Page 36 of Offside Bride

The buzzer sounds, signaling the end of the period. As we skate off the ice, Owen catches up to me, staying with me as we put on our blade guards and take the corridor to the locker room.

“What’s going on man? Everything okay?”

“Yep. Everything’s just…great.”

“Your head’s not in the game tonight. Where are you?”

“Back home,” Hendrix says, running to catch up to us. “With his smoking hot wife.”

“Shut it,” I snap, but there’s no real heat behind it.

We go into the locker room for a quick break and wait for a pep talk from the coaches. Owen tosses me a water bottle. “Seriously, man. What’s going on?”

Griffin chimes in from across the room. “Trouble in paradise already? That was quick.”

I sigh, catching the bottle. “Maggie got flowers the other day…with a frickin little love note. Except, I didn’t send them.”

The guys exchange glances. Hendrix whistles low. “Ooh, plot twist. You think she’s got a secret admirer?”

“Or she’s messing with you,” Griffin suggests. “That woman’s got a wicked sense of humor.”

I hadn’t considered that. It does sound like something Maggie would do. Or, it might be one of my dad’s enemies. My insides twist with worry at the thought.

“I could ask Emily,” Owen offers. “Ya know, just poke around, see if I can pick up some hints?”

“You need to track her, dude,” Hendrix says. “Get one of those apps.”

“I’m not going to track my wife,” I say, “She’ll consider that a violation of her privacy.”

“I track Emily,” Owen says. “And she tracks me. It’s no big deal.”

“Have you met Maggie? She’d bite my head off just for suggesting it.”

Owen nods. “True.”

“Has she been acting weird lately?” Griffin asks. “Mood swings, anything like that?”

“Her whole vibe is a mood swing,” Hendrix quips.

“I swear you better shut your mouth before I shut it for you,” I grit out through my teeth. “That’s. My. wife.”

My fake wife. Who hates me. The ice queen who gives me the cold shoulder every chance she gets, yet her presence alone makes the house feel warmer. The irony isn’t lost on me. I’ve finally got the family life I always wanted, and it’s with a woman who can barely stand me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.” Hendrix lifts up hands. “I was only joking.”

“Just give her time,” Owen says, wiping the sweat off his neck with a towel. “It’s a huge adjustment for her. And as for the flowers. Why don’t you just straight up ask her?”

I slump my shoulders. “She’ll probably just lie about it.”

I should be used to people lying to me by now. My dad, my mom…like how Uncle Whitey isn’t really my uncle, and how Dad’s accounting business isn’t about filing people’s taxes.

“Catch her in another lie first,” Griffin suggests. “Something small. Incidental…like if she ate the last Twinkie. Girls never want to admit stuff like that. That way you can learn her ‘tells,’ and then you will know if she’s telling the truth about the big things.”

“Sounds like an awful lot of work just to get information about flowers,” Hendrix muses.

Griffin shrugs. “Love is a long game.”

Hendrix leans in, a knowing smirk on his face. “Remember when away games were all about hitting the town and picking up chicks? Now look at you.”

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