Page 44 of Keeping Score

She arched a brow in question.

“Sorry,” I amended, realizing I probably spent too much time on Reddit. “Our significant others. Partners. Loves of our little delicate lives.”

Cassie smiled warmly, as if basking in the very thought of Liam. I grinned at her reaction.

“What about them?” she asked.

“Oh,” I sighed, “where to start? Well, for one, can you tell me why Liam’s been so pissy lately?”

Cassie’s face fell.

“You noticed, huh?” She chewed her lip, setting her tea down on the coffee table.

“He hasn’t been very subtle about it,” I admitted.

“I think he’s upset about missing so many nights with Lily,” she explained. “It’s hard on him, being away as much as he is.”

“But he loves hockey,” I emphasized. “I know the away games can suck, but we can’t let him quit the team—”

“He told you he’s quitting?” she asked, eyes widening.

“Insinuated it.”

“I didn’t know he was thinking about doing that,” she admitted.

“It would be a huge mistake,” I emphasized. “You know Liam. He’d go insane after just a week off the ice. I don’t want him to do something major that he’d regret the rest of his life. He still has plenty of years left in him.”

Cassie nodded, considering.

“Plus…” I hesitated.

She met my eyes expectantly.

“Plus?”

To hell with it. I could be vulnerable with Cassie. She wouldn’t judge me.

“Plus, I need him,” I admitted honestly. “I don’t want to spend the next few years without him.”

I thought of practice without Liam, games without him. No one to put me in my place when I was being over-the-top obnoxious. We balanced each other out in a way that was crucial for my sanity.

I knew how the score went. If he left, he’d say nothing would change—that we’d still see each other all the time. But that would be a lie.

People grew apart, no matter their best intentions.

And I wasn’t ready for that.

“I agree with you,” she surprised me by saying. “Liam needs hockey in his life. I don’t think he would know how much he would miss it until it was gone.”

“So, you’ll talk to him about it?”

She nodded.

“I’ll give him my honest opinion, but that’s all I can do. I can’t change his mind if he’s set on it.”

I doubted that.

Liam would jump off a cliff if she asked him to, though I understood the position she was coming from.