Page 81 of Defend Her Heart

Sadie rests her hand on top of mine. “Hey. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. It’s your business. But I just thought, from your text, that you needed someone to talk to. Does this have anything to do with the Bobcats playing against your ex soon?”

Well, fuck.

It wasn’t about that, but now that she’s bringing it up, it only adds to all of these conflicting feelings coursing through my body. Every time I saw the game against St. Louis on the schedule, I pushed the terror away. I thought that maybe, if I didn’t think about it, when the time came I’d be able to handle Bryan being in my new city. And the fact that I’ll be up in the rafters during the game was enough for me to pretend I wouldn’t be affected.

I was dead wrong.

“Now that you mention it, I really don’t want to see his stupid, smug face, even if it’s only on the monitors in my commentating booth.”

Sadie gives me a reassuring smile. “I’m sure it’s not going to be easy. But you know me and the girls are here for you. Whatever you need.”

The reminder that I have a support system here makes the dread subside just a tad. I haven’t even talked to Connor about the matchup yet. I think neither of us want to bring up my ex-husband’s name, but we’re going to have to broach the subject sometime.

“Thanks, Sadie. I’ve been putting in the work at therapy, but being in a different state than him definitely helps. Knowing he’ll be in the same building as me makes my skin crawl.”

She reaches out and squeezes my forearm. “It’s going to be hard, but you’re strong. And if you’re feeling weak, lean on me. I got you.”

I look up to see the sincerity in her eyes. Sadie has been my greatest support person outside of Tamara and Connor,and I trust her with almost anything. It’s clear that not only can I lean on her when I need to, but I also can confide in her about anything. Friends don’t keep secrets, right? Here goes nothing.

“I’m going to tell you something, and I need you not to freak out until I get through it all.”

Sadie’s curiosity is immediately piqued. I can see it in the way she folds her fingers under her chin and her eyebrows shoot up.

Here goes nothing.

“Connor and I got married.”

Sadie’s jaw drops for half a second before she shrieks. “You didwhat?”

“Shh! I told you not to freak out. Let me explain.”

She holds her finger up to me quickly and then grabs the attention of our waitress. “Hold on. I think I’m going to need something stronger than water for this conversation.”

I wait until the waitress drops off our food and a bloody mary for Sadie to fill her in on the rest. Sadie takes a long sip of her drink and sets it down on the table.

“Okay. Now I’m ready.”

“You know how bad my health has been, and I think I’ve also hinted at the fact that I don’t have the best financial situation since the divorce.”

Sadie grabs a fry and points it at me. “Yes. Your ex is a piece of shit just like Niko’s. I remember this conversation.” She pops the fry into her mouth, and I laugh at her candidness.

“Right. Well, Connor offered to pay for my hospital bills and any other costs that might accrue with the tests I needed to figure out what’s been going on.”

“But you don’t want to owe anyone anything,” she says nonchalantly while cutting her burger in half. How the heck did she figure that out? She looks up at me and must see bewilderment all over my face. “You won’t let me or any ofthe girls help with much.” She shrugs. “I get it, though. No need to explain. You’ve been through a lot with your ex and want to stand on your own two feet. Niko was like that for a while with Sophia. I’m guessing Connor was persistent?”

I stab a piece of lettuce with my fork and huff out a laugh. “Pretty much. He’s always been pretty protective over the people he cares about. He’s like that on the ice and I’m sure you’ve seen it plenty of times off it, too.” Sadie nods but doesn’t say anything so I continue. “Well, after the fainting spell at the bar, he was extremely worried and desperate to help me. After I told him my job doesn’t include insurance this season, he offered to pay for the tests again, but I was adamant about not accepting his money. So, he told me to marry him and use his insurance.”

When I look up from my food, I see Sadie has abandoned her lunch and is sitting back in her chair. Shock is written all over her face but there’s a ghost of a smile hidden behind it.

“And you agreed? Avery, I am shocked.” She places her hand over her heart and I toss my straw wrapper at her.

“Stop! I didn’t agree right away. I talked to Tamara about it for a bit and she made me see that Connor had a point. He’s already paying for the best insurance there is to offer, so why not put it to use? I also think she had ulterior motives when she urged me to accept, and I’m starting to think I should thank her because…”

Sadie scoots forward in her chair now, hanging onto my every word. “Oh my god! You want a second chance with your high school sweetheart! This is just like a romance book Hunter and I read last month. It was so toxic. His sister never gave him the note she wrote when she left, and oh my gosh, I’m sorry! This isn’t a book. It’s real life. I’m just so freaking excited!”

This girl.

“Slow down, Sadie. It’s a bad idea.” I lean back in my chair, realizing now that she said it out loud, it’s absolutelycrazy to think I should see where these feelings of mine might take me.