Finding the Forward, Part One (HockeyVerse)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Verity

I wasn’t sure who thought an outdoor picnic in December in New York was a good idea. The wind cut through me, causing me to shiver, as I walked through the park. My tote with the food in it kept throwing off my balance, but not everything fit in my backpack.

Mercy was off with the Maimers doing some charity work. I should be in the lab or studying.

But first things first. If I planned on moving forward with Grif, I needed to make amends with AJ.

I felt dreadful that he worried I’d replace him . The alpha in me liked the idea that there were additional people to help care for Grif. Not that he couldn’t take care of himself.

But I’d fix it the way I tried to fix most things–with deliciousness.

“Verity, over here.” Grif waved. He looked handsome in jeans and a peacoat, with a plaid scarf and hat.

“Grif!” Embracing him, I kissed him desperately, enjoying the way his beard tickled, since I hadn’t seen him in a couple days.

“Hey.” Grif’s hand cupped my face, and those green eyes met mine. “Come meet AJ.”

Nodding, I took his hand. Anxiety bubbled up inside me as he led me over to a picnic table with a festive tablecloth.

“Why are we having a picnic at a table? Aren’t they on the ground?” AJ wore dark pants and a tailored coat. The scarf was designer, as were the sunglasses on top of his slick near-black hair. He looked straight out of a debonair spy movie as he sat at the rough wooden table.

“It’s a picnic table, ” Dean looked huggable in jeans and a puffer coat, a red beanie on his head.

“AJ, this is Verity,” Grif said. “Verity, meet AJ. Again. AJ and I met back in the minors. You’re both incredibly important to me, so I hope you can be friends.” His arm stayed tight around me.

I held out a gloved hand. “Alpha AJ.”

“Verity.” He shook.

“Verity!” Dean wrenched me from Grif and hugged me so hard my feet lifted off the ground and I almost dropped my crutch–and the tote.

“Hi. I brought some things.” I set the tote on the table. There already were some foil wrapped pans on the table along with wine, plates, cups, and utensils.

“Hey, Little Alpha.” Jonas slid an arm around my waist. He was a treat in torn jeans and a leather jacket.

“Hi, Alpha Jonas.” For a moment I leaned my head on his shoulder and let his mossy scent calm me.

“That won’t get annoying.” AJ made a face.

Dean laughed. “That’s why she does it.”

My nerves overtook me as I left Jonas’ embrace and busied myself by removing things from the tote. “I’m just being polite.”

A still-warm foil-wrapped parcel tied with a bow came out first.

“Dean, I made you something.” I placed it in his hands.

“It’s warm.” His face lit up as he opened it to reveal the flower-shaped loaf of sourdough I made him. “Oooh, it’s so pretty. How do you get it shaped? How do you embellish it?”

“I used twine to shape it, and some scissors and a razorblade to make the floral embellishments. You said sourdough was your favorite, so Grace brought me some starter when I was in Glitter City. I watched a video and made a few practice loaves, but I’m still not sure it’s right.” I set the containers of the food I brought out one at a time. Mercy and her friends had enjoyed the practice bread.

“Awww, Grace shared her starter? She seems sweet. I love it when you make me bread. It’s warm .” Dean tore off a hunk and stuffed it in his mouth.

“That is a beautiful loaf of bread.” Jonas passed around glasses of wine.

“I’ve got fried chicken, biscuits, potato salad with and without egg, and macaroni salad. I also brought dessert,” I told them as I continued taking things out.

“You made macaroni salad and two kinds of potato salad?” AJ’s dark eyebrows rose.

“Grif said you didn’t like potato salad.” I had trouble getting off the lid. My body wasn’t having a good day today. Probably because I’d pushed myself.

“I’ve got it.” Grif planted a kiss on my cheek. “That fried chicken smells delicious. We have some baked ziti, a green salad, garlic bread, and wine.”

“I’m eating this all by myself.” Dean held the bread to his chest.

Jonas started pouring wine. “Let’s eat?”

AJ eyed my crutch. “What happened? You got injured playing, and they cut you, so you went back to university? As far as I knew, no one suffered severe injuries in the explosion.”

“In May I had a stroke. I never went pro. Instead, I started a PhD program.” I sat down next to Dean, not sure how I should handle being affectionate with Grif around AJ.

“Does the bride still talk to you, or was she pissed about her wedding being ruined?” AJ took a sip of wine, casually crossing one leg over his knee, back to the picnic table.

Grif sat down next to AJ and put an arm around his shoulders. “AJ. Please?”

“It’s a legitimate question.” He turned and put food on his plate.

“She was pissed at our teammate, not me. She recommended where to get the goats. While I didn’t intend to get my old coach fired, I’m not sorry for it. I shouldn’t have to put up with comments like that, even if I’m an alpha female. I didn’t like how he’d touch me.” Putting a scoop of baked ziti on my plate, I then added some green salad.

His actions weren’t sexual but were still creepy and unnecessary.

“I’ll kill him, Kitten,” Grif growled.

“Coach is now in jail. Him being fired caused an investigation. While I was the only alpha female on the team, I wasn’t the only person he was like that with throughout the years. He just hid it well.” I felt bad for his family. His daughters were grown, but his wife was always nice to us.

Grif hugged me. “Assholes. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

“I know.” I pressed my face to him. With a sigh, I let go and turned to AJ. “The animals are doing well? The pictures Jonas showed me from when you were there for gratitude day were adorable.”

“My nieces love those cows.” AJ rolled his eyes. “They are so dumb. One of them keeps getting stuck in the dog door. They’re in the petting zoo by day and sleep in the house at night. Meanwhile, the goats are escape artists. The bunnies think they’re chickens.”

The image made me chuckle.

“I’m so glad they’re doing well. If we weren’t going away for Christmas, I’d get a tree from her farm. I’ve always wanted a real tree. Christmas wasn’t much of a thing at my house growing up.” I took a bite of baked ziti, the sauce exploding across my tongue. “Who made this? It’s so good.”

“Me.” Dean spooned some onto his bread.

“This macaroni salad is excellent. I’m so happy you don’t put raisins in it,” AJ grimaced. “I also appreciate the level of petty that is sending cows to my office. You know where her farm is and you know what I meant.”

“It was funny.” I grinned. “They’re baby mini cows. It’s not like I had 1,200-pound steers sent to you. Um, I know I should’ve sent adult cows, but it’s what I could afford. They’re so cute.” They’d taken over the farm’s social media.

Jonas pointed to the potato salad and nodded, mouth full, a drumstick in his hand.

My shoulders slumped as I met AJ’s gaze. “I felt dreadful about letting someone down.”

“I know. Hey, is your little brother okay? The one they used the money for?” AJ added some more macaroni salad to his plate. “I have a little brother, too. He’s at National Tech.”

“Oh, my big brother went there for engineering school. My little brother’s fine. I just wish they would’ve told me. Actually, AJ, I should thank you. The omegas that stole the bunnies looked me up and then hired me for an upcoming project.” Their website was cute. I was excited to book some modeling work because my savings were sad.

AJ chuckled. “Does it involve llamas?”

“I don’t know. It’s a fashion photo shoot.” I laughed. Llamas?

“They’re always doing weird shoots with animals. Um, so, Grif says you like to watch fútbol?” He had some chicken and nodded.

Um, subject change much? But it was also welcome.

“Yes, usually international league. Egypt, France, Greece, and Manchester, mostly.” I took another drink of wine. “Though I only like Manchester to troll Mumsy.”

Grif laughed. “I love that. What did your sister call her? A twatwaffle?”

“Yep.” I’d never be brave enough to do that. I still couldn’t believe I’d told Mumsy off.

They’d all been blocked again. Well, except for Dad, who still texted me every day. Though now I replied. Mostly in photos. This morning, I’d sent him a photo of Dean’s bread.

“I mostly watch domestic league. But I follow Bucharest. I played hockey in Bucharest after university before I got signed to the Hurricanes. The hockey rink we used was in a facility with their indoor fútbol pitch, and I got to know them,” he told me, taking a bite of ziti. “Dean, this is so good.”

We finished the meal, mostly it was me and AJ talking about fútbol, with the other guys interjecting. Apparently, Jonas often watched it with him.

I brought out dessert–chocolate cupcakes and fruit tarts.

“When, Verity? When did you have time to make this, considering you attended Mercy’s away game last night?” Jonas stole a fruit tart. I’d been told they were his favorite.

“I made them this morning.” Which was part of why I hurt. Last night, the Maimers played the Boston Blockingjays. My brother Dare joined us and it was fun.

“It’s good.” AJ took a bite of cupcake. “Um, there’s a bar where I like to go watch fútbol. Maybe sometimes you can come with me?”

“I’d like that a lot. Thank you.” Maybe I could fix things with AJ after all.