Page 120 of Keeping Score

“The truth?” he said, with a look as if I might not be able to handle it.

But I was becoming a better version of myself. The type of girl who could hear hard truths without erupting. So I nodded in confirmation.

“You need more trust in people. You can’t keep pushing people away just to test if they’ll stay, Mags,” he said carefully. “Because eventually, they’re going to get tired of chasing after someone who they don’t even know wants to be caught.”

Damn, I thought, taken aback.

If Liam was serious about retiring from hockey, he’d make a hell of a therapist.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Brody

Maggie was staring at Abbey the way she sometimes did when questioning someone on the stand.

I was preparing for her to at any moment start a sentence with, “Please state your name for the record,” before questioning her about that stupid kiss.

Abbey, for her part, didn’t seem to notice. Or pretended not to. In the crowd of us, it was easy to focus on anyone else. Unfortunately, that anyone else happened to be me, only serving to infuriate Maggie further.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Maggie next to me, Abbey across from me, and the rest of my friends scattered around the table of the pizza parlor around us, the air was thick with tension that only I seemed to be aware of.

“So, what’s the deal with you two, then?” Matt C. asked, gesturing between Maggie and me with a fry between his fingers.

I didn’t say anything, figuring I’d let Maggie explain it for herself. She was the one sitting here jealous over my ex-girlfriend.

Her attention snapped to him, body rigid.

The table seemed to pause, everyone apparently interested in her answer. I relaxed back in my chair, hoping to take the pressure off, even slightly. To act as if my entire existence didn’t depend on her answer.

“The deal?” she asked carefully, narrowing her eyes on him as if she might intimidate him into retracting his question.

“Are you together?” he asked, matching her gaze confrontationally.

“Why? Are you jealous?” she asked, in a way I knew was meant to buy time.

I leaned back in my seat, ready to let her take charge of the conversation, because Matt wasn’t the only one eager to hear her answer.

I had a lot riding on it. Because I knew Maggie, and if she was as threatened by Abbey as she seemed to be, I knew she’d make some type of public claim, even if she wasn’t ready to get back together now.

That was fine, though. If I had hope for our future, then I could wait. But if she still denied it… if she opened up the door for someone else to swoop in… well, I didn’t want to think about what that meant for us.

“Actually, a little,” Matt said with a laugh. “Brody hasn’t been back home in years and the only reason for that is probably you.”

He didn’t say it in any harsh way, on the contrary, it sounded more like a joke than anything else. But I still felt irritation prickle against me at the insinuation.

“Hey,” I said, “that’s not true. I’ve been home.”

“Like twice.” He scoffed.

“We’ve been more than that,” Maggie looked to me with concern in her eyes.

I could see what she was thinking. Wondering if it was her fault that I hadn’t been home. But it wasn’t. I hadn’t wanted to go home because, well, I was content where I was. I missed my family, yeah. But we’d found ways to see each other over the years.

“I play hockey,” I countered. “I don’t exactly have the most flexible schedule to work with.”

“We’re getting off topic,” he waved my comment off, shaking his head.

I rolled my eyes.