The Mighty Quinns: Thom (12 page)

Maybe that was the lesson he was supposed to learn. A guy never really knew how good things were until he lost everything. And it wasn’t just his team and his home. It was Malin. She’d come along at a time when he’d allowed his life to drift in the wrong direction. He’d been drinking too much and partying too much. She’d shown him how empty his life had been.

“Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”

Malin followed him downstairs and stood next to him, her fingers laced through his as he opened the door.

The moment Jack Warren spotted them, his gaze dropped to their joined hands. Thom could see the discomfort in his expression, but he didn’t care. Jack was probably one of the only guys he knew who wouldn’t spread rumors around town.

“This is new,” he said as he walked past Thom.

“We’re both enjoying it, so keep any negative thoughts to yourself, all right?” Thom said.

Jack walked to the dining room table and set his briefcase on top. “You’re Davis Pedersen’s daughter,” he said to Malin. “If your father finds out about this, Thom will be on the next boat to Siberia. He’ll be playing in run-down arenas with clubs that can barely keep the lights on and the ice frozen.”

“I don’t intend to mention this to my father,” Malin said.

“I think that’s wise,” Jack replied.

Thom cleared his throat, and Jack glanced over at him. “You said you had some news?”

“They’re negotiating with New York and Vancouver,” Jack said. “They want to know if you have a preference. They said they weren’t going to honor the approval clause in your contract, but the players’ association stepped in and threatened a grievance.”

“I have to choose between the two?” Thom asked.

Jack nodded. “They’re both great teams. You could do a lot worse. New York would put you closer to home, but Vancouver is a lot like Minneapolis. And they’re closer to having a championship team.”

“There is another choice,” Malin said. “You could say no to both.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Jack said. “Right now you have the choice of two great teams, both of which would benefit from your talents. You’d be a star in either city. They could send you to much worse places.”

“But if he turned them down, it would buy us some time to change their minds,” Malin said.

“I highly doubt there’s much chance of that,” Jack countered.

Malin shook her head. “We can’t just give up.”

Thom gave her hand a squeeze, then pulled her wrist up to his lips and pressed a kiss to the skin above her fingers. “How much time do I have to give them an answer?”

“A week. Maybe a little longer. But the sooner, the better. Holding out to stay with the Blizzard is a hopeless cause at this point. Listen, Thom, you’ve got a lot of good hockey left in you. I want to see you land somewhere you’ll make a difference.”

Thom reached out and clapped his agent on the shoulder. “Thanks for stopping by. I’ll walk you to the door.”

He left Malin standing alone at the dining room table. When he got to the door, Jack turned to him, a serious expression clouding his face. “End this,” he said. “You don’t want to give them a reason to run you out of town on a rail, Thom. She’s a beautiful woman, but she’s not worth the trouble that she can cause.”

“I’m in love with her,” Thom admitted.

“Get over it. It will be better for both of you. Ask yourself if she really has your best interests at heart, or her own.”

Thom shut the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes as his agent’s words echoed in his head. Maybe he had been living in a fantasy world, thinking that everything would work out between him and Malin. Hell, he couldn’t even define what real love was. How did he know that’s what he was feeling for Malin?

And she’d been cagey about her feelings toward him. She was affectionate and engaged and interested in everything about his life. But she’d made it clear she didn’t want to talk about their future. Anything beyond the summer existed in a deep black void. And she’d just said to his agent that she had no intention of telling her father about their relationship. How serious could she be about him?

“Is he gone?”

Thom looked up and nodded. She held out a tumbler to him, filled with ice and water. “Do you want to talk about what he said?”

“Did you know about New York and Vancouver?”

Malin nodded. “My father mentioned it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was proprietary information. It’s my duty to keep it private.”

“That’s bullshit,” Thom said, anger creeping into his voice. “The minute you moved in here, you stopped being one of them.”

“Fine. I didn’t tell you because I really believed I could change his mind,” Malin said. “I didn’t want you to give up hope. And I didn’t want to believe you’d have to leave here.” She swallowed hard. “Leave me.”

Thom reached out and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t do that again. Don’t keep secrets from me. If we have anything between us, at least we have honesty.”

“I promise,” Malin said.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Thom was tempted to drag her off to bed, to lose himself in her body and forget all the doubts and fears that had come creeping into his head. But he needed some time to clear his head, to sort out all the choices that had to be made.

“I’m going to take a drive,” he said. “I won’t be long. I just want some fresh air.”

“I’ll come with you,” Malin said.

“No, I just need to be alone. I’ll be back soon, I promise. And I won’t get in any trouble.”

“I trust you,” she said.

Thom grabbed his keys from the counter, then slipped his phone in the pocket of his shorts. “I’ll see you later. We’ll continue our dance lesson. I think I was finally getting the hang of it.”

Malin nodded, then opened the door for him. “Later,” she said.

Thom bent close and gave her a lingering kiss. “Later.”

* * *

T
HOM
DIDN
’
T
COME
HOME
that night. Malin waited until 4:00 a.m., trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong. He was probably out at some bar, hanging out with old friends. He’d probably come home stumbling drunk, but Malin was determined to maintain a positive attitude and forgive him any transgressions he might have committed.

In the end, he’d done nothing more than turn his car northward and continue driving until the sun came up. He’d called from a gas station in northern Minnesota, apologizing for worrying her and telling her that he’d decided to escape for a few days to his cabin.

It had been a short conversation, no confessions of affection or claims of longing. And when he hung up, Malin felt an emptiness settle into her body, as if he’d stolen a part of her soul before leaving.

The emotions roiling inside her both frightened and surprised her. Malin had tried to keep her feelings for Thom in perspective. She knew that unless she could save his spot on the Blizzard roster, he’d be shipped right out of her life, courtesy of her own father.

And while he was taking time to be alone, Malin was facing her own demons.

Malin stared out the windshield of her car at the imposing facade of her parents’ home, located in the stately Kenwood neighborhood. It was never a home she’d lived in, as it was purchased and decorated after she’d left home for college. But it was the kind of showcase that was required for the man who owned one of the city’s most successful sports franchises.

She parked the car in the circular drive, then grabbed the dress box from the backseat and walked to the front door to ring the bell. Though she could have just gone right inside, Malin knew that ringing the bell would bring the family’s cook and housekeeper to the door, and she hadn’t seen Dottie in ages. To her surprise, her father appeared in the doorway.

“Ah, here you are. Your mother is waiting for you on the terrace.”

“Daddy! What are you doing here? It’s a weekday.”

“Oh, nothing special. Just slept in.”

“Is everything all right? Are you all right?”

Davis Pedersen smiled. “Just fine. Fit as a fiddle,” he said, nodding to himself. “Must get to work now.”

He turned away from the door and headed in the direction of the garage. Malin closed the door and walked through the spacious entry hall to the French doors at the other end.

Peering through the wavering glass, she watched as Lillian Cooke Pedersen poured herself a cup of tea from a china pot, then slowly stirred in a half teaspoon of sugar. She usually wore her ash-blond hair in a tidy twist, but today it was a mass of tangled ringlets, making her look much younger than her fifty-six years.

“Hello, Mama,” Malin said as she stepped out onto the terrace.

“Darling! Here you are! I was wondering if you’d decided not to come.”

“No, I was just running a few minutes late. I just saw Daddy. What’s he doing home so late on a workday?”

Lillian smiled, then took a sip of her tea. “Your father and I have a deal. He has to spend two weekday mornings at home with me, and then I won’t complain about him staying out until all hours during hockey season. It’s working out quite well,” she said with a coy arch of her eyebrow.

Malin sat down next to her mother, placing the box on a nearby chair, then quickly poured herself a cup of tea. If her mother was talking about sex, then she didn’t want any part of the conversation. Though she knew her parents were still attracted to each other, she’d never actually thought about them having sex. And didn’t intend to start now.

“Is it that difficult to imagine that we were once very hot for each other?” Lillian asked. “Because we were. Just couldn’t keep our hands off each other. And this was in the seventies!”

“You’ve never talked that much about how you and Daddy met. Only that it was in high school.”

“Your father was on the hockey team, and my girlfriends and I just thought those boys were better than rock stars. He was the captain, of course, and he had a scholarship to a great college, and though he didn’t end up going, I just knew he was the guy for me.”

“Daddy went to college,” Malin said.

“Oh, much later. After you children were born. After high school, he played professional hockey. Much to the consternation of my parents. They did everything in their power to break us up. They didn’t want me marrying a lowly hockey player. They wanted me to marry a doctor or a lawyer. But your father wanted to play hockey.” She sighed. “Of course, he wasn’t very good. We spent most of our time bouncing around the minor league teams, living in crummy apartments and existing on nothing. And then I got pregnant with your older brother, and my father said enough was enough. He offered your father a job, and Davis walked away from hockey.”

“Until he bought the team,” Malin said. She’d read her father’s bio many times on the website, but it contained nothing about his days as a minor league hockey player.

“Yes, with the inheritance from my father,” Lillian said. “I knew it would give him back what I’d taken away from him. It was money well spent.”

“Why haven’t I heard any of this before?”

“You know your father. He didn’t want anyone to think of him as a failure or someone who hadn’t deserved his status—least of all his children.”

“So why are you telling me this now?” Malin asked.

“You’re father says you’re bringing a date to the hospital benefit. That you wanted to sit at our table. I suppose I was just hoping that you’d found someone who caught your interest.”

Malin plucked a shortbread cookie off the china plate and munched on it, contemplating how much she actually wanted to tell her mother. Now that she’d been given the details of their past, how could they possibly object to her dating a player?

“There is a guy,” she said. “We’ve been seeing quite a bit of each other. But it’s complicated. He might have to take a transfer out of town, so our future is kind of sketchy.”

“What does he do?” Lillian asked. “Maybe your father could give him a job.”

Malin laughed. “I think you’d like him. He’s kind of a self-made man. He didn’t have a lot of breaks in life, but he hasn’t let that stop him. And he’s so kind and generous and funny.”

“He sounds wonderful,” Lillian said. “I can hardly wait to meet him.”

“I do have something for you,” Malin said. “When I decided to go to the banquet, I called a designer friend of mine and asked her to send me a few gowns to wear. The first one was perfect for me. But the second one was too beautiful to just send back without anyone here ever getting a chance to see it.”

Malin pushed the box across the table. Her mother, a surprised smile on her face, stood to open it. The short-sleeved gown was a lovely champagne color with a bodice of bugle beads and a layered chiffon skirt.

“It’s gorgeous,” Lillian said, her fingers tracing over the bodice. She examined the label, then looked up at Malin. “You know her?”

“Yes. She’s a very talented and generous woman. And she told me that she’d love it if you’d wear her dress.”

“You had such an important job in New York,” Lillian said. “A dream job. Why did you ever come back?”

“It just felt like the right time to come home,” Malin said. “I have something to offer the team, and I hoped Daddy would see that. I still hope he does.”

“Darling, you have always been his little girl. But as you got older, he just didn’t know what to do with you. There was nothing you two had in common.”

“I could have played hockey,” Malin said.

“That was my fault. I wouldn’t allow it. I thought it was too rough for a girl, and let’s face it, you were not built for the game.” She held up her hand. “Parents make the best decisions they can at the time. When you have daughters, you can let them play hockey.”

“I’ll remember that,” Malin said softly.

There were moments in her life when she could imagine her future so clearly. A husband and children. A comfortable home. But since she’d been with Thom, that vision had become blurred. Could she be happy with less? Could she be happy without Thom?

7

T
HE
FOUR
-
HOUR
DRIVE
back to the city became a race against the weather. Three days of sweltering temperatures had brought a line of fierce thunderstorms bearing down on the area. Thom watched them approach, lightning flashing on the horizon, as he sped toward home.

He’d made the decision to escape to his cabin quickly and without much thought to what it might mean to Malin. But at that moment, faced with deciding the rest of his career, he wasn’t sure that he wanted her at his side.

There was no doubt anymore that he cared about her. Or that he might even be in love with her. But Thom had always made all his decisions with only two things in mind—his family and himself. Changing that now did not come easily. There were so many ways that it could play out. He could ask her to come with him. He could ask her to wait. He could break it off entirely and go on as he had in the past—alone. And he still had some lingering doubts about how much she truly cared for him.

Thom glanced at the clock on the dash. He’d deliberately left the cabin early enough to get home and change for the hospital benefit, but with pelting rain starting to come down, he’d been forced to take it slow.

Impatient, he reached for the radio and tuned into one of his favorite sports talk shows, hoping to find out how his favorite baseball team had done that week. But as he caught the gist of the conversation, Thom realized they were talking about him.

“He’s been a core player since the moment he stepped on the ice,” a caller explained. “You don’t just trade away part of that core.”

“It happens all the time,” the host, Jay Robbins, said. “And when a star player is bringing the team down, you have to do what you have to do.”

Jay’s cohost, Jerry Baumer, jumped in. “There’s no evidence that he’s let his partying affect his play. Players should be allowed to have a personal life.”

“Not when it’s splashed all over the tabloids,” Jay countered.

“We’re going to take another call. This is Denise, from Eagan. Denise, welcome to the Jay and Jerry Show.”

“Hi, guys. I just want to say that if they trade Thom Quinn, they’re going to lose a lot of fans. He’s always been out there, giving a hundred percent, and my son really admires him. He proves that with a little talent and a lot of hard work, you can make it as a professional hockey player. I approve of that message.”

“Well, there you have it from the mom contingent,” Jay said. “After we take a break, we’re going to get into the Twitter war that is raging between Blizzard management and hockey fans statewide. While the team tries to defend its decision, the fans aren’t having it.”

Thom reached for the radio and switched to a classic rock station. He felt in his pocket for his cell phone. He’d forgotten the charger at home, so it had been dead for a few days. Not that it made a difference since there was no service at the cabin.

He’d called Malin the morning after he’d arrived at the cabin, and though she’d been glad to hear that he was all right, he could tell she’d been confused by his retreat. But he wouldn’t regret leaving. It was impossible to think straight when he was around her. She colored his every thought and decision.

To say he’d missed her over the past few days would have been an understatement. He’d thought about her nearly every waking moment, and images of her teased at his dreams each night. When had she become such an essential part of his life? She was like oxygen, food and water...sunlight. When Malin wasn’t with him, he felt the loss, as if his strength was slowly being sapped from his body.

The rain was coming down in sheets, and the truck suddenly started to drift as it hit deep water on the pavement. He checked the rearview mirror, then turned on his flashers, hoping to make himself more visible to the cars behind him.

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, and he searched for the lines on the highway to guide him. Though it was barely past 6:00 p.m., it was almost as dark as midnight.

Thom thought about the night ahead of him. He’d considered calling Malin when he got home to let her know that he’d be at the benefit as they planned. But Thom was worried that their time apart might have changed her mind. It would be much better to just show up and take his chances. He sure as hell wasn’t going to miss her in that dress.

A smile curled the corners of his mouth. He’d been known to date beautiful women—the majority of them models or actresses. But they’d all shared a kind of look that left nothing in its natural state. Malin was a beauty inside and out. To him, she was the most beautiful when she was stepping out of the shower, her skin fresh and clean, her hair dripping with water.

He thought about his teammates’ wives, many of them ordinary women, women Thom had never believed to be beautiful. But those guys had done it right. They’d found beauty that wasn’t just floating on the surface. It ran deep, and it would last a lifetime.

He squinted through the rain and was relieved to see the first exit for the city was only eight miles away. By his calculations, he was twenty minutes from home. He could still grab a quick shower, get dressed and make it to the dinner before the speeches began.

As if the fates were aware of his important plans, the rain suddenly stopped, and the skies in the west began to clear. He opened the window and took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air. He felt a familiar sense of anticipation inside of him, an excitement for what the evening might hold. Usually this came before an important game, but tonight somehow seemed even more important.

He’d made the decision to take the New York trade. Though Vancouver was a better team, he preferred to move to a place that had the most direct flights to Minneapolis. He would be closer to his brothers, and though he wasn’t sure he and Malin would have a future past the beginning of the season, Thom preferred to believe that they would.

He also knew that Malin had spent the first part of her career working in Manhattan. She’d loved the city, and if she loved him, she might consider moving back. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

By the time he pulled up in front of the curb of his house, the sun was drifting down to the horizon. He searched the street for Malin’s car and felt a small sliver of disappointment when he realized she wasn’t there. He hadn’t expected her to stay, but a tiny part of him had hoped that she would.

When he got inside, Thom tossed his keys on the counter and slowly walked through the first floor. There was no trace of her left beyond the faint scent of her perfume in the air. The bed was made, the covers smooth. Had she even stayed in his house?

He stepped inside the bathroom and ran his hand along the edge of the marble counter. Over the few weeks that they were together, he’d enjoyed the mess of beauty products that had littered the surface. It was all gone, except the bottles and jars of skin care products that she’d given him after their day at the spa.

He picked up the exfoliating cream and the new shaving supplies, then set them in front of him. The stubble of his beard was thick with three days’ growth. Thom reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, then stripped out of his cargo shorts.

In less than an hour, he’d see Malin. He’d tell her about his decision and then he’d lay it all on the line. He’d confess how much she meant to him and exactly how he wanted their future together to begin.

And if she refused, he’d move on with his life and try to forget that he’d ever touched her...or kissed her...or lay beside her in his bed. He would pretend that the past few weeks had never happened and Malin Pedersen had never spoken to him that day in the conference room.

* * *

T
HE
BALLROOM
AT
the Franklin Hotel was decorated in a veil of tiny white lights and leafless trees, their branches and trunks painted white. Malin had been to the annual benefit before, but this time around, her mother had served on the decorations committee.

“Mama, it’s stunning,” she said, giving Lillian a quick hug. “The prettiest ever.”

“Look how the lights reflect off the crystal and silver,” Lillian said, clapping her hands beneath her chin. “I know it’s silly, but isn’t it all right to be a little silly over a good cause?”

“Of course it is,” Malin said.

“Now, then, where is this date of yours?”

Malin swallowed hard and pasted a smile on her face. Truth be told, her “date” was somewhere close to the Canadian border, living in a cabin with no electricity or running water. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? He called and said he wouldn’t be able to come. He had an emergency at the hospital.”

“He’s a doctor?” Lillian asked.

“No,” Malin said. “I—I mean, yes. He’s—he’s an oncologist.”

“Hmm. Where did I get the impression that he was a surgeon?”

Malin desperately searched around the room for someone who might capture her mother’s attention. “I don’t know, Mama, but—oh, look there. Mrs. Jenkins is walking with a cane. I hope she hasn’t injured herself. We should go over and say hello.”

When her mother was safely delivered to another conversation, Malin headed over to the table that held the seating cards. She found Natalie there and smiled as she approached. “Hello,” she said. “Are you handling the seating arrangements?”

“Just until Mrs. Farner gets back.”

Malin looked for her name and then found the card for her guest. She held it out to Natalie. “I’m afraid my guest can’t make it tonight. You can assign someone else to our table if necessary.”

“All right. I think everyone has a place for now, but I’m sure there might be a few strays who wander in.”

“Table seven,” Malin said, holding up her card. “I’ll see you there.”

Malin strolled around the ballroom, stopping to chat with acquaintances of her parents, people connected to the team and occasionally friends she could call her own. Nearly every woman she met had something to say about her dress, and by the time she sat down for dinner, she felt quite beautiful.

But as her parents and the other guests took their places at the table, Malin was feeling much less festive. She couldn’t help but wonder how much of that had to do with Thom’s absence.

It was probably for the best that he hadn’t come, she mused. Putting him and her father in the same room was like tossing gasoline and lit matches into the same barrel.

“I see everyone is here.”

The guests at the table turned to find Betsy Farner, one of her mother’s dear friends, standing next to the empty chair.

“Lillian, since you have a vacant spot at your table, I wonder if I might seat someone here. We had a spot for him at table thirteen, but then Bebe Smithfield brought an extra guest. I’m sure you all know Thom Quinn. He’s been a very good friend to the hospital.”

Thom stepped out from behind Betsy, and his gaze immediately met Malin’s. At first she wasn’t sure what to say, but one look at her father’s increasingly purple face was all it took for her to come up with something fast. “Thom! How nice to see you again.”

The empty chair was right next to her father’s, and since she was determined to keep the peace as best she could, she scrambled to come up with an alternate plan. “Mama, why don’t you sit in that spot, and we’ll put Thom right here where I’m sitting.” Malin slipped into her mother’s abandoned spot, putting herself squarely between the two men in her life.

“There, that will work.”

Lillian frowned as her gaze shifted between Malin and the new guest.

“Sorry to be a bother,” Thom said. “I guess they didn’t get my RSVP.”

“Lucky for us that your date couldn’t make it, Malin,” her mother said. “Now we have the charming Mr. Quinn for company.” She turned to her husband and gave him a stern look. “And there will be no talk about hockey at this table.”

The hour between the beginning and end of dinner service passed at a grinding pace. Malin tried to maintain a cheerful attitude without revealing a clue about her real feelings for Thom. He, on the other hand, seemed to be determined to charm every woman at the table.

She was beginning to wonder if he was going to ignore her completely when Malin felt his leg brush up against hers beneath the cover of the linen tablecloth. Her breath caught at the powerful current that raced through her body.

She stretched her foot out, then slipped out of her shoe. Malin found the cuff of his trousers and wriggled her toes up inside until she touched bare skin. When Thom cleared his throat, she knew the game had begun.

Thom’s hand found the slit in her skirt and he smoothed his palm over her thigh, moving higher and higher.

The dress didn’t allow for underwear, and Malin had to hold back a laugh when Thom discovered that fact on his own. For a moment, his hand froze, and he stole a glance over at her.

Malin dropped her napkin next to her plate. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go to the ladies’ room.”

Natalie jumped up. “I’ll go with you.”

The two of them walked through the crowd, dodging the wait staff that had begun to clear the dinner plates and bring out dessert. When they got out to the hallway, Natalie turned to her. “Gosh, that dress is just amazing, Malin. Where did you get it?”

“From a designer friend in New York,” Malin said. “I used to work in the fashion industry before I came back home to work for the club.”

“I heard that. Well, it’s no wonder Thom Quinn can’t keep his eyes off you.”

Malin stopped short. “What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you noticed?”

“No. He’s paying attention to all the women. He’s very charming.”

“I can’t believe you’re so oblivious. Every time you say anything, he watches you with this look of rapture on his face.” Natalie frowned, then studied Malin for a shrewd moment. “Wait...are you two...? Is there something— Is that why you wanted to invite him to the benefit?” She gasped. “Do you have a crush on him?” Natalie clapped her hands gleefully. “And he has a crush on you? Oh, this is just too—”

“Stop,” Malin said. “I don’t have a crush on Thom Quinn. And he doesn’t have a crush on me.”