“Cheer up.” Coop nudged him with his foot. “There’ll be other dates.”
For some reason, that didn’t make Grady feel better.
BECAUSE MAXwas borderline codependent, he lived next door to his best friend and teammate, Jack Hedgewood, and his other best friend, Hedgie’s wife, El. On game days at home, they carpooled because Max’s nagging was the only way Hedgie got anywhere on time. El said she was happy to be a housewife, but she wasn’t going to be his mother.
Max wasn’t going to be Hedgie’s mother either, but he didn’t mind playing sheepdog.
“Hey, El,” he said cheerfully when she opened the door. “How far behind are we running?”
“I’m just getting in the shower!” Hedgie yelled from upstairs.
El stepped back with a knowing look and gestured Max inside. She had her long dark hair up in a ponytail, and she was wearing her yoga gear. “Right on time.”
With a snicker, Max followed her to the back of the house and into the sunroom that she used as a yoga studio. He didn’t do a ton of warming up with her—it was too long before the game—but it was a good way to kill time while he waited for Hedgie, and it gave him an excuse to hang out with his favorite Hedgewood.
Besides, he liked yoga. It kept him limber for non-hockey activities—a fact he’d mentioned to El more than once, and now she looked at him speculatively as he started in on his hip-flexor stretches. “Big plans after the game?”
“If I’m lucky.” They were playing Grady’s team, the Firebirds, a big rivalry game to open the preseason. The Monsters were based in Newark, and Philly was only an hour’s drive away, so the teams played each other frequently in the preseason. But Max was still waiting for Grady to text him back about hooking up after. So far Grady had left Max on read, which was rude but not unexpected.
“You ever going to tell me who gave you the souvenirs in Toronto?”
“No can do. You know the drill.” El was his go-to confessor for steamy sex stories, but if he hooked up with another player, he never gave her names. It would be just his luck that Hedgie would get traded to their team one day, or one of them would end up on Max’s team, and El would know a little too much about them.
Max didn’t need a reputation for being indiscreet.
He hoped no one had gotten a picture of him leaving Grady’s hotel room in Toronto.
“Boo.” But she grinned as she settled into lotus position and straightened her back and shoulders.
Max put his right leg out in front of him and pushed his face down toward his knee, but he kept his eyes on El. “Did you get a new bra? Your tits look amazing lately.”
She laughed out loud. “God, you’re so lucky you can pull that off without coming across as skeezy.”
“It’s a gift.” It probably had more to do with the solid friendship they’d built—and the fact that Max was generally more into men than women. “Seriously. You’re all….” He didn’t have words, so he sat up and made an hourglass with his hands.
El’s gaze went to the staircase to the second floor. The shower was still running.
Did Hedgie not know about the bra or something?
She cleared her throat. Her cheeks were pink. “It’s not a bra.”
Okay, so, what, did she get a boob job? Max didn’t think the change was dramatic enough to be the result of surgery, and anyway he’d have known about it, so—
It dawned on him right as El said, around a small, secret smile, “The titty fairy came early.”
“Holy shit!” Max said. El shushed him, and he lowered his voice. “How far along are you? Does Hedgie know?”
“Like six weeks, no he doesn’t, anddon’t tell him.”
Hedgie was going to flip his shit. Max grinned. “This is so exciting. When are you going to tell him?” He paused. “Also, how did he not notice?” He held his hands to his chest. “Like…. El. Seriously.”
“I don’t know! He’s a straight guy, boobs are boobs. They’re inherently wonderful.”
“Well, I’m judging him on your behalf.” Obviously Hedgie was not paying enough attention.
Damn. They were going to be such great parents. Max couldn’t wait to see it.
But it also felt bittersweet. It was all well and good for Max to tag along with them once in a while now, when it was the two of them. But they would need time to spend as a family with their new baby, without him. And if El had a difficult pregnancy, he’d have to find alternative arrangements for Gru when he was out of town with the team. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but Gru and El would miss each other.
