Offside (31 page)

“Or a one-hundred-fifty-pound
photographer.”

He grinned.

“I love that you did that for me. I
never ever had anybody who looked out for me in situations like
that. Although, sometimes I created those situations. But not
always. Sometimes I hated it but I had to pretend I loved
it.”

He gathered her closer again. “Always
got your back, babe.”

“I know. And Matt…me too. I mean, I’ve
got your back.”

He remembered the night he’d been so
on edge about the game against Fiero. She had been there for him.
He never could’ve told anyone else about that, for sure not the
guys he played with. It made his chest ache. When he’d walked into
that meeting room weeks ago, he hadn’t wanted the distraction of
Honey Holbrook, but now he knew…he needed her. “I know. Thanks,
Hon. And,” he growled, “you’re not fucking moving back to San
Francisco.”

She smiled. “Um yeah. About that.
Guess what? Dulcie’s going to take an extended leave, for a year.
And Trent asked me to stay on. He said he’s noticed the things I’ve
been doing and other people have too. They really want me
there.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” He smiled
back at her. “So you’re
not
leaving?”

“I asked Trent for a few days to think
about it.” Their eyes met, hers soft and warm, and her mouth
curved. “But no. I’m not leaving. Not now.”

“Thank Christ.”

“But I don’t want you
fighting.”

“What?” His eyebrows pulled
together.

“I don’t like fighting. It scares
me.”

He grinned. “I can’t promise that. I
can’t even promise you and I won’t fight sometimes. But I will
promise that I’ll keep it clean. No dirty fighting. On the ice or
off.”

“Okay. But dirty is okay
sometimes.”

“Ha. Dirty sex.

She laughed. “Yeah. I’m good with
that.”

“Me too, babe.” He kissed her mouth.
“Me too.”

Epilogue

“There is no fucking way we’re staying
in that house with all those kids.”

Honey laughed and leaned in to Matt
where they sat in first class on the jet making its approach into
Winnipeg’s James Richardson International Airport. “I thought you
liked kids.”

“I do, but Jesus Christ, Jase and Remi
keep poppin’ em out, they have three now and one is a baby who
probably screams all night, and Logan and Nicole are staying with
my parents too, with Chris. Tag and Kyla obviously have their own
place, but when they’re over, there will be
six kids there
,
and
three
of them are
three years old
. It’s
insane.”

“It sounds like fun to me.”

“Yeah, you think you love kids, just
wait. You’ll want to go home and get your tubes tied.”

She laughed again. “As if.”

“Believe me, I’ve considered a
vasectomy when I’ve left here.”

Honey’s smile faded. “Uh. You’re not
serious, are you?”

Matt’s grin went crooked and he leaned
in to kiss her. “Nope.”

A soft exhalation escaped her. “Okay.
Good.”

“Don’t worry, Hon, I have every
intention of knocking you up. Some day.”

His words sent a little shiver through
her. “I don’t get any say in that?”

“Babe. You know you want
kids.”

She did.

“Anyway, I was going to book us a room
at a hotel, but Kyla convinced me we should stay with them. At
least there are only two kids there.”

Honey bit her lip and nodded as the
wheels touched down on the runway, and then her seatbelt dug into
her hips as the jet slowed. They were in Winnipeg.

Matt and his brother organized a
charity golf tournament every summer to raise money for the
children’s hospital. Usually he spent most of his summers home in
Winnipeg, but this year he’d chosen to stay in Santa Monica with
her. Luckily her boss had given her two weeks off to accompany him
on this trip to help with the tournament.

She was about to meet the entire
Heller family in one fell swoop.

Eeep.

*****

Remi took a huge swing with the golf
club, with impressive form…and completely missed the
ball.

After a beat of silence, Kyla yelled,
“Fore!”

All four women collapsed into giggles.
Remi leaned on her club. “Damn. I was sure I was going to hit it
that time.”

“Your swing looked really good,” Honey
offered.

“Where’s that beer cart when you need
it?” Remi asked with a grin.

“Do over,” Nicole announced. “Go
ahead.”

“Thanks,” Remi muttered, straightening
her stance again. “Who’s counting, right?”

“It’s not like we’re going to win the
tournament,” Kyla added.

The four women were on hole seventeen
at Twin Pines Country Club, and the whole afternoon had been like
this. Honey’s face hurt from laughing.

This time Remi hit the ball and they
all cheered her.

Nicole went next and hit a long high
ball straight down the middle of the fairway.

“I am so jealous of you,” Remi
sighed.

“Me too,” Honey said.

Kyla teed up her ball and at that
moment her husband Tag zoomed up on a golf cart with his brother
Logan.

“Babe,” Tag called to Kyla. “Spread
your legs and lift your head.”

She lifted her head and tried to give
him a reproving look but ended up dissolving into laughter again
along with everyone else. “I think I’ve heard that
before.”

He grinned, leaning an arm on the
steering wheel. “Oh yeah.” He winked. “How’s it going?”

“Awesome.” She bit her bottom lip and
focused. And waited. “I can’t do this with you watching. My hands
are so sweaty I can’t get a good grip.”

“Oh, your grip is just fine,” Tag
murmured.

Honey laughed as color washed into
Kyla’s cheeks.

“Okay, okay.” She swung and hit the
ball, a decent shot in Honey’s opinion.

“Nice stroke,” Tag said.

She walked toward him, eyes on him,
lips twitching. “Thanks.” She leaned into the cart and kissed
him.

“Hey, Remi, are those kids’ clubs
you’re playing with?” Logan called.

Remi grinned. “Shut up.” She lifted
her club as if to swing it at her brother-in-law, but they both
laughed. “I know I’m short, no need to rub it in.”

“Let’s go,” Logan said to
Tag.

“Are you guys even golfing?” Kyla
asked.

“Of course we are.”

“I think you’re just driving around in
that cart and distracting everyone.”

“We’re entertaining them,” Logan said.
“We don’t want to try too hard, because, you know, we’d just end
beating everyone embarrassingly.”

The girls all hooted at
that.

Logan and Tag left before Honey took
her shot, and then the four women climbed into two carts and headed
down the fairway.

On the putting green a short time
later, Remi pressed her hands to her breasts. “Damn,” she muttered.
“I need to go feed that baby.”

Honey blinked, but smiled.
“Oh-oh.”

“We’re almost done, Rem. One more
hole.”

“The way I golf we could be here
several more hours.”

“Take the cart and go if you want,”
Kyla said. “I’ll catch a ride with Honey and Nicole.”

But then Jase and Matt arrived in
their cart.

“Ladies!” Jase called. “Almost
done?”

“I need a ride back to the clubhouse,”
Remi said, walking toward them over the close-clipped grass. “I
need to feed our son.”

Jase’s face softened. “Sure. Come
on.”

“I can’t believe you have three boys,”
Honey said to her as Remi dropped her putter into her golf
bag.

“We wanted a girl.” She grinned. “We
may still try again.”

“Are you crazy?” Kyla demanded. “Four
kids? I wasn’t even sure I wanted one kid,” she told Honey. “We got
pregnant by accident. But something weird happened after Josh was
born. It didn’t happen immediately, but I fell in love with him. So
we went for two. But that’s it.”

“At least you got your girl,” Remi
muttered.

“I foresee the same future for Amy as
I had,” Kyla said. “All these boys. I have two brothers and then
growing up with these Heller boys, I was always the only
girl.”

“At least you understand,” Honey
said.

Remi added, “We’ll make sure the boys
don’t leave her out.”

“Also make sure Grandma and Grandpa
Heller don’t spoil the heck out of their little princess,” Nicole
said with a grin.

“Plus,” Kyla added, “the odds of
ending up with a girl are not in your favor after three boys.
You’ll end up with four boys, like Laura and Doug did.”

“It’d be crazy if they all ended up
playing in the NHL,” Honey said with a grin.

“Ha! Crazy is right. Could that even
happen again?”

“Sure!” Remi climbed onto Jase’s lap
in the cart. “We’ll have our own hockey team, between all of us.
See you back at the clubhouse.” She waved as they took
off.

Nicole, Kyla and Honey finished off
the last hole, took their carts back and walked toward the
clubhouse. Honey turned her face up to the warm sun. What a great
day. She’d had so much fun getting to know Matt’s sisters-in-law
better.

People were milling around the terrace
behind the clubhouse. The smoky scent of hot dogs on the grill
wafted toward them. The last few foursomes were finishing up and
volunteers were preparing to award prizes. Some old-timer NHL
players were there for the event, and apparently a lot of prominent
Winnipeg businessmen, including Kyla’s lawyer bosses and the owners
of the Jets hockey team. Honey’d already fielded numerous questions
about her father and teasing inquiries as to why he wasn’t
there.

Wow, she could really score some major
brownie points next year if she could convince her dad and her
pro-golfer brother to come. Hell, both her brothers. Oh
yeah.

She mingled through the crowd, this
kind of environment familiar to her though she didn’t know many
people, but it was easy for her to make conversation about how
folks had golfed, the weather, the silent auction and donations,
and of course hockey.

There was a lot attention from the
media on her, which she didn’t think was warranted, but she had to
appreciate the distance and discretion they showed, unlike the
aggressive paparazzi in California. She found the local
photographers oddly respectful, asking her permission to photograph
her, getting some shots of her with the Heller wives and some with
Matt.

The day wasn’t about her, but heck, if
it helped increase interest and attention on the event, she could
handle it.

She went into the clubhouse to freshen
up. When she came back outside, Matt and his brothers were all
involved in conversations, and Nicole, Kyla and Remi had
disappeared. Laura and Doug were talking to some people over by the
outdoor bar on the patio.

Honey looked around, feeling
momentarily lost, and spotted a boy in a wheelchair on the edge of
the stone patio. She tipped her head and moved toward him, drawn to
him out of interest in what his story was, and curiosity about why
he was there alone. She paused beside his chair and dropped to a
crouch. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Honey.”

“Honey Holbrook,” the boy said
immediately. “Steve Holbrook’s daughter. Your dad was the greatest
hockey player ever.”

She grinned. “Wow. You must be a big
hockey fan.”

“I love hockey.”

She took in his bald head, pale
complexion and thin frame, and something inside her squeezed.
“What’s your name?”

“Ryan.”

“Pleased to meet you, Ryan. What
brings you here today?” She gave a teasing smile. “Were you
golfing?”

He grinned. “No. I came to see my
favorite hockey players, the Heller brothers.”

“Do you play hockey?”

“Not anymore.” His straightforward
reply made her insides tighten even more. “I love hockey. I used to
play goal. But I got too sick to play.”

“Well, I hope you’ll be well enough to
play soon.”

“I won’t get better,” he replied,
still matter-of-factly. “I’m dying. I have cancer.”

Honey blinked and her throat
constricted. “Oh.” Shit. Shit shit shit. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
What the fuck were you supposed to say to that? “How old are you,
Ryan?”

“I’m twelve.”

The corners of her eyes stung and she
fought for composure.

Oh god. She was going to lose it.
She’d dealt with a lot of kids who’d had rough lives, but this
was…unthinkable. Unbearable. She sucked in a long breath and fought
for self-control. “Did you meet the Heller brothers
yet?”