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“Growing up in my house, we had a rule. You have to clear the air before a meal. If you still have anger in your throat when the meal starts, you could choke.”
“They’re just young and cocky. They haven’t been humbled yet and it shows.” “Interesting. What does it take to humble a hockey player?” He leaned forward onto his elbows, seemingly mulling over her question. “Time.”
“They have to experience a few hard losses to appreciate winning. The greatest players are great because they can cope with losing. They’ve been there, been humbled by getting crowned second or third best.” He shrugged. “You can take home the first-place trophy, but it won’t be as sweet if you’ve never experienced second. That hasn’t happened to them yet.”
“I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through. The fact that you walked into my apartment at all with that hanging over your head is a testament to how strong you are.” He waited for her to look at him, his voice heavy with sincerity. “For what it’s worth, Tallulah, you won. You waited for your moment, you kicked his ass and got as far away as you could. And you didn’t let him make you bitter. That’s better than I could have done.”
Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . Apparently flip-flopping between Greek mythology and Christianity was the final proof that she’d been overwhelmed by the sight of him.
“How do you feel about telling this clown that he’s making you uncomfortable and he needs to back the fuck off?” She hissed a breath. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d rather just get through it.” “Is getting through it working?” When she only blinked at him, he searched for a different tactic. “When someone encroaches on my territory on the ice, I let them know it’s not okay. And I guess it’s . . . I never thought about it, because it’s just my job, but I guess it’s empowering. To demand somebody backs off. You have that right, too.”
Burgess liked playing protector. Yet he still wanted to help Tallulah stand on her own two feet again. That said a lot about his character.
She turned on the ball of her foot, throwing him an inviting look over her shoulder on her way to the pond’s edge. “It’s not too late to join me,” she called. “Forever is composed of nows. Dickinson said that. It’s the one time English Lit piqued my interest.”
The landscape rolled forever, disappearing into a bright blue sky. So much bigger than her. Bigger than anything, right? But just like a lot of the platitudes she’d been feeding herself since Pittsburgh, telling herself that her problems were tiny in comparison to the world . . . didn’t help the pain so much. Now the fact that she’d rekindled her courage alone? Put it to use by kayaking, hot air ballooning, trying new restaurants, existing with a broken heart? That helped. A lot.
I think maybe if I’d lived more, experienced more, like you do, I wouldn’t have been so scared to lose hockey. I wouldn’t have thrown you out and ruined my—” He cut himself off with a clenched jaw. “You’re worried something is going to happen and you’ll be responsible, since you’re the reason I’m up here. Don’t be. I make my own decisions. I just wish I would have made the right ones sooner. I should have gone skinny dipping with you. I should have danced in the kitchen, no matter how bad it looked.” He swallowed, glancing back to watch Apollo tighten the final straps across his shoulders. “I
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“I hope they treasure each other. Love doesn’t always come around twice. And even if it does, it’s going to be different. There are no two exact types of love, you know that? When two people love each other, they create a love snowflake, and it can never be re-created by anyone else.”
