Forever Pucked by Helena Hunting Page B

she’s keeping it from you. Apparently Violet drew up a proposal for his account, and she’s presenting it next week.”
    “Oh. That’s it?” When Darcy’s wife, Bunny, found out Violet manages finances for sports professionals, she got her contact information. I vaguely remember Violet telling me about creating a proposal a few weeks ago. She’s had to stay late a bunch of times over the past few months.
    “What do you mean, that’s it ? It’s a big fucking deal.”
    “It is? How do you know?”
    “Charlene told me. Junior accountants don’t present on multimillion-dollar accounts.”
    “She already manages Miller’s accounts.”
    “Yeah, but this is different. Darcy isn’t family, and Bunny specifically requested her. Charlene said this is atypical.”
    “Oh. I didn’t realize that. Well, I guess that explains her reaction this morning. I wish she would’ve said something.”
    “I’m surprised she didn’t.”
    “We were kind of busy last night, with other things.”
    “Apparently.”
    I like Darcy well enough. He’s a good guy, and Bunny’s always pleasant. She seems like the one in charge in that relationship. I tap the steering wheel, considering my options and how things could have gone differently had I known this information.
    “I should do something nice for her tonight. Plan a dinner or something.”
    “Good idea. Then maybe you’ll get some action and you won’t be so bitchy on the ice tomorrow night. We could really use a home win.”
    “Yeah, don’t I know it.”
    While we managed to win the first two away games—just barely—on this last trip, we lost the second two. It’s been like that this season: a lot of up and down, and not a lot of consistency.
    My scoring average is also down, and Randy Ballistic, who’s new to the team, has been responsible for more goals than I have lately. It’s good for him, but not so good for me.
    I’m silent for the rest of the trip to the gym. Darren doesn’t push for conversation, which is good because I’m mulling. As much as I’m disappointed that I didn’t hear this news from Violet, I’m also a little relieved it’s Darren who told me. It gives me time to process.
    As exciting as this is for Violet, it also means she’s going to be busy planning for the presentation this week. Which means we’ll have even less time together. I’m happy for her, because she works hard at her job, and she’s amazing at it, but this isn’t just about this week. The better she gets, the higher she’ll climb, and the more time it will take away from us.
    As a kid, my mom was always there: taking me to skating or hockey, making breakfast, working on homework with Sunny. I’ve always kind of imagined it’d be the same for my kids. I want that for my family, and I have the ability to provide it. Maybe Violet isn’t ready to look at it that way.
    As soon as we get to the gym, I jam in my earbuds so I don’t have to talk to anyone and hit the treadmill. Darren leaves me alone. He knows better than anyone that sometimes I need time to think.
    Lance Romero, one of my teammates and a good friend of Miller’s, steps onto the treadmill beside me and nods. I’ve gotten to know him a bit better in the last few months. He’s a notorious partier, and a while back he had a fling with the team trainer, Tash, which resulted in us getting a new trainer. It sucked for everyone, but since then he seems to have calmed down a bit.
    I pull out an earbud. “How’s it going, Romero?”
    “Yeah, all right.”
    He looks tired, like maybe he was up late last night, probably with a bunny.
    “You gonna be on for tomorrow’s game?” I ask.
    “Damn right. We’re not letting Toronto near the net.” A hint of Scot creeps in, telling me he’s as fired up as I am about the losses we’ve been taking lately.
    We spend the better part of three hours working out, though it’s not all heavy training. An hour of it is stretching for me, working out the kinks in my right