Page 63 of Center Ice

“Will that be hard?” She searched my face. “Leaving your home?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Before Mexico, yes. I couldn’t imagine even thinking about leaving her memory behind, but when I got home from the trip, I realized how it was holding me back. I need to move on, it’s what she wanted, and I need a clean slate to do that.”

“You really are a new person.” She smiled. “Have any of the guys commented on that?”

“Yeah, actually. I think they’re all happy I’ve been more engaged lately.” My worries about them holding a grudge were completely unfounded. They were waiting with open arms for me to take even a tiny step out of my own shadow. All I needed to do was to make the first move, and they took over from there. Did I really want to leave that?

A truly fresh slate, with no memories of the man I used to be, was available if I took the offer, but that would mean walking away from the people that put in the work to help me get to where I was. I knew they wouldn’t hold that against me, but it didn’t feel right.

I hadn’t let myself think about playing against them in the coming season. That would be a mental hurdle I’d have to work through too.

“That’s good. You’re really lucky to have friends like them.”

I nodded. “So, what else do you want to see?”

She pursed her lips while she considered. “Show me your favorite place.”

I blew out a breath. My first instinct was to tell her it was the arena. That was the obvious choice and wouldn’t require much explanation. But it wasn’t the truth, and Dani deserved that. “Head back toward my building.”

I lead her through the neighborhoods in the hills, pointing out the streets where Olli and Emma lived, and Chloe and Reese. We climbed higher and higher, winding up to the top where the street ended. I got out of the car and moved to lean against the hood. She joined me, and I draped my arm over her shoulders.

She didn’t speak, although I was pretty sure she was dying to ask me questions.

From here, we could see the entire Salt Lake Valley and even beyond into the neighboring counties. The arena stood out, and I knew the layout of the city well enough to spot my apartment building.

I pointed in the opposite direction. “That’s where Sydney and Brandon live.”

She nodded.

“There’s my building.” I traced the line to connect the two. “Los Gatos is down there.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Where’s the Pie?”

I moved back in the direction of my building. “It’s there.”

She looked out at my city and hummed. “It’s beautiful from up here.”

“I found this one night when I was supposed to go to Olli and Emma’s house for a dinner party. I got to their driveway and panicked. Mom had a bad day but told me to go. She hated that I missed things because of her, even though I told her every single day I’d rather spend all my free time with her than my teammates, who I saw every day. She thought I was giving up too much to take care of her, but I would have traded everything, my career and salary and even my own health, if it would have done anything to help her.” I sighed and rubbed my jaw with my free hand. Dani wrapped her arms around my waist. “I kept driving and found where the road ended. It was spectacular that night. I felt like I was on top of the world. Nothing could touch me up here. Nothing bad could happen because I was above it all. After that night, I came here whenever I needed a break or needed to cry without my mom hearing.”

Her grip tightened, but she didn’t speak.

“I wanted to buy the land and build my dream house. I even looked up who owns it, but I never had the guts to call. It was too depressing to think about living here all alone.”

“You didn’t picture a family here?” Her voice was so quiet, like she didn’t want to break the blissful spell of this moment.

I shook my head. “No, I never pictured having a family.”

“Because half of marriages end in divorce, and there is no joy or happiness in the world?”

I glanced down to see her grinning up at me and laughed. “Yes, that’s exactly why.”

“And what about now?”

That was an excellent question. Could I see us living here together? Starting our own family? Adding to the tribe of babies that was taking over the team?

I never allowed myself to even consider that as a future for myself. Not until last week. Now it was something I desperately wanted.

“I can see it.”