“I’m looking for a place in Forest Lake, maybe one with a pool house that can be converted or something.”

Tyler raises an eyebrow. “You want to stay here? Why not live in Saint Paul and be closer to your team?”

I shrug. Under other circumstances, Saint Paul would make sense, especially considering the sometimes tense relationship I have with my dad. He calls me the accident child, and my mom calls me the miracle baby, which says a lot about perception. “Makes sense to stay near Mom and Dad, especially with how much support they need.”

“Right.” He’s quiet for a moment. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that DJ lives in Forest Lake, would it?”

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “She’s getting a divorce.”

“Yeah, Mom mentioned that. Said it was just the paperwork or whatnot left and then it was done. You were pretty much together all through high school from what I remember. You thinking about reconnecting?”

“I dunno.”

“Well, you should consider it. She’s hotter now than she was when she was in high school, that’s for sure.”

I punch him in the shoulder. “What the fuck were you doing checking her out when she was in high school, you dirty perv?”

“OW! Fuck, Eth, calm your shit. She practically lived in our house when you were kids. Besides, she’s in her twenties now. It’s totally reasonable for me to check her out.”

“She’s not for you.”

He snorts. “I’m just making an observation. You still have one hell of a boner over her, don’t you?”

“What’re you, twelve?”

“Come on—look at you and look at me. I’m a thirty-four-year-old environmental engineer. My best assets are my glasses and my beard. You’re an NHL player in your prime. I’d kill to spend a day in your shoes, banging my way through your groupies.”

It’s my turn to give him a raised brow. “I don’t have groupies, and my career is halfway in the shitter. Being me isn’t all that awesome at the moment.”

“Jesus. Since when did you become such a pessimistic shit? You’re getting more and more like Dad.”

I punch him in the shoulder again.

“Dude, seriously. What the hell? I’m a delicate flower. I bruise easily.”

“Don’t compare me to Dad.”

“You’re living the dream. I know you like to be the best at everything all the time, but you’ve had the better part of a decade in the NHL. It doesn’t matter that you’re not the number one player or the captain of a team; it’s still a big fucking deal and something to be proud of.”

“Are you done with the pep talk?”

Tyler rolls his eyes but changes the subject. “How much longer are you going to stay with Dad and Mom?”

“Until I find my own place, I guess. I can’t handle that basement for too long, but I don’t want to leave Mom to deal with him on her own yet.”

“Maybe DJ’s got a spare slice of mattress you could crash on.” He wags his brows.

“You’re fucking creepy, you know that?”

“I’m just saying. I see the way she looks at you when you’re not paying attention. She wants to ride your hockey stick.”

I snort. “That was literally the worst pun ever. And she doesn’t want to ride any part of me. She barely even talks to me.” Our conversations mostly revolve around my dad, his progress and what he needs. So far all of my attempts at a real, meaningful conversation have been shut down.

“I noticed that. I thought it was awkward sexual tension. What exactly is the story there, anyway?”

“Dad pushed me to break up with her when I was drafted.”

“But you didn’t and you fucked it up with one of those hockey bunnies?”

“No.” I shoot him a glare. “I took his advice and broke it off.”

“Wow. Since when do you listen to Dad?”

“It was pretty much the first and last time.”

“Ah. I’m guessing that breakup didn’t go well.”

I take a swig of my beer, thinking about how adamant my dad had been. “Not really. Remember the weekend I came home right after I was drafted?”

“Yeah. I bought you all kinds of booze and told you I’d kill you if you ratted me out.” He smiles at the memory.

“I kept my mouth shut. Anyway, Dad pulled me aside and asked me how I was planning to deal with DJ. I was riding the high, right? But then he laid into me, told me if I was going to throw away a scholarship and a career in medicine, that I better be focused one hundred percent on hockey and I couldn’t do that with a girlfriend halfway across the country.”

“Sounds like something Dad would say. Always pragmatic about things, right?”

“Yeah.” I look up at the sky. It’s cloudy tonight, keeping the stars hidden. “I told him she was going to move to LA with me when she finished high school.”

“I bet he didn’t like that.”

“Not at all. I thought I had it all planned out, but then he started talking about what would happen if I got traded to a different team. What would DJ do? Transfer schools? She’d have no one but me and I’d be on the road half the time. He kept hammering it in that I couldn’t string her along and mess with her life like that. She needed stability and I wasn’t going to be able to give her that. It sure wasn’t what I wanted to hear.”