Page 62 of His Jersey

Leah: I am going to chum the water, sister!

Me: No, I meant the bunnies. My S in the SOS is for shopping.

Leah: I don’t need to be at the airport for an hour. Send me your location. We’ll fix this.

At the end of the block, I find a bakery. Although I already ate a muffin, there’s nothing wrong with a mid-morning cookie, especially when your life just did the opposite of explode. It’s actually come together in a fairly nice package, all things considered, what with Jack basically offering to pay me to be his fiancée, as off the wall as that sounds.

But I feel like I’m imploding with all the strings, sharks, and nastiness in the world of the rich and famous that I only observed from the outside looking in. It never occurred to me that it comes at a price. Even though Jack and his billionaire father can, “Throw money at everything,” that doesn’t necessarily factor in hidden costs like privacy and mean girls.

Several months ago, I found a twenty-dollar bill on one of the resort’s paths. I saved it for an emergency. This is the moment that money was born for! I order another coffee and two cookies. Even though I have Jack’s credit card, that’s not what he told me to spend it on, so I officially use the last of my financial resources on cookie therapy. Not my proudest moment, but essential nonetheless.

When I get outside, Leah rushes up the street, waving.

“I got you a cookie,” I call as if we’re armoring up and preparing for a battle.

She smiles. “Mmm. I love cookies in the morning.”

“I had a feeling we’d be good friends. Speaking of that, I’m moving to .” I slap my hand over my mouth. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know if Jack told anyone.”

“He already asked my brother to book him a realtor. But I had no idea you were coming too. This is such great news.”

We bounce up and down in a hug.

“So things are serious between you two?”

“As serious as a business deal,” I mumble, taking a bite of my peanut butter cookie.

“You two were made for each other. You have so much in common.”

I cough. “We’re from different worlds.”

“I’ll teach you everything you need to know about hockey, but first, where’s the sinking ship?”

I explain what happened at the three stores I went to, and Leah’s smile grows until she’s laughing.

“What’s so funny? They were mean.”

“Because I have a plan. The underground puck bunny network is vast, but don’t be fooled, the second they have the opportunity, they eat their own.”

I scrunch up my face.

“Meaning, they’re all ultimately out for themselves. One of them must’ve recognized you, put out the word, stuck their noses in the air, and tried to turn you away. But you have a fancy dinner tonight, which means we have designer stores to conquer.”

What kind of world have I skated into?

THE CORN HUSKER

[PRIVATE GROUP]

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[Post: Friday 10:54 am]

Bruce Lowe

We’d like to officially send a warm welcome to Jack Bouchelle, the newest resident of Hockey Town. This also means he’s joined the Nebraska Knights. We’ll leave the sports recap to the pros, but if he attacks the net as he did in the past, we’ll be lucky to have him.

It doesn’t look like Jack is making the move solo, he’s bringingroyalty. Not having a public profile, we don’t know much about The Puck Princess, however, we hope she finds herself at home here with an assortment of retail stores and fine dining establishments in our small town.

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