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She didn’t respond, just watched me, listening.
“And?” Bash asked.
“There’s so much uncertainty—”
“Like what?” Em asked, searching my face again.
It was hard to say the words out loud. What would I do if they thought I wasn’t worth it? I couldn’t do long distance with them. I had to be in the same city. The same home. The same bed. It was the only way I could sleep at night. The only way I felt safe.
“Talk, Mac.” Bash’s firm voice pulled me out of my head.
“Whatever it is, I need you to tell me.” Em’s eyes creased at the corner and I realized she was thinking it was something about her.
I dug my fingers into the soft flesh above her ass and anchored myself. “What if they don’t renew my contract?” I whispered, getting the easiest part out of the way first.
Her shoulders dropped, and she wrapped her arms tightly around me. “They will,” she said with way more confidence than I felt.
“We don’t know that, though. I lost the game last night—”
“That was a group effort.” Bash frowned. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“It’s hard not to. If I had just—”
“Don’t waste time going back and forth with what you could’ve done.” His frown deepened. “It won’t change anything.”
I tilted my head and motioned for him to step closer so I could lean against him without letting go of Em. These two knew more than they wanted to about how unyielding the past was. And here I was, sniveling over hockey.
But hockey was my life. And they were also my life.
Right then, the two parts of my life intersected. Would they continue on the same path, or would hockey take me farther from them than they were willing to go?
“That’s not all that’s bothering you.” Bardot wasn’t asking. He was still frowning, assessing my every movement.
I couldn’t avoid this conversation. I didn’t really want to, either.
“What if I get traded?”
“You won’t—”
I kissed Em’s nose and shook my head. “Anything’s possible. What if I’m traded to some crazy place like—” I searched my head for the farthest place they would find ridiculous. “Maine?”
Em snorted and then sobered when she saw I was serious.
“Michael,” Bardot wrapped his arm around me, turning us into a sandwich, with me as the filling. “If they trade you to Maine, we’ll go to Maine.”
“Arizona? It barely rains there—”
“If they trade you, we’ll go to Arizona.”
“Em?”
Bardot was serious. There was no hesitation in his statement. But I needed both of them. I couldn’t take Bardot from her and I couldn’t live without her.
She kissed my chest and snuggled against me. “Wherever you go, we all go.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Yes. Wouldn’t you if one of us had the more important job?”
