Dirty Score (Rough Riders Hockey 3)

He turned his gaze back to Joe. “For what?”

“Patching things up with Mia. I know you two were on the outs for a while.” He lifted a shoulder. “I think that happens in any family, especially when things change. Tate’s not dealing with Mia’s move well, and it’s causing a lot of friction between them. But they’ll get past it, the same way you and Mia got past your rough spot.”

“I’m sure they will,” Rafe said, but knew his own rough spots with Mia weren’t over. In fact, they just seemed to get rougher and rougher.

“It’s so reassuring to me, as a father, to know you’ll always take care of her. Do what’s best for her. Sometimes kids need guidance from friends their own age to head the right direction. She listens to me, but…” He shrugged and slapped Rafe’s arm again. “I’m just…so proud of how you’ve turned out, Rafe. I couldn’t love you more if you were my own flesh and blood. You know that, right?”

Rafe’s heart knotted in his throat. He took a second to swallow past it and returned a rough “Of course. I feel the same about you, Joe.”

Joe smiled and nodded. “Well, I’m going to head back to the hotel.” He reached out to hug Rafe, then pulled back and gently tapped his face. “Be good, son. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He watched Joe’s path toward the door, much the same path Mia had just taken, with his heart aching just as much. He loved that man. Rafe wasn’t ashamed about loving Joe even more than Rafe loved his own father. Because Joe had been a hundred times the father to him than his own had been.

“I know you’ll always take care of her. Do what’s best for her.”

Guilt seeped in. He hadn’t always done what was right for Mia. Breaking off communication with her last year had been right for Rafe, but it had hurt Mia. It could have been a very big part of Mia taking a job across the country.

If he was going to do what was best for Mia now, it would be supporting Mia in her move to California. Helping her find her own success. Without him hovering in the background, holding her back.

11

Mia paced the lobby of the Rough Riders’ practice rink with her phone at her ear, pulled away from the family skate for a conference call with her design team.

She watched the Riders members and their families out on the ice, laughing and chatting. The women all looked adorab

le in the jerseys Mia had made for them. The fact that every single woman and female child was wearing them warmed her heart, and she was annoyed about missing this short time on the ice.

But this call was her new reality. This call was her future. Missing out on the skate was just another one of the many things she loved that she’d be letting go to claim that future.

The call connected her to a conference room in Los Angeles where the team of designers for Wicked Dawn, including the Emmy award–winning costume designer, Marla Cisneros. The fact that Mia would be working beside the woman and these other experienced, talented designers every day still seemed surreal.

Ty Hendrix slid past the window, making a ridiculous face at Mia through the glass. Laughter bubbled up in Mia’s chest, but she shooed him away, and Hendrix lowered his head, rounded his shoulders, and glided away like an unwanted puppy.

She grinned, rolled her eyes to the ceiling, and sighed as the lead team designer continued discussing changes for an upcoming season Mia knew nothing about. By the way her boss was warning everyone to clear their calendars, Mia’s hopes of coming back to DC soon to visit dwindled. But, judging by how much sleep she’d lost the night before over Rafe and this stupid makeshift familial situation, maybe that was a good thing. But it sure as shit didn’t feel good.

Mia had no problem sitting Joe and Tate down and telling them she wanted to pursue a relationship with Rafe. Or that if they truly loved her, they’d support her and be happy for her whether or not things between her and Rafe worked out. Or that if they were going to give her shit about it, despite how much she loved them, she would distance herself. But Rafe had given her every indication he would never do the same, so she doubted she’d have to have the difficult discussion with the other men in her life.

Movement on the rink drew her gaze, and Hendrix drifted by the glass again, the opposite way this time, joined by Tierney, now both of them distorting their handsome faces like idiots. This time, Mia couldn’t hold the laughter back. She pulled the phone from her ear and held it against her shoulder while she covered her laugh with the other hand. Inside the rink, the guys high-fived each other.

Get out, she mouthed to them, stabbing her finger toward the ice.

The guys skated off laughing, and Mia smiled with a shake of her head. She brought the phone to her ear again, but her gaze roamed the rink. And while her new boss’s voice spilled into her ear, explaining character changes and episode rewrites in the upcoming season and how those would be reflected in the costumes, Mia’s gaze held on all the people who’d become more than friends over the years. The wives and girlfriends of the other players who felt like sisters. The players’ parents who had become like aunts and uncles. The team members’ kids who felt like nieces and nephews.

Her gaze pulled to Rafe like a magnet and held. He was down on the ice, sitting back on his heels, hands held up, acting like a goalie for Andre’s two-year-old, Dmitri. The boy was being held up by his father but was holding the stick on his own, swinging awkwardly at the puck and missing. Mia had no idea what was being said between the men, but Rafe and Andre were laughing so hard, they were fighting to stay upright.

The sight infused Mia with a conflicting mix of joy and loss, and tears rushed her eyes.

“That includes you, Mia.” Aaron’s voice pulled her back to the conversation, which was coming to a close. “Enjoy your family while you have them close. We won’t be doling out vacation anytime in the foreseeable future.”

That hit her in the gut, but she tapped the Mute button to confirm she’d heard him.

“I know this probably sounds intense,” Aaron told Mia, “but I did an apprenticeship for Shay Lawrence when I was just out of school, and if yours has been anything like mine, this is going to feel like a vacation once you settle in.”

That brought a round of laughter from the others but didn’t quite bring a smile to Mia. Shay Lawrence had been impossible to please, but she’d always been an hour’s flight away from people who could make her feel better.

“We’re excited to have you,” Aaron said. “And if you happen to get into town a few days early, shoot me an email or text. We’re having an end-of-episode party this week. It would be a great time for you to meet the crew in a casual setting. We work hard, but we play hard too.”

She said her thank-yous and good-byes, but a knot sat in the middle of her chest.