“You can’t tell anyone.”
She stared hard in his eyes and jabbed a finger at him. “Why do you care? She’s not your girlfriend. You said you didn’t steal her from Pete.” Her gaze narrowed as if she was looking for any reason to call BS. “You just met her last night.”
He frowned and his eyeballs pinched. Again he thought of standing between both women wearing stupid hats, strobes flashing and cameras rolling. His entire brain squeezed as he forced himself to say, “Okay. You were right. I stole her from Pete.”
“Ha. Wait till I tell Wanda about this!” His mother crowed as she actually rubbed her hands together. “This is so much better than her son marrying Miss Maple Leaf, 2012. She’s been lording that over my head for five years now.”
Fuck! He didn’t know which hurt worse, the pain in his brain or in his eyeballs. God, somehow last night’s little ha-ha joke had turned into a full-blown secret. “You can’t call anyone. Not Hoda or Wendy or Wanda.” His brain. His brain definitely hurt worse. “We can’t have that kind of attention on us right now.”
“Humph.” She crossed her arms, clearly disappointed that she couldn’t lord her news over Wanda’s head. “What does your coach think about all this? One of his very own hockey players stealing his daughter on national TV?”
How in the hell had this happened? “He doesn’t know yet.” He wasn’t a liar. “Lexie doesn’t know yet.”
“Lexie doesn’t know you stole her from Pete?” She looked at him like he was the crazy one in the room. “I’m confused.”
She wasn’t the only one. “Of course she knows that.” He didn’t like secrets as much as he didn’t like lies. Mostly because he sucked at keeping them all straight, but here he was, smack in the middle of both. “Kowalsky doesn’t know Lexie is with me, and Lexie doesn’t know I play hockey for the Chinooks.” It was always best to go with the truth, and those two things were the truth. “And you can’t talk about it.”
“Are you okay, son?” She put her hand on his knee. “Did you get hit in the head without your helmet?”
It felt like it. Like a butt hit to the forehead.
“You need some Xanax.”
Great. His mother was prescribing medication.
“Or maybe I need the Xanax. I’m confused.” She reached for a prescription bottle on the TV tray next to her. “How could she not know you play hockey for the Chinooks?”
“She’s been out of town filming that stupid show since I was traded.” He shrugged. “Maybe because I played for Pittsburgh and she doesn’t pay attention to players from other teams. Maybe I look different without my helmet. I don’t know for sure, but she doesn’t even seem to recognize my name.” But even the truth had this whole thing spiraling into chaos. “Kowalsky doesn’t like me very much.” His mother still looked doubtful, and he added, “Lexie isn’t real bright. She has a lot of good qualities, but her attic’s a little dusty.”
“God compensates special people.” His mother smiled like a sudden flush of romance made her all warm inside. “You must really love her.”
Sean avoided chaos. He hated shit storms. He was responsible for both. He didn’t know quite how it had happened or how to stop it.
“You kidnapped her from Pete and right from under her dad’s nose, too.”
Kidnap? Love her? From under her dad’s nose?
Geraldine sighed. “She must be your soul mate.”
Good Lord! Soul mate? He tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. He didn’t know her. He wasn’t even sure he liked her. “Yeah. That’s it,” he lied.
“Then I won’t call Wendy or say a word to Wanda.” She lifted a pretend key and locked her lips. “For now,” she said out of one corner of her mouth. “Even though I’m about to bust.”
He wasn’t sure she wouldn’t bust the moment he turned his back. Not when a chance at the Wendy show and national attention dangled in front of her like a tantalizing illness. “Lexie probably needs help,” he managed as he stood. He fought the urge to run. To get the hell out of his mother’s crazy house. “Yell if you need anything,” he said over his shoulder as he walked from the room. Only he couldn’t run from the crazy he’d brought to the house with him.
Lexie stood at the kitchen sink, and if she hadn’t looked up and smiled, he might have hopped the ferry to Prince Rupert. From there, he’d catch a flight to Seattle or Pittsburgh. The team was on the road and he’d much rather get a shot to the cup than be anywhere near Sandspit.
The bright sun bounced off the snow outside, cut a blinding trail through the window, and caught in Lexie’s hair. The fish hat lay on the counter, and she turned her attention to meat she placed in a hot pan on the stove. “I’m making Asian pork tenderloin I found in the refrigerator. It’ll taste so good, Geraldine won’t even know she’s eating healthy,” she said as she put a lid on the pan. “I’ll make simple hoisin and a yummy cucumber salad.”
Sean glanced over
his shoulder at his mother and the sharp rise in her brow. Despite the invisible lock and key, she needed convincing. He took a cheese grater from Lexie’s hand and tossed it on the counter.
“Why did you do that?” She turned toward him and lifted her gaze to his, confusion pulling at her brows.
“This is crazy.”
“I know! I need that to shred the cucumber.”