“I could always restart college, I guess?” Reece threw in. “Or take online classes. But online classes suck.”
“There’s a reason I wasn’t allowed to quit college. I could’ve started playing for the Rangers at eighteen,” Colin said, earning himself just a few gasps in return. Lily was pretty much the only one who didn’t look surprised. “Oh, come on, you guys. You didn’t seriously think I wasn’t offered a contract the second I turned eighteen. My father was their head coach at that time. Of course the Rangers wanted to get me on their team the moment they could.”
“Way to make us feel good about getting drafted at twenty-one,” Grey said. “You were just waiting for the day you could finally drop this, weren’t you?”
“Obviously.” Colin winked at his best friend, beaming a smile. “I didn’t want?—”
“Guys, this decision is much easier to make than you think,” Lily said, interrupting her husband before he could become any cockier.
Suddenly, every single person in this room was staring at Lily, some more intensely than others.
“How so?” Reece asked. “It feels pretty impossible to me.”
“You’ll see.” Lily smiled softly, taking the iPad away from Aaron just to delete the cons and pro list. “Colin?”
“Yes,mi sol?”
“If your dad hadn’t intervened, would you have chosen to play for the NHL rather than start college?” Lily asked. I bet she already knew the answer, though.
Reece rested his head on my shoulder, sighing heavily. I didn’t know where Lily was going with this, and I suppose my fiancé had no idea either. I couldn’t imagine it being an easy decision to make.
“Fuck yeah,” Colin said, sounding a bit offended that she even dared to ask such a stupid question. “I was ready to sign the contract.”
Lily nodded, then slightly turned her head to look at Grey. “What about you?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been allowed to do it.”
“Welcome to my life,” Colin chimed in, nudging his best friend in the side.
“Okay, but in a perfect world, you would’ve chosen hockey over college?” Lily queried, earning herself a convinced nod in return. “That means all of you?—”
“Excuse me. You forgot to ask what I would’ve done,” Aaron interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest in protest.
“I know your answer.” Lily tsked. “Anyway. All of youwould’ve chosen the NHL in a heartbeat if you could have.” She looked at Reece again, her head slightly cocked, and a sympathetic smile on her lips. “You’re hesitating, Reece. Hesitation says a lot about someone’s true desires.”
“You should know,” Aaron muttered, just to get lightly slapped by his wife, and turn into the receiving end of seven death glares. Why they all took it so seriously, I didn’t know, but perhaps it was better that way. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
I looked at my fiancé, finding him deep in thoughts. He stared blankly ahead, so inanimate, one could think he’d fallen asleep or that he might be physically present yet mentally in a faraway land.
But I knew Reece. He could’ve been in Neverland with his thoughts, yet the moment I moved by just a millimeter, he was right with me. He proved my point when I accidentally loosened my hand around his as his head snapped toward me instantly.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his voice and eyes. He looked so defeated, so exhausted from everything, yet he still worried about me accidentally loosening my grip.
I smiled at him before I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on the left corner of his mouth. “Not as long as you’re still in pain.”
A sigh drew from his lungs, his hot breath rolling over my skin.
Reece didn’t reply, instead, he stood from his seat and pulled me up as well. As I and everyone else in this room looked at him with confusion, he declared, “I can’t just trust my own gut feeling. Brooke and I need to have a little conflab and then I can decide what I want to do.”
That said, he pulled me down the hall and right into his old bedroom.
57
REECE
Lily was right, even if she hadn’t technically claimed to be.
If I was ready to play for the NHL right this instant, there shouldn’t have been a single doubt in my mind.