Erik’s gaze snapped to me.My face mustn’t have looked encouraging.“No, you listen to your coach for the game.Maybe we can play sometime and try the things I mentioned.”
Arne nodded.“Okay, when do you want to do that?”
Erik’s eyes widened.He shot another glance at me but I didn’t respond.I often intervened, so Erik didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep and Arne didn’t get hurt.I still would rather take the hit myself than have Arne in pain, but I was too stretched out to take on anything else, even something as small as this.Erik could sink or swim on his own.Arne had only seen his dad a couple of times in the last year.He had to know he wasn’t Erik’s priority.
“I’m not sure, son.”
Tonya and I exchanged glances at theson.
“My work schedule is a little chaotic.Shooting films is hard to predict—if a shot doesn’t work first take, we have to stay till it’s done.”
Arne studied Erik.“So, were you just saying that to be nice?”
Erik flushed.“No, I’d like to get together with you, but I don’t know when.”
“Well, soccer only goes till the weather gets cold, so maybe it won’t happen.”
Without meaning to, Arne had fired a killer shot.He wasn’t counting on anything from his dad before winter.Erik’s mouth dropped open, but the coach whistled for her team and Arne ran off.
Tonya leaned over.“Out of the mouths of babes…”
I nodded.I wished Arne didn’t have to learn lessons like this, but Erik’s behavior was out of my hands.He could try to do better, or he could disappear again after his show was shot.But I’d be here for Arne.He’d know he was loved.
Chapter19
The Sweetest Torture
Justin
Joel was right that the team wanted to see how I was doing firsthand, and they forwarded the date when they’d be in town to check on me.Joel had also commented on my shaggy appearance, bringing up another problem.I looked different from my team photos, and not in a good way.Something I should remedy before I met the team.
I hadn’t wanted to shave while my hand was out of commission.I’d never liked electric razors, and sadly the hair on my face was now beyond what an electric razor could handle.The hair on my head… I didn’t need to tie it back yet, so I’d deal with it in Toronto where I had a guy I trusted.
When Mia came in the morning, I asked her if she knew someplace I could get the beard dealt with.If I wanted to assure the team that I wasn’t going to explode in anger at anyone, looking less like a mountain hermit and more like the player they were used to would help.
She studied my face and I fought the urge to scratch the beard.
“I can do that for you.What exactly do you want?Clean-shaven, stubble, beard but tamed?”
Now my hand did scratch through the beard.“I don’t know.”
Mia raised her brows.
I huffed.“I don’t want it like this.It’s been driving me nuts.I just never considered anything but clean-shaven except in the playoffs.”Back when I’d been with Mia, anything I grew on my face had been thin and patchy and embarrassing.That wasn’t the problem now, so why had I never considered keeping the playoff beard?
Oh, right.Sharleen.She liked smooth-shaven.
“It might be easier and less difficult to maintain for now if we didn’t do clean-shaven.What do you think?”What did current-day Mia find attractive?Did she hate facial hair?Her cheeks turned a little pink, and I wondered what that was about.“Some stubble or a short beard wouldn’t require as much upkeep.”
Picturing Mia right in front of me, her hands on my face as she shaved me?Made me glad I still was mostly hidden by my hair, because I could feel my entire body warm up.Probably not a good idea.But I didn’t know how to tell her that without crossing lines.
She took my silence for agreement.“Why don’t we try to shorten this mess for starters and see how it goes?”
Face-to-face, almost able to kiss—the blood roared in my ears and I missed what she said.She left the room and I took deep breaths, telling myself to calm the fuck down.
When she returned, she’d been upstairs to the bathroom and was holding my shaving bag, as well as a case I’d never seen before.I stared at her.
“Is this a problem?I’d noticed where your kit was, and you said you wanted to do this.”