Which raised a disturbing question. Would his good woman cost him his dream?
* * *
COULD THIS MISERABLE day get any worse?
When they landed in New Jersey, Ike took Jake aside. “If you can’t handle a relationship and play hockey, you need to choose which is more important.”
Like he didn’t know that already. “The problem isn’t Maggie—it’s me. My focus.” Jake glared at him. “I can handle it.”
His friend shook his head. “We need you with us one hundred percent. Park this personal junk until after the play-offs.”
It wasn’t that simple. Maggie was on his mind all the time. In his blood.
But Jake knew something had to change. “Give me a few more games. If it doesn’t improve, I’ll rethink it. Okay?”
Ike didn’t look convinced, but agreed to back off.
As Jake drove home, the goaltender’s parting shot echoed in his brain. “You’ll end up having to choose.”
Sweat trickled down his spine. He didn’t want to be forced to make a choice between hockey and Maggie.
Because there could only be one answer.
He pulled into his driveway and turned off the ignition. The dark, empty house loomed ahead of him. For once, it wasn’t a welcoming sight but a reminder of what he had to lose if he didn’t resolve the situation with Maggie.
It was almost 4:00 a.m. With tiredness tugging at every muscle and sinew in his aching body, he was reluctant to move. Sighing, he lowered his forehead to his crossed arms on the steering wheel and closed his eyes. Just for a moment.
He jolted awake, heart racing. Vestiges of his nightmare filled his sleep-fogged brain. Adam. The accident. Over and over again, like a movie clip stuck on eternal replay. Damn, he hadn’t had one of those since he’d come back to Jersey. Had the stress of the past few days triggered something in his brain?
Jake scrubbed his hand over his face. The clock on the dash said 7:05 a.m. Exhausted, but unwilling to risk another nightmare, he threw open the door. Stretching out the kinks in his stiff limbs, he let the rising sun and crisp air chase away his dark thoughts.
As his home came into sharper relief in the gray dawn light, so did his mind. He wouldn’t rest easy until he’d faced the music with Maggie. God knew his play wouldn’t be worth a damn, either. Good or bad, he had to know where he stood.
His chest squeezed at the thought that this might be the end, but he stalked back to his M-Class, determined to find out.
The lights were on at Tracy’s house when he pulled up. Maggie was probably getting Emily ready for school.
Sure enough, as he walked up the steps to the porch, the front door swung open and Emily came charging out. She grinned when she saw him, yelling a greeting before running to join the other children on the corner waiting for the school bus.
He turned and saw Maggie waiting in the doorway. Though she quickly smoothed the surprise from her face, the wariness in her brown eyes made his stomach plummet to his Nikes. This didn’t look good.
“Good morning.” She gave a half smile but didn’t invite him in.
No point tiptoeing around the issue. “I hope it’s not too early. I thought I’d stop by and clear the air about what happened in Tampa.”
“Okay.” Her neutral tone made it impossible to gauge her thoughts.
“I should start at the beginning.”
“Good idea.”
“It’s not what it seems.”
“Of course not.” She wasn’t giving him an inch.
“It’s complicated.” He paced the porch. “The team has strict rules about curfew.”
Her expression remained inscrutable as he told her about JB, but softened when she heard how he and Tru had bailed out the rookie. He finished by saying, “I don’t cheat. I wouldn’t mess with someone’s wife. If you believe nothing else, know I sure as hell wouldn’t disrespect you like that.”
“I knew you’d have a credible explanation.” This time her smile broke free.
“You did?” His pulse kicked. He stopped pacing and stood in front of her.
“I wasn’t sure at first,” she admitted. “The story and pictures looked pretty convincing.”
He grimaced. “For sure.”
“But the more I thought about it, the more I realized something was off.
“You did?” Her faith took him by surprise, rekindling the hope in his chest.
“That’s not how you operate. You’d never mess with someone else’s girlfriend. And though you fight when your Code demands—” she rolled her eyes to show she still thought it dumb “—that kind of fight didn’t make sense. What I couldn’t work out was why you’d be out clubbing the night before a game. You wouldn’t risk jeopardizing your performance. You take your fitness, your readiness to play, too seriously.” She shrugged. “Like I said, it didn’t add up.”