Goal Lines & First Times (CU Hockey 3)

“Oh, wow. That’s …” The idea of my childhood home being turned into a shop doesn’t sit right with me, but at the same time, it’s not like I want to ever move back here. “It’s a great opportunity.”

“We were waiting to see what you were doing,” Mom says. “If you were interested in coming home and taking over the shop before we decided what to do.”

“What will you guys do if you sell?”

“Well,” Dad says, “we’re thinking it’s about time we retire. And with the money from the house, we’d be able to pretty much do anything. Maybe move to where our son is, but considering that’s going to be a different country, we might have to look somewhere close to the border.”

I feel a little guilty making all these plans without consulting them now, but I always thought they’d run the shop forever. “Will you guys be happy to move away from the water?”

“Lake Champlain has fishing, doesn’t it?” Dad asks. “The point is, we might only be a bit over an hour away instead of five.”

I like the idea of that. “Then I’m all for selling. Even if it’s weird to think of my bedroom being turned into an office or storage for fishing equipment.”

Mom and Dad look at Logan, who’s been suspiciously quiet and still throughout this whole conversation.

He breaks into a grin. “I promise I won’t turn your room into storage.”

“Wait, you’re the buyer?”

Logan wraps his arm around Joe. “I hate the grueling work schedule on the boat and being away. My parents and Joe are willing to invest in this idea with me, and I think I can make it successful.”

“Okay, before I was just being fair, but now I’m really excited for this to happen.” I stand and give Logan a hug.

“You can come back and visit anytime,” Logan says.

Without my parents here, I didn’t think I’d have much of a reason to, but now I do. Logan and I might have drifted apart over the years, but he’ll always be my best friend. Well, other than Seth.

I turn my head toward my boyfriend. I honestly think the reason I’m so deep in love with him is because of the friendship we had first online. We know each other better than anyone else in this world.

“Love you,” I mouth to him.

I can’t wait to start our lives together.

“You have too much hockey equipment,” Seth yells out from our spare bedroom. “Actually, you have too much stuff altogether.”

I drop the box of more hockey shit in the living room. I’m so not adding to Seth’s already heightened state of Why does Richie have so much useless crap now he’s not even playing hockey?

“It’s only because I had to clean out my parents’ house of all the stuff I wanted to keep.” I take in the room that’s so full of boxes I’m not sure there’s enough room for Seth to have a study desk in here. “I’ll go through it all properly and throw out what I don’t need anymore.”

Seth holds up an old jockstrap. “I’m pretty sure you don’t need this anymore. You should’ve listened to me when we were packing this all up at your parents’ house.”

“It’s not my fault you kept distracting me with your lips and your mouth and your cock that we ended up spending our whole vacation at my parents either spending time with them or enjoying each other in bed.” Who am I kidding? It’s totally my fault, but I’m not going to admit that.

By the time our vacation dwindled away, we had one day to organize all my childhood shit.

“I promise I will go through it all. We have the rest of summer to get acquainted with the city and our new apartment.”

Seth looks skeptical.

I take his hand and drag him toward our balcony. We’re on one of the lower floors than Zach and Foster, but we still have an amazing view of the city. This place is damn pricey, and I would’ve been happy with somewhere cheaper, but Seth’s parents were insistent Foster and Seth stay close together.

We’ll probably be eating a lot of cheap meals or sneaking up to Foster’s apartment and eating their food, but for the first time in my life, I’ll be paying my own way, and I’m excited for it.

It’s time to be a grown-up with all that … amazing responsibility and sense of purpose. On second thought, that doesn’t sound that much fun, but then I look at my boyfriend, and I get excited again.

I wrap my arms around Seth from behind and bury my head in his neck. “I think we’ll be happy here.”

“Me too,” he whispers. He turns in my arms. “I lived for so long thinking I was broken, and then you came along and showed me that I’m valid, my identity is valid, and proved that with the right person, the right connection, I could have everything I was missing. I crave love and want to feel needed.”