They walked to the diner instead of back to the apartment — some instinct telling both of them they needed neutral ground, away from the specific pressure of a space that already held so much of this season's history.
"What do you want to do?" Beckett asked, once they'd settled into a back booth, coffee untouched in front of both of them.
"I keep thinking about what I told my dad weeks ago," Rae said slowly. "That I earned my spot on this team. That I wasn't going to let anything take it away from me. And now here I am, considering whether to go public with the fact that I'm in love with my captain, in front of the entire hockey world, because some vindictive administrator decided to weaponize it as a last act of spite."
"That's not a fair choice to have to make."
"No, it's not." She w
