Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

The rest of the evening on her birthday didn’t go as I had planned or imagined.

After we went home, we immediately went to bed, and she cried herself to sleep in my arms. It broke my heart to see her like that ,and I felt so helpless at the same time.

I wanted to tell Luna that night that I loved her, but it didn’t seem right to say that after meeting her Dad because I didn’t want her to think I was just saying that because it was convenient for that situation.

I wanted to tell her because I really love her.

At first, we were still talking about it, and she told me about the time before the accident when her Dad lost the law firm.

At some point, we became quiet while she lay in my arm, and I noticed how she sighed. I tried to comfort her as much as I could, hold her tightly in my arms, and say positive things to her, and since then, three days had passed.

Luna was in the house during the day with her Mom to set up the furniture and move the first things into the house.

While I spent most of my time from eight in the morning until seven in the evening in the ice arena or the swimming hall.

Strategy meetings, dry practice, training on the ice, and endurance swimming.

The swim arena didn’t open until five in the afternoon because the Eastburgh Sharks competitions were before that.

Luna and Lucy watched Aria swim her relay, and when the competition was over, and the team entered the swimming hall, that was the only time we saw each other briefly because I didn’t get home until evening.

Even though we fell asleep and woke up in the same bed, I missed Luna. My thoughts hung and circled the whole day only around her.

We didn’t see each other most of the time, and if we did, then only sporadically, and then we lay in bed, fucked, and fell asleep after that because we were so tired from the day.

Now I was sitting in my car and already parked in front of the building where my Dad was celebrating the Benefits Gala for the fiftieth anniversary of Sinclair Constructions.

I wanted to ask her if she wanted to be my date for tonight, but I forgot it with all the stress of Game Week and the move.

This bugged me because I wanted to be a good boyfriend.

My mood was terrible. We lost the game, which sucked, and what bugged me even more was that Luna couldn’t be there.

I first looked for Luna in the big hall, but it didn’t really work out as my Dad was already coming towards me, and I didn’t even know what kind of dress Luna was wearing. Let alone what color.

‘There you are, finally!’ He patted me on the shoulder, and I walked with him to the people, where I shook thousands of hands and had to tell old people ten times what I was studying and what I would like to do in the future.

I didn’t lie once. I told everyone I wanted to turn my passion for ice hockey into a profession.

Then I saw her, and my heart skipped a beat. Holy crap.

There was my girl.

‘Excuse me for a moment, please. I need to say hi to my girlfriend,’ I apologized to the older lady who wore earrings as big as a puck.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Luna, and I didn’t care what Dad thought of me when I looked at him before going to Luna.

Luna’s hair was curly, and she wore a floor-length, deep dark blue satin dress that sat tight at her chest with thin straps decorating her shoulders.

‘You look so beautiful. God, I still can’t believe you’re actually my girlfriend,’ I put my hands around her waist and kissed her in front of everyone.

Most people probably couldn’t see further than half a meter without glasses anyway, but I kissed my girlfriend in front of Camilla, Ruby, and my Dad. It was the best feeling to finally have her back with me and kiss her.

‘You don’t look bad either,’ she put her arms around my neck and kissed me again.

I would love to kiss her forever.

‘Come with me.’ I took her hand and walked back to the woman who was talking to my Dad.

‘Mrs. Hastings, this is Luna, my girlfriend,’ I introduced her.

‘Is this nice to see someone so beautiful by Weston’s side,’ she patted Luna’s hand, and Luna thanked her for the compliment.

This girl was my definition of perfect and pure magic.

While Mrs. Hastings was entirely focused on Luna because she was studying what Mrs. Hastings’ granddaughter Grace Hastings was studying at Easthill Coast University on the New Jersey shore, my Dad pulled me aside at one of the bar tables.

‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’ he whispered, sipping his champagne glass.

‘Because you’re never around, and it just never felt right to tell you that Luna and I are together.’

‘She’s not distracting you from all that ice hockey shit?’

I blanked out the word after ice hockey because I was amazed that my Dad used the word ice hockey at all.

‘No, absolutely not. She’s really supportive of me doing this,’ I explained, propping my forearms on the top of the bar table.

‘Dad,’ I began. My body temperature alternated between hot and cold because I feared his reaction to what he would say in response to my question.

‘Would you come to my hockey game on Thursday?’ I swallowed, not knowing how to interpret his expression, ‘Please. Just this one time.’

Just give me this one chance to prove that ice hockey was more than just a sport or a hobby to me.

‘Weston.’

That was going to be a No.

‘You know I’m busy, and I’m sure the seats are all sold out by now,’ he justified his reasonably likely, absence.

‘I can get you in, or rather, Luna.’

Please, Dad. Just once.

Dad grabbed my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. ‘I’ll see what I can do on Thursday.’

I felt Luna’s presence beside me and put her hand in mine.

‘You might have to take my Dad with you on Thursday.’

Luna looked perplexed and switched her gaze between me and my Dad.

‘Are you coming to Thursday’s game against the Chicago Polar Bears, Mr. Sinclair?’

‘I’ll see how I can make it happen, and for you, I’ll be Rick from now on,’ my Dad held his hand out to her, which she accepted, and shook.

Luna had told me that the two of them had talked at lunch today, or instead, she had sought out the conversation and apologized to him for saying that. She didn’t have to do that because I believed that her announcement to him had been part of why he thought of showing up at a game of mine.

‘Thank you, sir,’ I blurted out, trying not to show him how happy just the thought of him thinking about being at the game made me. I couldn’t describe what I was thinking or feeling at that moment. I was just happy that my Dad was going to think about it.

‘Well, hopefully, there will be more opportunities to watch you when you sign with the New Jersey Devils,’ Luna nudged me with her elbow, and within a second, my grip loosened.

This was something I wanted to tell him.

Just me, and she had no right to take that away from me.

Luna unobtrusively tried to grab my hand again, and I saw her looking at me from the corner of my eye. I just focused on the expression on my Dad’s face, whose expression I couldn’t reasonably interpret.

‘Why didn’t you say anything about it, Son?’

‘I tried, but you wouldn’t listen to me. It’s okay. Luna did it now. Excuse me, please.’

‘Wes,’ I heard Luna calling after me, but I ignored her and walked outside to the patio of the hall.

It was cool and windy. Eastburgh was dark, and the lights of the houses were the only thing that kept the small New Jersey town from fading into darkness.

It may have been wrong to leave them there, but that the New Jersey Devils were interested in me was something I wanted to tell my Dad myself, and I hoped that it would have hoped it would turn into a typical father-son conversation.

I doubted he would show up to Thursday’s game now because telling him that the New Jersey Devils were interested in me and that I was most likely going to the National Hockey League confirmed to my Dad that I was definitely not going to take over the construction company.

Shouldn’t he have realized that by now, after I didn’t sign up for architecture in college?

After a while, I walked back into the hall, this time not looking for Luna first in the crowd.

I made my way to one of the round tables where Camilla sat with Ruby and other women. Luna’s mother leaned in toward me. ‘Luna is looking for you,’ she whispered to me.

‘I was outside for a minute, getting some fresh air.’

It got quiet, and the chandelier lights dimmed while the small, set-up stage was lit. My Dad ran up the stairs to the small stage and stood in the middle, where a spotlight pointed at him.

Luna appeared next to me, sat down quietly, and looked at me briefly before she turned to the champagne glass on the table and drank from it.

My Dad thanked all the guests for coming.

I listened to him only sporadically and stared at the glass which I turned in my hand on the table.

Suddenly everyone started clapping and looking at me. I looked up from the glass at delighted faces.

‘Weston,’ Camilla nodded toward the stage where my Dad stood.

‘I’m asking the future boss, who will be joining the Sinclair Constructions business soon, filling the fourth generation, to come up on stage,’ my Dad spoke into the microphone.

His words bounced off me, and I felt a thick lump in my throat.

I walked through the occupied tables to my Dad at the front of the stage.

He shook my hand and pulled me close. ‘You will not sign that goddamn New Jersey Devils’ contract, and you will never mention it again. Do you understand me?’ Dad growled in my ear, and I felt his warm breath.

Inside I could feel the anger bubbling up, which grew stronger and stronger as I thought about how I couldn’t believe what he had just whispered to me. If I said anything against it in front of all these people, I would be a student without a roof over my head and a blocked bank account.

Why did he say he would see if he could come to the game on Thursday if he told me something like that now?

Would he have even whispered that to me in front of everyone if Luna hadn’t mentioned the New Jersey Devils’ interest?

What if I just got off that stage and went home and went to a bar with Carter?

What if?