67

“Don’t forget video chats. Those are the best.”

“Yeah, those, too.”

“What’d you do when you were with Tilly? Wasn’t much different than this, was it? I mean, you told me you were in the same city once you started dating her, but during the season, you were on the road nonstop, so you hardly saw her anyway.”

My relationship with Tilly just existed—during season and off-season. We fucked when I was in town, and we had phone sex when I was gone. I did what I needed to do on the ice, and she kept things running back at home.

“It was just different, wasn’t it?” he asks, as though he’d heard my thoughts.

“Yeah, man. Big time. It was nothing like this at all.”

“Have you talked to Piper about moving up to Boston with you?”

I glance over my shoulder. The balcony’s off the living room, so I don’t have a full view of the entire bedroom. But I can see the edge of the mattress and how her foot’s hanging off the side.

“Nah. I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on her.”

“We can figure out plays