Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
It was the only regret I had about entering the NHL at eighteen. I had wanted to go to college. I’d had plans to major in psychology, but the opportunity to play professional hockey was too good to pass up, and I figured I could always go to college after I retired.
As I locate a pair of shorts, then search for a T-shirt, I can barely hear Simone say, “I’m not that close to graduating.”
Whoa…now this is like soap-opera interesting. I snag a shirt and move to my closed door so I can listen. I start to remove my flannel shirt and jeans as I continue to eavesdrop.
Simone continues in a tentative voice. “I actually never enrolled for this semester.”
“What the ever-loving fuck?” Lucas barks at her so loud I wince on her behalf. “How is that even possible?”
“I decided last semester I was just done with school,” she returns quietly. I pause taking off my clothes to put my ear near the door. “I was reaching for a goal that wasn’t mine, but was Dad’s.”
“It was your goal too,” Lucas snaps at her.
“No. It wasn’t. Dad is always the one that pushed medical school at me and well…I just never told him differently, that I didn’t want to be a doctor.”
“So you just decided not to finish the last semester of your undergrad? What have you been doing for the last two and a half months?”
“Working at a coffee shop off campus,” she says, but I can tell by the slight defensiveness in her voice coupled with how quickly she answered that’s a clear lie. I can spot a lie on a person’s face or in their tone of voice faster than a New York minute.
“And the money for your tuition and what Mom and Dad give you for living expenses?” Lucas grits out.
“The tuition’s been refunded; check was sent to my apartment address. As for the living expenses…well, I’ve been using some of the money they put in my account each month to supplement my wages.”
“They are going to fucking kill you,” Lucas says, and that’s when I decide to check out of the conversation.
It was interesting, but it’s not my problem. So it looks like we have another roommate for a bit, but it doesn’t bother me as long as she stays out of my way. And if she gets too intrusive, I can always move quicker to buy my own home. I signed a three-year deal with the Cold Fury, so I’ll definitely be buying, and it will be big enough to move Etta here if I can convince her to leave California.
Speaking of which, I finish getting dressed and grab my cell phone off my dresser. I sit on the bed with my back against the headboard and dial her. I imagine at this time of day, she’s probably sitting on her patio reading a book.
“Hey you,” she answers, the melody of her sweet voice the best kind of music to my ears.
“What are you doing?” I ask as I stretch my legs out on the bed, knowing that it might be the kiss of death to my motivation to hit the gym.
“I actually just got back in from a late lunch,” she says, and I hear the mischief in her voice.
“With who?” I ask, marveling at how my voice is different when I talk to her.
Teasing.
Light.
Funny.
So not the Van Turner that everyone else sees, but then again, Etta has always inspired that in me.
“His name is Mark and he’s a veterinarian,” she says in an excited rush. “He’s really nice, and very handsome, and the only thing that’s been a slight turn-off is that his practice specializes in reptiles. I just have this image of going to his house and there are tanks all over the place with lizards and snakes.”
I laugh, knowing Etta’s extreme fear of said reptiles. Well, small ones actually. She says it’s the small ones that give her the wiggins. I once found her standing on top of the kitchen island of my house because a tiny lizard was loose somewhere.
“Maybe before you invest any time in him,” I say sagely, “you should ask him about that. Not that I think you’re ready to go to his house after just one lunch date.”
My aunt spent her entire life devoted to raising me. She would always say that was the way she wanted it, but I sometimes wonder if it was just too hard for a single woman with a kid to find someone she could get serious about.
But since I’ve moved to the East Coast to join the Cold Fury, she’s started doing a little sporadic dating, which has made me happy. But it doesn’t really lessen my guilt over all the things she lost in life when she took me on.