My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 346

Nina

It wasn’t long before I realized where Enzo was taking us: into town, and to the diner, the location of many a late -night date.

“I should’ve known,” I murmured with a half-hearted smile as we slid into our regular booth.

“It’s been a little while,” Enzo said, his eyes scanning the menu. ” And I’m hungry.”

I hadn’t been working regularly at the diner since we got married.

In fact, I hadn’t been working much at all outside of being the team doctor for the hockey team during game season and volunteering occasionally around town. Some paragraphs are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on Jobnib.com. Visit Jobnib.com to read the complete chapters for free.In a strange way, I missed it. Maybe, I thought to myself, I would come back to it at some point. But that felt like a silly thought; as if I would have the time, what with a baby on the way and medical school.

The server came over, a familiar face who greeted us with a forced smile. “The usual?”

“Yeah,” Enzo responded, handing back the menus. She nodded and left us alone, with nothing but the tension that we had brought in with us.

“I’ve been thinking,” I began, twirling a napkin in my hands. ” About what you said —the ultimatum. It’s a lot to process in 48 hours, Enzo. I don’t know if I want to move back in with my parents, and I’m not sure if I can make a decision like that so quickly.”

He sighed, leaning back in the booth. “And I don’t know if I want to quit my job, Nina. But one of us needs to make a decision. For the baby’s sake/”

I shook my head, feeling a surge of frustration, “But that’s just it.

Why does it have to be so black and white? Why can’t we find a middle ground?”

“Because sometimes life doesn’t give you that luxury,” he said, his voice tinged with weariness. “We have to be practical. We have a baby on the way.”

“Yeah, a baby that neither of us planned for,” I shot back. “Do you not think that scares me too?”

He looked at me, his eyes searching mine. “Of course it does. But we can’t undo it now. We have to think about the future.”

“The future,” I echoed, staring at the worn tabletop. “And where do our dreams fall into that? Do they just get pushed to the wayside?”

He sighed, a sound heavy with resignation, “Sometimes dreams change. Or they get delayed.”

I shook my head, the lump in my throat growing larger. “I never wanted to give up on them entirely.”

“And who says we are?” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “We’re just adjusting them to fit a new reality. That doesn’t mean giving up.”

“But it feels like it,” I whispered. “It feels like I’m losing a part of myself, and I don’t know how to deal with that.”

“I’m scared, too,” he countered, his voice tinged with desperation.

“You think I don’t worry about losing myself too? And yet, I’m willing to give it up for you, for us, if I have to.”

The server returned, setting our food in front of us, a plate of fries and two milkshakes-just like old times. Neither of us touched it.

“I just… I didn’t want this, Enzo. This whole situation. It’s not what I had in mind for us.”

His eyes locked onto mine. “Life throws curveballs, Nina. If you want to keep the baby, we have to accept that not all dreams may come true, not the way we envisioned them.”

“I know,” I said, my eyes filling with tears that I refused to let fall.

“But it’s hard, Enzo. We’re being asked to compromise so much, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that level of sacrifice.”

“And you think I am?” he asked softly, his hand reaching across the table to cover mine. “But maybe that’s what love is, Nina. Maybe it’s about making sacrifices for someone else’s happiness, even if it means putting your dreams on hold.”

It was as if the air got thicker around us. Our milkshakes started to melt, the fries growing cold, but neither of us moved. The jukebox switched to another song, filling the space between us.

“So what do we do?” I finally asked, my voice a mere whisper.

“I wish I knew,” Enzo responded, his grip on my hand tightening.

“Do you even want to keep the baby?” I finally blurted out, unable to contain the question any longer. The words hung heavy in the air, almost tangible, like they’d materialized and were sitting right there on the table next to our untouched milkshakes.

Enzo’s gaze didn’t waver. “Of course I do. Why would you even ask that?”

“Because,” I paused, searching for the right words. “If we’re going to make these sacrifices, these huge life changes, I need to know it’s what we both want. And with everything else going on…”

He looked at me, his eyes softening. “Nina, I want this child. But I can’t sit by and watch you and the baby be in danger if you’re going to be stubborn about this.”

I looked at him, trying to read between the lines. “You mean, if I don’t move in with my parents?”

I sighed, stirring my milkshake with a straw. “I hope you’re right.

I’m just worried. What if I can’t travel through the portals as the pregnancy progresses? What then?”

He leaned forward, gripping my hand tightly as he spoke. “Then I will move heaven and earth to be by your side, Nina. You won’t go through this alone.”

It was sweet, hearing him say those words, and I wanted to believe him. But my gut told me there was more we needed to discuss.

Taking a deep breath, I shifted gears. “Enzo, I’m worried about youtoo. Not just the logistical stuff but.your state of mind.”

He paused, his hand freezing around his milkshake. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been.different lately,” I said cautiously. “More aggressive, angrier. What’s going on with you, really?” For a moment, he didn’t speak. His eyes were downcast, locked onto the melting milkshake in front of him.

“I just… I feel out of control,” he finally admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “With everything that’s happening— the baby, the job, the looming separation, Edward, the burglar—I don’t know how to handle it all at once.”

“Enzo, that’s not good enough and you know it,” I said in a firm tone of voice. “We both went through hell with the war against the Crescents. And I know I’m not the only one suffering from the trauma of it. I have visions of a shadow entity haunting me, sure, but that doesn’t mean you’re not hurting just as much. There’s no way this is all just about ‘control.'”

He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, full of a vulnerability he seldom showed. “I know, Nina. But it’s hard for me to talk about it.

Especially now, when everything feels so uncertain.”

“That’s exactly why we need to talk about it,” I insisted, but he shook his head, visibly shutting down.

“Not now, Nina. Not in public. Please.”

I bit my lip, trying to decide if it was worth it to discuss this right now. Finally, I decided that it could wait.

“Fine,” I said quietly. “We won’t discuss it now. But know that I’m keeping an eye on you, Enzo. We can’t afford to ignore the emotional aftermath of what we’ve both been through. Not when there’s a child involved.”

He sighed, the sound filled with a heaviness that felt like it carried the weight of our collective fears and uncertainties. “You’re right, ” he said, “We can’t ignore it. But for now, can we just focus on the present? On us

I nodded, making a mental note to revisit this conversation sooner rather than later. “Okay,” I said softly. ” For now, we’ll focus on us.”

He looked relieved, and that in itself made my heart ache. We were both so fragile, so on the verge of breaking, and yet, so incredibly resilient. I felt it in the way he held my hand across the table, his grip tightening ever so slightly as if to affirm our solidarity.