Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 152064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Once again, I wish I’d done things differently after Fiona and I ended, that I hadn’t let her shake my faith in my ability to find and keep love. But I can’t go back and change the past, so all I can do is hope I’ve done enough work to prove I’m more than my previous decisions. I knock on Vander Zee’s door.
“Come on in.” He takes off his glasses and motions to the chair across from his desk. “What can I do for you, Madden?”
I close the door most of the way and drop into the chair. “I have something important I want to discuss with you.” I run my sweaty palms down my thighs. I hope I survive this.
Vander Zee gives me his full attention. He has circles under his eyes, and he seems to have aged five years since the holidays. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Everything’s good.” I rap on the armrest, then grip them so I stop fidgeting. “You know me well, Coach, and you’ve seen me grow a lot over the past few years, personally and professionally.”
“You’re an excellent player. One of the best on the team, and a lead scorer in the league,” he agrees, then sits up straighter. “Please tell me another team isn’t trying to poach you.”
I hold up a hand. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Right. Okay. Good. I have enough shit to deal with.” He runs a rough hand through his hair. “I can’t lose one of my best players, too.”
I swallow past my anxiety. He might feel differently about that in a minute. “Tally’s been spending a lot of time with us lately.”
“I’m glad she has you and the Terror girls to look out for her. She needs people she can lean on,” he says. “I know what’s going on with me and her mother has been hard on her.” He clears his throat. “She mentioned that you drove her home last night. Did she say anything? Should I be worried?”
“She’s okay. It’s tough when you have an idea of what your parents’ relationship is like, and then suddenly everything changes.” I shift in my seat. “I, uh…I took her out for dinner.”
His brow lifts. “Last night?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize. Thanks for doing that. I felt like an asshole for bailing on her. She proved her point about me putting my job before my family.” Vander Zee sighs.
I keep my mouth shut about that. It’s not my place to tell him how to live his life. “Talls and I have gotten closer recently.”
Vander Zee’s brows pull together.
I rush to add, “Just in the past few months, really.”
“Closer how?” Suspicion clouds his eyes.
“She’s a great girl. Woman. She’s special.” Just spit it out, man.
“She is.” His tone shifts to warning. “Madden, what—”
I bite the bullet. “I would like to date your daughter, sir.”
Vander Zee stares at me.
I don’t break eye contact, even though I would like to.
“Repeat that, please.”
My mouth is so fucking dry. “I would like to date Tally.”
“You want to date Tally,” he echoes.
“Yes, sir.”
He clasps his hands, and the tips of his fingers turn white. “She’s my baby.”
“She’s twenty-one. She’ll be twenty-two this year.”
“Her birthday isn’t until the summer.”
“She’s an adult.”
“She’s still in university.”
“This is her final semester. She’s very confident in her path, and I’m sure you’ll agree she always has been,” I counter.
His jaw ticks.
“Her favorite candy is dropjes, specifically the sweeter ones, and her favorite cake is Cherry Chip from Just Desserts. She loves dystopian literature, her favorite genre of music changes depending on her song choice for her showcases, and her favorite color is teal.” I avoid mentioning that she likes vanilla lip balm, her shampoo smells like cherry blossoms, and she also likes spicy romantasy and why choose fics.
His eye twitches. “You’re serious.”
“I am. I care about her, Coach.”
“Do not call me Coach right now, Madden.”
“Sorry, sir.” I feel like I’m tripping around landmines. I haven’t asked anyone for permission to date their daughter ever, but these aren’t typical circumstances.
His face turns red, and he rubs his bottom lip, chest rising and falling like he’s working to contain himself. “She’s my little girl.” He grinds his teeth.
I avoid mentioning her adult status again.
“You have a really heinous reputation, Madden.”
I’ve been waiting for this. I want to look away. To be someone else—someone like Ryker who’s a small-town boy with a squeaky-clean record. The guy is the quintessential Boy Scout. Even Romero, who has a habit of getting into fights on the ice, has never been in the media for bad behavior off the ice. “I’ve done a lot of personal work over the past few years.”
“I can’t argue with that.” He taps on his desk. “Is this what my daughter wants?”
“It is.” Unless she’s changed her mind between this morning and now. I really hope not. I would be gutted.