Page 24 of On the Power Play

"She went for a pint." Mary linked arms with Delia and followed Tony's assistant to the corner, leaving Jack to walk with the big man himself. Tony was large. Surprisingly so, considering Jack spent most of his time with professional athletes.

"Did you used to play?" Jack asked.

"Hockey?" Tony shook his head. "No, I've got zero coordination. My PE teacher in high school begged me to try out and within ten minutes of seeing me on the ice, he asked if I was actually Canadian."

"Ouch."

"I'm not. I was born in Boston."

Jack laughed. "Don't usually hear of people from Mass coming this direction. Usually the other way around."

"Parents were both from Ontario. My dad was finishing his doctorate at Berklee."

"Isn't that in California?"

"No, the Berklee College of Music."

Jack nodded. "So you came by this line of work honestly."

"Never thought I'd be on the promotional side of things. I always thought I'd be the pop star."

"Still time, bud."

Tony grabbed the door from Kels and held it while Jack walked into the airlock. "You seem like a nice guy Jack.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ve met plenty of assholes that seem like nice guys.”

Jack paused with his hand on the next door. "Probably something you should’ve asked about then. Before the contract was drawn up."

Tony's jaw flexed. "I have a job to do, and I'm damn good at it. I'm not her father or anything?—"

"But you're now realizing that this could go south if I'm a dick?"

"Exactly."

Jack pulled the door open. "It's a good thing I'm not, then." He strode into the restaurant to heads already turning their direction.

"Isn't that what a dick would say?"

"Probably." Jack followed the waiter to a back room. Mary and Kels took a table in the far corner as the waiter motioned Delia to a two-seater next to the window. His step faltered. He hadn't meant he needed to talk to Delia solo, but now didn't see a way out of it. Jack strode forward and shrugged off his coat then hung it over the back of his chair. Delia did the same but didn’t sit.

Jack stood next to the table. "I didn't mean to make this even more awkward."

She breathed a laugh. "And yet somehow you succeeded." Delia looked up, her eyes wide. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that.” She looked genuinely repentant.

“I think you did mean to say that.”

She glanced down at the menu on the table in front of her, and her eyes shifted to the tablet Kels left in Jack’s spot. “It was a thought that wasn’t supposed to make it into the real world. Normally, I’m crashing on a couch by now. After a show.”

Jack nodded. He understood that. In his early twenties, all he wanted to do after a game was party. Even before his increased popularity, staying out late had been a harder sell.

“Do you mind if I—“ Delia held up her phone. Jack shook his head and glanced out the window next to the table. He and Delia, though protected from the rest of the diners, were in prime viewing position from the sidewalk. A small group had already stopped to take pictures.

Delia set her phone down. “Sorry. Just needed to text my mom.”

Jack felt like a dick for momentarily judging her phone habits. He rapped his knuckles on the back of the chair. “Tony’s a genius.”

---