Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
So now, she had various trips planned — from Thailand to New Mexico. I was happy she was going. I was even more happy that the road always led her back to me in the end.
As for me, I had hockey — and for the first time in my life, it was well and truly mine. My father hadn’t tried to contact me since the day I told him how I felt. Some days, that hurt like hell. But most days, it felt like I’d cut myself free, like I’d shed the chains binding me to an abuser.
What soothed more than anything was that my mom had shown up in Tampa two weeks ago.
It was the night before Grace was leaving for Thailand, and when I’d gotten the call from my front gate and found my mom on the other side of it, I’d nearly shit myself.
I couldn’t remember the last time she’d left the house, let alone the country.
I’d made us tea, Grace launching into action and setting up the guest room while Mom and I talked. She’d left my father — and she’d told me it had been me who had given her the strength to do it.
Still, as happy as I was for both of our freedoms, it killed me to think of Dad being alone. But this was his choice, and all we could do was love him and ask him to show up for us. If he didn’t, that was on him.
Mom stayed with me until a few nights ago when we moved her into her own little condo near the beach — one I was happy to pay for. It would take time for us to heal our relationship, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But she was in Tampa, and we were trying. That was the only first step I needed.
Grace had faced her family shortly after the media frenzy died down, too. I sat by her side and held her hand as she told them how she’d felt her entire life. I knew it wasn’t easy for her, nor was it easy for her family to hear. Facing trauma of any kind makes everyone involved uncomfortable. But they listened, and so did she, and in the end, they were hugging and crying and making promises to change.
Vince was the one who jumped on board first. I’d never seen him take such a high interest in anyone other than Maven. But now that Grace was living in Tampa at least part time, he took every advantage he could to hang out with her and get to know her better.
It made Grace happy — which, in turn, made me happy, too.
Now, I was counting down the days to when I would have her back in my arms. This was apparently a common theme for me now, but as much as I longed for her, I loved that she was still the woman I met that night in Austin. We were together without her having to lose herself. I would have been in pain if it were any other way.
She was a bird with a need to move, to travel, to explore. I would never clip her wings, nor would I let her cage herself.
I wanted her to fly.
And in the end, she always came back to me.
She always came back home.
Seasons
Grace
Two Days Before Christmas
Sitting in the wives and girlfriends’ suite watching Jaxson and the rest of the Ospreys play hard against Washington, D.C., felt a lot like Christmas had come early.
It wasn’t often this happened. Most of the time, friends and family had an area dedicated for us, a place where we all sat together in a higher-level section of the stands. But every now and then, there would be a suite open, or the GM would buy a suite at an away game for us as a little gift.
Like I said — it was like Christmas coming early.
I was reveling in the feeling of being at a game, period — at getting to watch my boyfriend in his element. It was one thing to strip that hunk of a man down in the privacy of our home, to have an up close and personal view of every muscle, every lean line and hard edge and sprawl of ink. I cherished those moments.
But fuck, it was nothing compared to watching him dominate on the ice.
He was so hot. From the moment he stepped out to warm up and stretch, to the very last second of play, he was determined. I salivated each time he skated out to play a new game, especially when he wore his Ospreys hat backward with a little tuft of hair popping through the front and around the sides. My core would fire up when he did his groin stretches — of course, I wasn’t alone in that. I had to share my fantasy of Jaxson with thousands of other hockey fans, female and male.