Page 111 of Center Ice
I slow to a walk as I approach the open door, not sure what I’m going to find there. What I don’t expect is Audrey sitting in a chair, while Graham sleeps in a hospital bed next to her. She turns when she hears me enter the room, but startles when she sees me.
“What are you doing here?” she whispers, tears streaming down her face. “You’re supposed to be at your game.” I shake my head.
“No, I’m supposed to be with my family.”
“Drew…” Her voice is anguished. “How could you just leave the game like that? With everything on the line, you needed to be there.”
I walk across the room toward her, and she stands to meet me. Taking her hands in mine, I pull her toward me and kiss her forehead. I want to wrap her tightly in my arms, I want to absorb her into me so she’s always with me, I want to do everything I can to keep her and Graham safe, and in this moment, I feel like I’ve failed them.
“Staying was not even an option I considered. Because no matter what the choice is, no matter what I stand to lose, I’m always going to choose you. There’s nothing that’s more important to me—you and me and Graham, we’re a family, and I’m always going to choose my family first.”
She wraps her arms around me and pulls me to her. I don’t know what to do except hold her to me as she sobs in my arms.
“Is he going to be okay?” I ask as nausea turns my stomach.
“Yeah, his arm is broken. No concussion or anything, though. They’re giving him some medicine for the pain, which is probably why he’s sleeping, and they want to do a few more tests to make sure everything else is okay.”
Thank God.“Areyouokay?”
“I…I’m just a little shook up. It all happened so fast. The light turned green, and then as the taxi entered the intersection, a car came out of nowhere and T-boned us on the passenger side, where Graham was sitting. We’re lucky the airbags all inflated, and it wasn’t worse.”
“I’m going to rent you a parking spot at the arena so you can drive yourself there from now on.” Parking in Boston really is the worst part of living in the city, especially on game nights.
Audrey gives a little laugh in my arms. “Driving anywhere near there on a game night is a nightmare. That’s why we always take a taxi.”
“We’ll figure out a better plan. I’ll get you a driver for game nights. Someone with an impeccable driving record and an indestructible car who can be on call whenever you need them.” That makes her smile, even with tears still glossing her eyes. Funny how she finds me amusing when I’m one hundred percent serious.
“You’re making an awful lot of plans for someone who doesn’t know if he’s staying in Boston.”
“For now, I’m staying.” I tuck her hair behind her ear as she looks at me with confusion written across her face.
“Even though you left the game tonight?”
“Yeah, when I told AJ why I was leaving, apparently that confirmed for her that I was the kind of guy she wanted on her team.”
“The kind who walks out of games?”
I think back to what McCabe said at dinner that night, about AJ wanting good men—honest, hardworking, dependable players.
“The kind you can depend on. And if my family couldn’t depend on me in a situation like this, if I’d chosen my job over my family, I don’t think that’s the kind of person AJ wants on her team. She was one hundred percent supportive of me coming here.”
A heavy breath leaves her, and she stretches up on her toes to kiss me. I’m so relieved she’s okay, and that Graham will be too, that I practically melt into her arms.
“Ewwww, why are adults always kissing?” Graham asks, and Audrey’s head snaps toward him, but I hold her to me.
“Because when you’re in love with someone, that’s one of the ways you show them how you feel,” I say, my body relaxing a bit at seeing him awake.
“Like Uncle Jameson and Aunt Lauren? They’realwayskissing.”
“We’re notalwayskissing,” Jameson says, striding into the room.
“Just most of the time?” Graham asks.
“Yep,” Jameson confirms, as he slings his arm around Lauren and pulls her to him. “Most of the time.”
“Excuse me,” a nurse says from the door, and then she spots Graham awake in the bed. “Wow, you’ve certainly got a crowd here to see you, huh?”
“Yeah. This is my dad, Drew,” he says, pointing at me, and I wonder if I’ll always feel this sense of pride when Graham introduces me as his dad. “And my Uncle Jameson and my Aunt Lauren.”
