Harper ran the brain mapping test while I thought of every possible angle. She was removing the sensors when I finally spoke again.
“What if you kept the results anonymous? Never even entered names? Just called me player X or something?” I asked.
She swallowed, her eyes flying to mine. “That would be fine. It wouldn’t change the results at all. Plus, if your name was never entered—if we ran another test in the next few days under Patient X—it would work.”
“Just one test at the beginning of the season, and one at the end?”
“Well, more like one now, one mid-season. I have to submit my dissertation by the end of the year, and half the season would give me enough data to start the study.”
“Anonymously,” I repeated.
“Anonymously,” she agreed.
She must have seen something change in my eyes because hers widened. “Nathan, are you saying you’ll do it?”
For Nick.
“Yes, and I’ll do you one better if you wait right here.”
She agreed.
Twenty minutes later, I walked in with eight more Sharks.
“Dr. Thompson, I give you Team X.”
Chapter 2
Harper
I’d never been to a professional hockey game before, but I was almost certain they didn’t always open with a dual proposal.
I grinned from the stands, damn near breaking Sawyer’s hand I squeezed it so hard as we watched Faith’s plan unfold…and then totally change. It was as comical as it was romantic—Faith proposing to Lukas before Lukas could propose to her. She’d planned out everything to the last detail—with a little help from me—and yet she’d never counted on him trying to beat her to the altar.
A happy sigh left my lips as I watched them embrace, the happiness of my BFF’s face unmatched. They’d been through some hell and back and made it out shiny on the other side.
Was it possible? Love? I’d never bought into it before, but watching Faith and Lukas? It was enough to send my brain racing with possibilities. Maybe relationships weren’t a waste of time. Maybe there was more than the chemical attraction between two humans. Faith certainly believed so, and Lukas? The way he looked at her? It was enough to make me believe in something. Maybe not love, but something more than one person’s body reacting to another.
“Losing circulation,” Sawyer flexed his fingers within my grip, and I quickly released him.
“Sorry!”
“No worries,” he said, a heaviness to his eyes.
My shoulders dropped. “If you want to go I will totally understand.”
He furrowed his brow and shook his head. “I’m here for Faith. And for you.”
I pressed my lips together. I so wasn’t good at the thoughtful words of comfort—I had my super clinical family to thank for that. We rarely ever hugged—except for my older brother—let alone offered comfort in times of need. With Faith it was easy, we were basically sisters, but with Sawyer? Sure, he was like another brother, but I doubted buying him a pint of ice cream would help soothe his wounds.
“Beer?” I blurted the question so quickly he jolted in his stadium seat.
“You want me to grab you one?” he asked, motioning toward the stairs that led to the concessions.
“No.” I huffed. “I meant, do you want me to grab you one?”
He laughed, totally used to my rapid and random train of thought. “I’m fine, Harper. I promise.”
I eyed him as he gazed down at the ice—the Sharks now skating onto it.
“I am,” he said without looking at me. He shrugged. “I didn’t make the cut. It’s fine. It was an honor to be at open tryouts, and Eric taught me so many new skills.”
“I still think you were robbed,” I said, knowing him not making the farm team had been a matter of a split-second move—one that the other goalie had been quicker on. The rest of Sawyer’s performance had been flawless.
“Nothing I can do about it now.” He sighed. “It was a pipe dream anyway.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“You know why,” he said. “I have responsibilities. Obligations. I shouldn’t have entertained that dream—”
“That’s not fair,” I cut him off. “You deserve to be on that ice, Sawyer.”
He flashed me a pitying look. “Says the girl who’s never been to an NHL game and needed me to tag along to explain things.”
I rolled my eyes. “One,” I said. “You were mainly here for Faith.” He nodded. “Two,” I continued, “You know I can’t stand not being able to comprehend something.”
“You?” he asked, his tone thick with sarcasm. “The girl who’s been in college for seven years? I had no idea you felt the urge to understand every single thing on the planet.”
I laughed. “And some other planets too,” I said. “There’s this theory that Mars was once—”
“Look at that,” Sawyer playfully cut me off and pointed toward the ice. “Game started.”
I sat straighter in my seat, focusing on the ice and the number of players skating this way and that. It took me a full ten seconds to find the puck, and I mentally scolded myself. This was a sport. I could figure it out. I just didn’t have much experience with this side of athletics—equipment and its components and their function? Sure. But the actual game? Not so much. The Sharks hadn’t even fallen on my radar until Faith had bounced into my life with a big brother for a goalie and then, afterward, a sex-on-a-stick boss.