“Hi, everyone.” The woman spoke, and the nasally Canadian voice confirmed her fear. It was Star.
She wanted to look at Frost desperately, to know if he was happy to see his ex, but it was none of her business. She couldn’t have him however much she wanted him. She kept her eyes on the ice and tried to stop herself from clenching her jaw.
“I’m here to beg forgiveness from the most important man in my life,” Star continued, and Hel couldn’t look away even as her heart turned to stone.
“I said some very hurtful things, and the only way I felt I could show him I was truly sorry was to do this.” Star’s voice caught.
It took everything Hel had not to roll her eyes. She would give the other woman this. She was either one hundred percent sincere or an excellent actress.
“Frost. I love you. You’re endgame for me,” Star exclaimed.
When she heard the other woman’s words, Hel’s heart stopped beating altogether. Somehow, despite knowing she would never end up with Frost, the thought of him with someone else broke her.
Hel’s ears rang as she listened to the rest of Star’s speech.
“I freaked out when you were injured. I’m so sorry. I should have been there for you, not run. At the end of the day, I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her,” Star finished.
She was quoting Notting Hill? Really?
Everything else Star said was hazy, but her eyes were clear, and she saw the moment Frost leaned over and kissed the younger woman. Hel turned on her heels and bolted. She didn’t want to witness their big reunion. She needed to leave.
In the locker room, Hel dumped the medical kit she usually carried and grabbed her handbag. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure none of the hockey players were coming in, but she was alone.
She sent a quick text to Clara.
‘I need to move into the cottage tonight. Is that okay?’
Hel didn’t wait for an answer, she knew Clara wouldn’t mind. Shoving her phone into her bag, she dashed for her car. She didn’t have much stuff. If she hurried, she would be packed and gone before Frost came home with Star. She amended her own thought, not home. It wasn’t her home.
Even as she drove, she warred with herself. She should fight for him, tell him he should be with her. That she thought about him morning, noon and night. That even though she was avoiding him to protect herself, they should spend the rest of his time in Australia together. That a few weeks was better than nothing at all.
She drew up at a set of traffic lights and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. In the silence of her car, she knew she wasn’t going to do it. If she had a few weeks with him, she would want a lifetime, which wasn’t going to happen. It was best to do it now: move out, distance herself from him and leave him to date women who were going to be in the same country as him.
When the light went green, she took another deep breath to steel her resolve before she finished the drive to his house.
It didn’t take her long to pack up all her things, and when she was done, it made her feel empty. This was the sum total of her thirty-five years of life. Two duffels and her handbag.
She should leave his hoodie behind, he had only loaned it to her. But she couldn’t make her fingers let go of it, and she pulled it on over her head. Hel allowed herself a moment to look in the full-length mirror and smile when she read Forster on her back.
Her phone rang, making her jump in surprise. She yanked it out of her handbag and almost answered it, assuming it would be Clara, but the screen lit up with Frost’s name.
Hel chewed nervously on the inside of her lip. Should she answer? What was she going to say to him? She spent so long debating that the phone rang out.
A message arrived a few moments later.‘Hel, we need to talk.’
She stared at the message. They did need to talk, but it would be easier not having to do it in person. If she had to, she might break and do something stupid.
Putting her phone back into her handbag, she picked up the two duffels and made her way down the stairs. She pulled her keys out and took Frost’s house key off, leaving it on the table by the front door.
She took one last look around the house, which was her first proper home since she moved out of her parents’ house. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away, opening the front door. When she walked down the path, she didn’t look back.
She finally called Frost as she drove, and he answered on the first ring.
“Hel, where are you?” he demanded.
“Hi, Frost. I’m in the car.”
“I’m not getting back together with Patricia,” he blurted out.
