Sean just smiled like he always did and looked up into the woman’s face, probably aged beyond her years by the harsh, salty air. “Better.”
“She must be in a world of pain.”
“I believe she’ll make a complete recovery.” Like always.
“Last time I saw her, it was . . .” Louise paused in momentary thought. “Geez, it was probably at the trade show this past October. She mentioned she might be moving to the States with you.”
Which was why he was in Sandspit. To make sure she didn’t.
“She just can’t take the winters. Poor thing.” Louise’s eyes pinched at the corners like she was trying to figure out why the woman eating like a lumberjack seemed familiar.
“She sure is proud of you.”
Sean watched Louise watch Lexie. The top half of Lexie’s face was hidden from Louise’s view beneath the bill of a fish hat. “I’ll tell Mother you asked about her.”
“Okay.” Louise’s brows lowered and she turned to leave. “Enjoy.”
Sean glanced over his shoulder as she walked away. “I’m sure she didn’t recognize you.” He turned back to Lexie, her head still ducked.
He watched her mouth as she asked, “How sure?”
“Fairly.”
“That’s not very reassuring.” Slowly she lifted her face, the brim sliding up her cheeks and nose to her deep blue eyes. “What’s a leaky pancreas?”
Fiction. “She doesn’t have a leaky pancreas. Louise is mistaken.” He reached for his beer and took a drink.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Sean shrugged and lowered the glass. “We were talking about you and that idiotic show,” he said to change the subject away from his mother’s pretend illness.
“I never should have gone on that stupid show.” She dabbed her mouth with the paper napkin and reached for her coffee. “I should have figured out some other way to get national exposure for Yum Yum’s Closet.” She sliced off a bite of waffle and put it in her mouth.
That’s right. Through the blur of a pouf and gauze, he recalled her mentioning something about a dog clothes business last night. “Sounds more like you never should have won.”
She lifted one shoulder in agreement and placed a napkin in her lap. “I’m supercompetitive.” She took a bite of waffle and chewed. A drop of syrup rested on her bottom lip.
That’s what he’d heard about her. He watched the drop for several seconds before the tip of her tongue licked it away.
“I come by it naturally, on my dad’s side. He used to play hockey for the Seattle Chinooks and had a reputation for scoring goals and fighting.”
He knew that, and it was part of the reason he’d sought her out.
“His name is John Kowalsky. If you live in Seattle, you might have heard of him.”
“Most people have heard of John.” He’d had his first ass-chewing from the coach the very same week he’d moved to Seattle and put on his Chinooks jersey. He’d scored a hat trick against the Sharks, and the coach had pulled him into his office to bitch at him. “Goddamn it, Knox,” he’d said with his finger in Sean’s face. “This is a team sport. Your cocky showboating is disrespectful as fuck!” Sean had heard it before, but he had the skill to back it up, and the fans loved it when he rode his stick after scoring a goal. Just three nights ago, Kowalsky had chewed his ass again. He’d scored the winning goal in the last five seconds of the game, and had ridden his stick from one end of the ice to the other.
“A lot of people look up to my dad.” Lexie took another bite and swallowed.
“He’s a hockey great.” Sean would give him that.
“Yeah. He’s a great guy, too.”
He probably wouldn’
t go that far.
“His heart is just a big marshmallow.”