Page 84 of Puck Me Twice

I’m on my lunch break when he enters the lounge, whistling as he pours himself a coffee and adds about an inch of creamer.

Wait.

He doesn’t drink coffee creamer.

As I watch, he pulls down a second mug and adds a small splash of almond milk to it, then joins me across the room.

“Hey,” he says, setting the first mug in front of me. “How’s your day going?”

“Not bad.”

Waking up in his arms was heaven. It was everything I wanted and didn’t know I needed. There’s a calmness in my soul. I hadn’t realized it was so disruptive, so jittery. Now that everything is still… it’s like I can breathe again.

“Do you want to grab dinner tonight?” Sven asks.

“Pick me up at seven?” I have to run home and get a few things ready. Tomorrow, we hit the road again with a trip to D.C. and then Buffalo.

He grins at me, squeezing my hand.

We sit in easy silence as the players and staff filter in and out of the lounge. A few people give us a smile or a nod, but most leave us alone. They’re getting used to seeing us together.

Robby waltzes into the lounge and makes a protein shake. He grins when he sees me, ambling over to us.

“Hey, Nessie,” he says quietly. “You doing okay?”

I nod. “I am, yeah.”

“Good.” He gives me a soft smile, then turns to Sven. “You treating our girl right?”

To my surprise, Sven doesn’t get upset at his calling me their girl.

“Always,” he says. He looks up at Robby. “Do you want to sit?”

My ex looks surprised, then pleased. “Yeah. Thanks.”

I’ve spent so much time ignoring him, I haven’t noticed if he’s made friends yet. Does he have people here? I have Jacky and Patrice, I guess even Scott is okay, but does he have anyone? What about in the city at large? He’s been on the road for so long. It’s hard, isolating, especially when you have to start over all the time.

“Do you have any plans for the holidays? Going home?” Sven asks Robby.

“Nah. My parents and I don’t talk anymore,” he says easily.

My eyebrows go up. “You don’t?” His enmeshment with his family was a big bone of contention in the two and a half years we were together.

“They didn’t like the last person I dated and made clear I wasn’t part of the family any longer,” Robby says with a lightness to his tone. “It’s better this way.”

I set my hand on his arm, squeezing gently, and he gives me a sad smile.

“How about you guys? Meeting the parents?”

Sven shakes his head. “My parents are in Sweden. They don’t visit.” His words are crisp and cool, trying to be unaffected, but his eyes are sad. The estrangement must weigh on him more than I thought.

“Nessie?”

“I got a holiday email card from my mother.”

Robby’s eyebrows raise. “That good?”

My shoulder lifts in a halfhearted shrug. “Her kids are cute. I think the oldest one is in high school, maybe college.”