Page 45 of King of the Crease

“Such a pushover.” She kisses him on the lips as he scoots by to the pantry.

“Who were you talking about?” Adam asks.

“This cute guy on Nicky’s team. Hank Rush.”

I shoot her a look to keep my personal life personal. She waves it off. She probably tells him everything when they’re in bed anyway.

“Oh. Hank. He did some plumbing work at the farm. Nice guy. Shame what happened.” Adam lets out a sigh of pity before closing the pantry door, three individual bags of Goldfish cradled in his arms.

“What happened?” I ask, alarm rising in my throat.

Adam sighs again, taking back Millie and me aback. “His ex-wife treated him terribly.”

Hank said it was a bad divorce, but he didn’t elaborate. I lean in slightly.

“What happened?” Millie asks.

“When they were married, there were all these stories going around about her cheating on him left and right. Going on dates in town while he was home with their son. Like zero regard for his feelings. She lied to his face constantly, told him it was rumors. Finally, he reached his breaking point and divorced her. Poor guy. He’s so nice. She sounds like…”

“A deranged bitch,” Millie says. She stealthily squeezes Adam’s butt as he heads upstairs.

Later that night, I’m sitting on my bed staring at my phone, a lead weight plunked in my stomach.

Hank is a good man. He’s been messed with enough. To have a new friend, who’s lying to him, initiate casual sex and then leave town without a trace would be cruel. Unlike his ex-wife, I am not a deranged bitch. Maybe with a complete stranger, I could pull this off. But not with Hank. I care about him too much.

As a friend.

And maybe as something more.

I can’t act on it, though. As much as I want to be Nick from Baltimore, I’m still Prince Nicholas.

Nick: Elf was…interesting. Was I supposed to find the titular character endearing or extremely annoying?

Hank: Both? I’m confused as to how he has superpowers like hurling a million snowballs at once and eating all that sugar without a single cavity.

Hank: Buddy means well. He has a good heart and wants to make people happy.

Just like you, I think. You deserve only the best.

Nick: I’m sorry for kissing you out of nowhere yesterday. I really wanted you to have a quality kiss. I overstepped.

Nick: Friends?

Typing the message makes my heart hurt. It makes me think about how wonderful it was to kiss Hank, and how in a few weeks’ time, it’ll be like none of this ever existed. Perhaps one day, I can reach out and tell him the truth, and we can have a good laugh about it. But we’ll never have what’s building between us now.

I lay back on the bed and stare up at the ceiling, cradling my phone in my fist. After an excruciating minute, he texts back.

Hank: Friends.

14

HANK

Nick is cruel.

Not really, but kinda.

It’s cruel to be that good-looking in a hockey uniform and only want to be friends.