The Pucking Girl Next Door (Power Play Off The Ice: Snowed in for the Hoildays)

17. Annabelle

Chapter 17

Annabelle

A knock on my bedroom door wakes me up. Instead of answering, I grab my pillow and put it over my head. Last night after talking with Smith, I’d escaped to one of the guest rooms and claimed it as mine, since before I was sleeping in the same one as him. Even though I was utterly exhausted, I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I just kept seeing his face drop, how sad he was when I told him I couldn't see a future with him.

It will haunt me.

Of course, I didn't feel that way. I just couldn't see how we could make it work, living so far away and the fact that we are both workaholics. Another knock comes, even louder this time, but whoever is on the other side doesn't wait for me to answer. The door swings open, and Steve and Kayla walk in.

"Sure. Come on in, I wasn't sleeping or anything," I say sarcastically to both of them as I roll my eyes.

My brother Steve looks over at me and doesn't even bother to hide his feelings. He twists his mouth in disgust before he spews, "You look like shit."

Before I can respond by telling my brother off, my sister-in-law Kayla takes care of it first. "You can't talk to her like that," she says smacking him against his chest.

"Fine. I don't have time for this, we have a flight to catch," he huffs out.

"You promised," Kayla says to him, but it leaves me feeling very confused.

"What's going on?"

"We know you broke things off with Smith," Kayla says softly.

"Which was fucking stupid," my brother blurts out.

I sit up with that comment and narrow my eyes at him. "Well, good thing it's not your life," I yell at him.

"When you ruin the best thing in your life, it's my duty to tell you, you pain in the ass," he yells back and with that, he stomps out of the room.

I turn to look at his wife, her face softens as she pads over to the bed I'm lying in, ignoring the fact that her husband just walked out of the room. She sits down on the edge of the bed, placing her hand on my leg. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I don't," I huff out as I lay back down.

"Let me tell you what I know and then you can decide what you want to do."

I roll my eyes at her but still listen. I've known Kayla most of my young adult life. She got together with my brother in college, so she's been around for a while, and I respect what she has to say.

She begins, "I'm not sure why you don't want to go forward with Smith, and I won't presume to know how you're feeling. But yesterday when we were all together, Smith never took his eyes off of you. He smiled every time you did something, and he even risked his friendship with Steve by calling him. When they were on the phone, I heard him say that he wanted to be with you. You don't do things like that if you're not serious."

I roll over on to my side, propping myself up on my elbow, tears stinging my eyes. "What if I change everything to be with him and we don't work out?"

"That's always a possibility. You'll just have to decide if it's worth the risk."

"I'm scared."

"Love is scary. I was scared out of my mind when I decided to be with your brother. The idea that I would follow him to play hockey, and he would leave me behind…but he has shown me time and time again that he loves me and will never leave. Just think about it, I would hate for you to lose something great just because you're scared." She pats my leg and gets up to leave.

Taking in her words, I stop her before she exits. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That Steve was worth it."

"It was the way he looked at me. Like I was his world." She doesn't explain anymore but leaves me with so much to think about it.

I reflect on our few days together. The whole time we were snowed in, he always made sure that I had everything I needed. He would cook for me, talked with me, even watched movies I know he didn't really like. Plus the orgasms. My whole body shivers at the memory of how he would touch me. A picture of him sitting at the kitchen counter comes to my mind. He looked at me like I was his universe. If that's what love is, then I need to tell him we should try to be together, even if its long distance.

I jump out of bed and get dressed. If I'm going to tell him, I'll need to hurry before he leaves for the airport. When I run down the stairs, I pause and scan the living room but don't see anyone but Steve and my oldest sister Heather. "Do you guys know where Smith is?"

"He left last night," my brother says without even looking up from his phone.

"What do you mean, he left?"

"After your conversation last night, he went back to Dallas early."

"Oh crap! I need to talk to him. Do you think he'll answer my phone call?"

My brother just shrugs his shoulders. Right then, my phone buzzes in my hand and hope fills my chest. Maybe it's Smith calling me, but that bubble quickly bursts when I see Frannie's name on my phone.

Why would she even be calling me right now? The office is closed. Because she's a crazy person that's why. Not wanting to lose my job has me hitting the accept button because Frannie would fire me for not answering on the day after Christmas.

"Hello."

"Annabelle. I need you to go into work today and write up a data summary. Josh needs it tomorrow."

"Frannie, it's Christmas."

"Actually, its the day after and if you still want a job then you'll do as I say."

Letting out a huge breath I answer quickly before I hang up. "Fine."