Page 24 of My Best Bet

“Okay, I think we are thoroughly tipsy,” Piper said, clapping her hands together. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol and dancing. “Time to address the elephant in the room… Or, I guess we could call it a whale. Like Whalers. Ha. See, Patrick is wrong,” she pointed out, “Iamfunny.” Patrick was her ice dance partner who was currently back home visiting his family in Montreal. Like most figure skaters, he brought his skates on vacation with him, and Piper would actually be joining him in Montreal for two weeks starting on Monday so they could keep up with their training.

“Noo,” I complained. I wanted to stay in this happy little bubble.

“No, you’re not tipsy?” she asked, raising her hand to flag the bartender.

“No,” I hiccupped and slapped her hand down. “ThatI am. I just don’t want to talk about the…” I frowned, “Whaler.”

“Just hear me out for a second,” Piper went on. “Here’s the thing, if Colt was totally over you, he would’ve been indifferent. He’d be likeoh, an old friend, oroh, wasn’t that funny when we were kids and in love?But he wasn’t like that, was he? He was all pissy, right? I mean, when we were kids, he was always so…” she scrunched her nose, trying to decide on a word, “put together. It was rather annoying at times. So seeing you today made him lose his cool and actually show emotion. Thathasto mean something, Mer.”

She had a point. Colt was a pro at projecting indifference. Nothing ever shook him. He’d take on the whole world with a careless shrug and lopsided grin. But that act never held up with me.

I shook my foggy head. None of that mattered now. “Why are we talking about this, Piper? Besides, youhatedColt.”

“Pshh, I hate all men. But I love you.”

“Aww,” I pulled her in for a clumsy hug. “I love you, too.”

She laughed. “I just want you to be happy, Mer. And if Colt is going to make you happy, then– ”

“Iamhappy!” I argued.

She gave me a knowing look. “When we were kids,that’swhen we were all happy.” She sighed. “Sometimes I wonder how everything went so wrong. I mean, I feel like I’m not even the same person. I know I’m older and everyone changes, but I used to be so determined. I used to be a cut-throat competitor, damnit.” She smacked the bar with her hand. “Now I feel weak, like I was in a fight against the world and the world won. And now I’m… ” she trailed off, noticing that I was distracted. “What? What’s wrong?”

I was still glued to her first sentence.

Whenwewere kids.

I could picture us.Allof us. My limbs went a little shaky. The bar suddenly felt way too hot, and I pulled at the top of my sweater. “Whenwewere kids,” I repeated with wide eyes.

“Yeah… and?” She arched a sharp eyebrow at me.

“Oh… oh shit,” I mumbled. “I think we might need more.” I raised my empty glass.

“What? Why?” She frowned.

“Piper…” I said warily, “has it occurred to you that wherever Colt is…” I trailed off, hoping she’d get what I was playing at.

She shook her head and held up a perfectly manicured fingernail. “No.”

“... the other two follow,” I finished with a grimace.

“Impossible,” she said. “How the hell would they be on the same team? There’s, like, fifty NHL teams, isn’t there? The last time I checked he was way up in some Canadian town.”

“When was that? They’re not rookies anymore. They probably have more choice in where they play.”

“No.” She stared at me. “No, I would've heard his name around the rink by now.”

“Would you have?” I swallowed hard. “Do you even pay attention to hockey? I didn’t even know the Whalers practiced at the Coliseum because they sneakily only use the back rink.” I paused. “Okay, let’s look him up.”

“No!” She wrangled my phone away from me.

I gasped. “Piper!” I tried to steal it back. “We have to know.”

“No, we really don’t!” Her voice went shrill with panic.

“Bartender! Sir!” I called out.

“Meredith Margot Bennett, don’t you dare–”

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