Faceoff (2 page)

“So…an hour?”

Her condo in the Exchange District was walking distance from the office and it would only take twenty minutes to drive from downtown to her parents’ home in Tuxedo, but that still meant she had to cut this opportunity to socialize with the guys short. “Yeah. See you soon.”

She returned to the table. “My mom,” she said to the men. “I forgot I was supposed to go over there for dinner.”

“How are your parents?” Jim asked.

“They’re okay.” Mom had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer, which had been a huge scare and stressful for everyone. “My mom’s doing amazingly well. Dad’s been busy as usual, traveling.” Her father was the president and CEO of a large aerospace company.

She tipped her martini glass and drained the last of the drink. “I’d better head out.” She smiled at the men as she again slid from her stool. “Have a good weekend, everyone.”

“You too, Kyla.”

In the lobby of the building, she surveyed the rain still pouring down outside. Damn. Walking to work was great when the weather was nice, even in the winter when it was cold, as long as you dressed for it, but three blocks in pouring rain was going to leave her wet even with her trench coat and umbrella.

She hurried along Rorie Street toward her condo in a renovated warehouse, head down, briefcase and purse bumping against her with every step, finally arriving at her building a bit out of breath. Man, she needed to get in shape. She’d never been athletic, but she knew the importance of staying fit and at one time had been a regular at the gym. But her gym membership had lapsed and working out had fallen to the bottom of her priority list lately, with work consuming all her time.

In her condo, she dropped her purse and case in the living room, hung up her wet coat and left her open umbrella on the rug in her foyer to dry. Luckily her car was parked underground, so she wouldn’t have to go outside again until she got to her parents’.

In her bedroom she sighed as she changed out of her suit and into a pair of jeans, wishing she didn’t have to go out. She was turning into a hermit lately and she knew it, but dammit, making partner was important. In a family of overachievers, she had to do this. So all she’d been doing lately was working, other than the time she’d spent at her mother’s bedside following her surgery and then helping her at home as much as she could without missing too much time from work.

Even attending to a family illness wasn’t looked favorably upon at the firm when they were in the middle of a big important case and she had partner in sight. She scraped her long hair into a ponytail, looping the elastic around the hair to create a messy bun, surveying her face in the mirror of her dresser. She grimaced but didn’t want to bother redoing her makeup just for dinner with her parents. They would love her no matter what she looked like.

Traffic was still heavy and slow-moving on Portage Avenue when she finally got there in her car, the wipers swishing back and forth across her windshield in a steady rhythm. The low clouds had darkened the sky and downtown streets were a smear of red and green and gold from traffic lights and tail lights, the colors bleeding into each other on the wet pavement. But as she left the downtown area, traffic eased and she made the trip to her parents’ home quickly.

She parked on the tree-lined street, the dripping elms forming an almost perfect canopy of lush green above the road, then dashed up the sidewalk to the big old Tudor-style house. She didn’t knock, just walked in. This was the house she’d grown up in, her home as much as her condo now was.

“I’m here!” she called, leaning against the door to close it. The alarm system beeped softly.

“Kyla!” Mom appeared at the end of the hall from the kitchen. “There you are!” They hugged and Mom drew back to study her. “You’ve lost more weight, haven’t you?”

“Mom.” Kyla pulled back and shook her head.

Worry darkened Mom’s brown eyes. “You’re so thin, honey.”

Kyla smiled. “I’m fine, Mom. How are
you
?” Her mom’s cancer diagnosis had given the whole family a huge scare.

“I’m great! Come in.”

“Where’s Dad?”

“In the family room. Come on. I just made pizza for dinner.”

“You’re not overdoing it, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Mom said, leading the way. She’d faced an incredible challenge with strength and courage and an amazing attitude. She too was thin, having lost weight during her treatment, but she seemed to be back to her usual energy levels.

Kyla’s dad rose from the chocolate leather couch in the great room where he was watching television while Mom bustled around behind the big island that separated the kitchen from the family room. “Hey, sweet pea,” he said giving her a hug. “How are you?”

She hugged her dad back and smiled up at him. “I’m good, Dad. Had to come for some of Mom’s homemade pizza.”

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Mom called.

“No thanks. I had a martini after work and I have to drive home.”

They chatted as Mom served up the pizza and Caesar salad.

“So what’s this exciting news?” Kyla asked, sitting at the big island to eat.

“Oh! Scott’s coming home! Next weekend!”

“Oh wow! With the baby?”

“Yes.” Mom beamed. “And Jessica and Emily, of course. I’m so excited to see them.”

Kyla’s older brother Scott and his wife Jessica had just had their second child. Unfortunately the birth had happened right around the time of Mom’s diagnosis and surgery and so they hadn’t been able to travel home from Vancouver to see Mom and she hadn’t been able to travel to Vancouver to see the new baby either.

“That’s great! It will be nice to see them. I’ll finally get to meet my new nephew.”

“And there’s more,” Mom added. “I was talking to Doug and Laura.”

Kyla nodded and lifted her piece of pizza to take a bite. Doug and Laura Heller were Mom and Dad’s best friends. They lived across the street and also owned the cottage next door to her parents up at the lake.

“They’re pretty excited too because Tag’s home.”

Tag, the NHL player whose team was being moved back to Winnipeg. “I’m sure they are,” Kyla said with a grin. “The whole town’s excited.”

“Yes! Of course Tag’s moving back permanently, but the other boys are all coming home too. Just for a visit. Jason’s coming from Chicago with his new girlfriend. Laura met her when they went to Chicago a few months ago. Matt’s here for the whole summer and Logan’s home for a few weeks too. They put on that big charity golf tournament every year, you know.”

“Yeah.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Another golf tournament. But this one she was definitely playing in, because it was the Heller brothers, after all. Her near-brothers. Though she hadn’t seen much of them for quite a few years. It seemed like every time they were home, which wasn’t that often these days, she was too busy with work to see them.

“So Laura and I had this great idea! We should have a big two-family reunion up at the lake! We’ll all get together for a whole week and it’ll be just like old times! Except of course Jessica and the kids will be there too, and now Jase’s girlfriend.”

Kyla’s heart sank. It sounded like so much fun. But there was no way she could take a whole week off work just now. “That’s a great idea, Mom.” How was she going to break this to her though? She sighed inwardly. “I wish I could come too.”

As expected, Mom’s face fell. She glanced at Dad. “You can’t come?”

“You know I’m going crazy right now. They’re making the decision about who’s going to make partner in the next few weeks and I have this huge case I’m working on. In fact, I should be at home working right now.”

Mom’s eyebrows slanted down and her bottom lip pushed out a little. “Honey. You can’t work all the time.”

“I have to.”

“Look at you. You’ve lost so much weight. You’re pale, even though it’s July.”

Damn. She knew she should have taken a few minutes to fix her makeup. Maybe put on a little bronzer or something. Now Mom thought she was ill.

“You’re a beautiful young woman. You should be out having fun. Dating. Coming up to the lake and relaxing on the beach.”

Kyla’s insides tightened up. The headache that had faded a little began to pound behind her eyes again, and her neck and shoulders ached. “I’m sorry. Hopefully I’ll get to see Scott and everyone while they’re here.”

“They’re coming straight up to the lake from the airport,” Mom said. “They’re really looking forward to it. Emily will have so much fun there.”

Did that mean she wouldn’t get to see them at all if she didn’t go up to the cottage too? She caught her lower lip between her teeth.

“Kyla,” Dad said. “You look like you need a holiday. I’m sure taking a week off for a family reunion isn’t going to jeopardize your chances of making partner. They’ve probably already decided and I’m sure you’ll get it.”

It could be true that they’d already decided, but she wasn’t as confident as Dad was and didn’t want to take the chance of screwing up this close to winning the prize. “It’s just really bad timing.” She pushed away her plate with the half-eaten piece of pizza on it.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Mom asked. “Kyla…”

“It’s really good, Mom, as usual. I’m just not that hungry.”

The worried expressions on their faces only made her feel worse. She felt guilty for disappointing her parents, but also felt sorry for herself that she was going to miss out on the fun of seeing her family and the Hellers. As a girl, she’d followed all six boys―her two brothers and the four Heller boys―around everywhere. Especially Tag. She had so many memories of those summers at the lake, not all of them good, but even the embarrassing ones had faded into less unpleasant memories with time.

“Tag will be living here now,” she added. “I’m sure I’ll see him some time.”

“Your father is taking holidays,” Mom said. “You know how hard it is to get him to take time off work.”

“Guess that’s where I get it from,” she said with a bright smile.

Mom frowned. “I meant, if
he
can take time off for the family, then you should be able to.” Her frown eased, replaced with a trembling bottom lip. Oh my god. Mom never cried. She’d been through a cancer diagnosis and a mastectomy and Kyla had barely seen a tear. “You never know what could happen,” she said. “This could be the last time we’re ever all together as a family.”

Oh no. Kyla stared at her, her insides going icy cold. “Mom, is there something you’re not telling me? You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Yes! I’m fine. I mean, as far as we know. I’m just saying, you never know.”

She studied her mom’s face. It was true. With cancer, you never knew. What if it came back? Oh my god. “I’ll see,” she said. “I’ll talk to Jim on Monday and see about taking a week off.”

Mom’s face cleared and she blinked eyes that were just a little shiny. “Oh that’s great!”

“Thank you, sweet pea,” Dad said.

She nodded, still smiling. Now she really needed that ibuprofen.

Chapter Two

Tag Heller smiled and answered questions, acknowledging how happy everyone was about the team coming back to Winnipeg, acknowledging the team’s abrupt ending to their season without even making the playoffs and the rebuilding they hoped to do in the coming year. He smiled but his temples throbbed and he really, really wanted a beer.

Since he’d arrived back in Winnipeg, it had been a nonstop whirl of promotional activity. Never mind finding a place to live or even unpacking in the bedroom at his parents’ home. A thirty-one-year-old guy living with his parents. Nice. Really nice.

He’d looked at a few houses the realtor had shown him, but he had no idea what he was looking for and didn’t want to make a rash decision out of desperation. He hadn’t even sold his condo in Phoenix yet. The real estate market was still tough there after the recession. Luckily he had money and didn’t have to rely on selling his old place, but still…it was a huge pain in the ass.

This press conference was wrapping up, thank god. One of the new team owners, Mike Glendower, was there, as was Brad Boscoe, the new coach. And this was only about the hundredth press conference he’d been at since arriving back in town a week ago. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration.

“Thrilled to be back in my home city,” he said for the thousandth time. There was a lot of truth to it, but picking up and relocating was never easy, even when it was coming home. And there was a helluva difference between Phoenix and Winnipeg. Sure, it was summer now and the weather here was great, but in the dead of winter in forty-below temps and the wind howling down Portage and Main, he’d be missing the desert sun something fierce.

He knew how much this meant to the city, more than any other player on the team since he’d grown up there and was fully aware of how devastating it had been to lose their NHL team. He’d been seventeen at the time, on the brink of embarking on his own pro hockey career. His hometown Jets hadn’t been the team he dreamed of playing for, but still, losing them had been a huge loss for the city. So this was monumental.

Even though the team had played crappy last year.

As the conference wrapped up, he rose from his chair and shook hands with some of the team personnel who were there. Everybody looked as happy as pigs in shit. None of the other players were there yet and Tag knew
they
weren’t feeling so happy. Even as much of a pain in the ass it was for him, a single guy, to pick up and move, a lot of the guys had wives and families, kids in school with friends in Phoenix, and they were not so happy about moving. And especially to Winnipeg.

Which was why the team and the league were counting on him so much to put a positive spin on this for everyone—the league, the city, team personnel and the players. He’d always been a leader on the team, captain for the last five years, but now they’d told him he was the face of the new Jets.

Great. Just what he didn’t want.

He just wanted to play hockey.

But it was July, and training camp was still a long way off. Meanwhile there was all the business part of hockey that had to be attended to, especially at this important juncture in the team’s existence.