Page 147 of The Shot You Missed
“I’m okay, Lols. I promise.”
Megan signs a few jerseys, both Rogues and Lightning, takes half a dozen selfies, and when she’s sure all the kids have saidhi, she tells the crowd she has to go.
“Pretty sure I just ovulated, watching you with those kids,” Lola tells her when Megan drapes an arm over her shoulders. “I hope you’re not planning to get much sleep tonight.”
“I napped earlier,” Megan says with a wink.
“You two are disgustingly cute,” I tell them, some of the tension leaving me now that we’re moving and there aren’t as many eyes on us.
Lola preens. “We are, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, babe. We are.” Megan chuckles and shoots me an amused look. She’s perfect for my best friend.
Before we came here, I imagined a million different ways things could go. It’s the writer in me. It’s impossible not to imagine what kind of ending a story will have, even if the story is your own. But I never could have imagined this. Lola and I both happy, in relationships, in a city that feels more like home every day. Friends who are excited to see us and who could easily become family.
And for the first time, I realize I’m not thinking about going back to LA at all. I haven’t been. Not for a while, now. LA has never really felt like home. The only place that ever did was summering in Maine, and that was because Sebastian was there.
Because Sebastian is my home. I want to be wherever he is. And it seems like Lola is starting to have those same feelings for Megan. We’ll need to talk about it, but I don’t think either of us wants to leave the Twin Cities. We’re going to stay, make a new life with our hockey hotties, become winter people, and leave the forced perfection of Hollywood behind us.
“The afterparty will be so fun.” Lola leans into her girlfriend. “Especially since they’re going to win.”
“Don’t jinx them, babe.”
Lola rolls her eyes at Megan. “You hockey players are so superstitious. It’s cute. A little unhealthy, but cute.” Lola looks over at me. “Is Bash this superstitious? He seems too logical for all that. Like, does he have to put his socks on in a certain order or someth?—”
“Indigo.”
Lola frowns as a deep voice interrupts her. The frown deepens when she looks past me and sees who that voice belongs to. “Oh, hell, no.”
Time seems to slow as I turn toward the voice, even though I know who I’ll see.
What the hell is he doing here?
“No. Nope. Absolutely the fuck not.” Lola shrugs off Megan’s arm and steps between me and Ryland. “You need to leave.”
“Is this the ex?” Megan asks me quietly.
I nod, words sticking in my throat when I notice the number of eyes on us. Between Ryland loudly calling my name and Lola’s hissed and angry words, we’re quickly becoming a spectacle.
Which is exactly what I don’t want.
“I’m not leaving, Lola.” Ryland tries to dodge my short friend, but she’s two steps ahead of him, and he can’t. He always did underestimate her.
“How did you even get in here?” my pissed-off best friend demands. She looks about as threatening as an angry kitten, but she has claws Ryland would be foolish to disregard.
“Robert called in a favor and got me a ticket.” Ryland runs a hand through his auburn hair. He’s agitated. No doubt this meeting isn’t going the way he thought it would. Though why he didn’t expect this is beyond me. I was pretty clear where I stood the last time he ambushed me.
Too bad he’s not the only one who’s pissed off. My skin tightens, angry heat filling me. “Why would my dad do that?”
“He wants us to get back together,” Ryland says. “When I told him howbusyyou’ve been, he was happy to get me one, so we’d have a chance to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I hiss. “I said everything I needed to say the night you ambushed me.”
We’re drawing quite the crowd, and my skin crawls under the scrutiny of gawking strangers. A few already have their phones out and pointed our way, recording what should have been a private conversation.
No. You know what? It never should have been a conversation at all.
We’re so close to the family box. I’m tempted to push through the crowd and make a run for it. But the idea of something like that going viral stops me.
