Page 29 of Heartless As Puck

I reached the car. She’d already popped the trunk, so I placed my bag inside and climbed into the passenger seat rather than the back as I usually would.

“Hi, Jane.”

She flashed me a smile, then started the engine and pulled out of the lot. “Hey. Good training?”

“Better than yesterday.” My ankle was fully recovered, apart from the occasional twinge, and Coach Dunn had taken the time to thank me for my notes on the other players and apologize for cornering Jane. “By the way, I have something for you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Curiosity laced her voice. “What?”

I grabbed the cardboard box out of my jacket pocket and placed it on the console between us. “Chocolates from Coach Dunn to say sorry for being a little too aggressive in his questioning the other day.”

“That’s nice.” The corner of her mouth lifted in the most enchanting way, and suddenly, I wished I’d thought to buy her chocolates too. Although purchasing gifts for my personal assistant might cross a line of a whole other kind. I didn’t want her to think I was sexually harassing her. “I mean, it’d be better if he didn’t do anything to apologize for, but I never expected anything, so he exceeded my expectations.”

Who even was this woman?

I wasn’t used to Jane being so assertive or direct. Was this a new side of her, or had she always had a spine of steel but hidden it until I’d pushed her into showing her true strength?

“It would. We should talk when we get home.” The thought of being open with her made me want to squirm, but if we were going to clear the air, it needed to be done properly.

She glanced sideways. “Why not now?”

“Because at home, you can leave if you want. Right now, you’re stuck in the car with me and that feels like a bad situation to put you in.” I may have been an oblivious asshole in the past, but I was trying to do better.

Her face did this strange twitchy thing. “Are you afraid I’ll make a scene like I did when I stopped the car in traffic?”

“No.” Although I’d rather avoid that too.

“Good. That wasn’t my finest moment.”

“Don’t apologize.” That was the last thing I wanted or deserved. “You were rightfully angry with me. I’m just sorry I was a dick, especially when you’d already had to deal with my dad.”

She snuck a peek at me, and there was something sly in her expression. “I wasn’t going to apologize.”

“Oh.” Speaking about yesterday reminded me about what had started our confrontation in the car. “What did he want?”

“Other than to get inside your house, I don’t know.” Her tone softened. “I’m sorry I just dumped that on you yesterday without any warning.”

“It’s fine.” I understood why she’d done it.

What wasn’t fine was my dad having dropped by in the first place. Getting me into the NHL had been his dream since he’d fallen short of achieving it himself due to an injury in college. That would be all right if I’d shared his burning desire to get there no matter what it took, but I hadn’t. Unfortunately, that hadn’t mattered to him. As soon as I’d shown an ounce of talent, he’d started piling on the pressure to be better and better, pushing me to train for hours, and berating me when it wasn’t enough.

Now I didn’t know how to be anyone other than the person he’d made me into. He’d driven me to the edge of my mental, emotional, and physical abilities time and time again. I’d left him behind as soon as possible, but to a certain extent, the damage was already done.

“Any more changes with the team?” she asked, taking pity on me and changing the subject.

“According to Stephen Robertson, the new manager, the logo is getting redesigned, so we’ll have all new uniforms before the season officially starts.” Apparently, it would signal to the public and other teams that we were new and improved. Personally, I didn’t think a logo could achieve that much. There needed to be more driving the change than surface-level stuff.

“Did he say what they’re changing it to?” she asked, switching on the indicator and turning onto our street.

“Just that it will still be a fox.” The fox had been our symbol for as long as I’d been on the team, supposedly because foxes were chaotic and mischievous. I couldn’t help wishing we’d been able to channel a little more of their wiles and cunning too.

She nodded but stayed quiet as she pulled into the driveway and pushed the button to open the garage door. We crawled inside and she closed the garage again before shutting off the engine.

I got out and grabbed my bag from the trunk while she slung hers over her shoulder, then we made our way inside. It was a gloomy day, the sun already sinking down the horizon, so I flicked on the lights to brighten it up.

We went to the kitchen and Jane began rummaging around in the fridge, presumably to find something to cook for dinner. Knowing her, she already had a meal in mind. She was always organized. I was so glad she’d taken over meal preparation. It was a load off my shoulders not to have to cook at the end of the day.

I made us each a decaf coffee. I kept mine black and added a little sugar and creamer to hers. I’d seen her make it that way for herself before.