winter.”

“No, asshole. I didn’t sleep with her, I didn’t even kiss her. That’s not what it was about. It was-” I stopped talking when Jan walked up with our food. After she set all the plates down and groped my arm, I dug right into eating, avoiding Andy’s curious eye.

“So, are we done talking about this?” Andy proceeded carefully.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Andy. I met this girl and she’s the most intriguing woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I only spent two days with her, but it wasn’t nearly enough time.” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “And so far, she hasn’t called me. I don’t know if she ever will. I may never see her again, but I want to.” I pushed my plate away and looked up at Andy who furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

“Oh, and … she has two kids. Be right back, gotta piss.”

Andy groaned and dropped his head in his hands as I pushed away from the table. That poor man, I didn’t pay him nearly enough.

It had been three days since Brody left and given the information I had learned about him, I was trying to ignore the embers burning in my belly and get my life back to normal. Mom had been grilling me non-stop about the situation and I needed a break from the house, so I was taking the girls and spending the day with them at the zoo.

In the car, we told knock-knock jokes and belted out Taylor Swift songs at the top of our lungs. Once we got there, we grabbed a map and started checking off as many animals as we could before taking a break on a bench with some Dippin’ Dots.

“Are you guys having fun?” I asked.

They both nodded excitedly with ice cream dripping down their chins.

HA! Who says I can’t be spontaneous and fun.

I felt vindicated, like I was winning an imaginary contest against my subconscious.

“What should we do next?”

“Dolphin show!” Lucy shouted out.

“Yeah, then the train ride!” Piper blurted right after her.

I looked at the time on my phone. “Well, if we’re gonna do all that, we better get moving.” We tossed our ice cream cups in the garbage and headed for the dolphin show.

By the time Chloe the dolphin jumped through the fourth ring, my cell phone had gone off twice. I had two texts, one from my mom and one from Alexa.

MOM: THERE ARE FLOWERS AT THE HOUSE FOR YOU…

ALEXA: RUNNING BEHIND ON ORDERS, BUT WE NEED TO CHAT. WANNA HANG WITH ME AT THE SHOP TONIGHT?

The black and white words of Alexa’s text blurred together as my mind ran circles around the text from my mom. Who would have sent me flowers? The one person that came to mind was as disappointing as it was exciting. I didn’t want to think about it, so I closed my phone and put it away, deciding to concentrate the rest of the afternoon on nothing but the sweet smiles on my girls’ faces. We filled the afternoon with balloon animals, train rides and so much cotton candy I thought we were gonna burst.

A couple hours later, we piled our exhausted bodies into my jeep and made our way home.

“Mom, did you see that huge pile of zebra poop on the ground?” Piper held her arms about two feet apart, as Lucy giggled next to her.

The girls continued their poop discussion and argued over which animal would make the best mommy until they exhausted themselves and fell asleep in the backseat. When we got home, Mom came out and helped me carry them in. With Piper in my arms, I tiptoed through the kitchen, thankful my mom was walking in front of me and couldn’t see my face when I passed the huge bouquet of beautiful pink and purple gladiolus on the island. I cringed when I saw that the card had the logo from The Twisted Petal on it. Alexa only had one employee, a teenage kid that made deliveries for her, so there was no question in my mind that she took this order and would be grilling me like a hamburger later.

I tucked the girls cozy in their beds and walked to my room to get ready to head to Alexa’s shop. As much as I wanted to sprint into the kitchen and read the card, I wanted to get out of my mom’s crosshairs more. She followed me to my room, her eyes focused on me, reading every awkward movement I was making around my bedroom.

“So, what’s the deal with the flowers?” She finally broke the silence.

I turned to face her, expecting her to be judgmental.

“I have no idea, Mom. I haven’t even looked at the envelope yet. I don’t really want to.”

Her eyes softened as she walked over and sat on my bed, patting the open space next to her. I went over and sat down.

“You like him, Kacie.” I searched her eyes as she continued, curious where this conversation was headed. “I can tell. Why the hesitation?” She reached up and played with a strand of hair trailing down my back.

I immediately relaxed and rested my head on her shoulder. A mother’s touch is so powerful; it makes you feel like the bad is actually tolerable.

“Mom, he’s a hockey player, a
professional
hockey player. That type of lifestyle doesn’t fit into ours.”

“That’s pretty presumptuous of you. You’ve spent two days with him. What can you possibly know about his lifestyle?”

I had no answer for her, she was right.

“Go to Alexa’s, talk to her. You need some girl talk, not advice from an old lady.” She patted my knee and stood up, heading for my bedroom door.

“You’re not an old lady. You’re a pretty cool mom, and one of my best friends.” I walked up behind her, wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged. Her hand reached up and squeezed mine back.

“Thanks, Kacie, now go read that card. Maybe give Brody a shot, he had a cute rear end.” She winked at me and closed my bedroom door.

I grabbed the card on my way out of the house a few minutes later. No way was I going to read it with my mom staring at me … but once I got to my car, I tore the envelope apart. It was a standard sage green card from Alexa’s shop and the inside read…

My brain went into a fuzzy euphoric state. I couldn’t believe he was still thinking about me. I was sure that once he went home and got back to his life of—whatever hockey players do—he’d forget I even existed. This wasn’t fair, to me or to him, I definitely needed to text him and tell him thanks for the flowers but that we weren’t possible. Just the thought of sending that text deflated me, but I was very good at compartmentalizing my thoughts, so I put that one away to deal with later. Right now I had sweet and sour chicken on the brain as I stopped at Chang’s Kitchen and picked up take out for Alexa and me.

The bell clanged as I walked through the bright red door of The Twisted Petal, which closed an hour before but Alexa hadn’t locked up yet. I turned back and spun the silver latch to the left, jumping out of my skin when I heard Alexa bellow, “Three days since what? When did you meet Brody Murphy, and why the hell is he sending you flowers?”