Page 44 of Why Not Us?

We carry the things back outside where Taylor has returned to take over grilling. I introduce Adalie to a few more teammates and some girlfriends and wives who have shown up as well. Everyone is polite, but I’m certain they’re saving the nosy questions for later. Or maybe they’re just saving them for me. We return inside because she insists on helping me lay out the burger fixings and the other food the team has brought.

“Did you want a drink?” I ask. “I, uh, bought some peppermint tea the other day.”

I feel like a fucking idiot. I did when I bought the tea as well. But while I was at the store, I found myself in the aisle staring at teas, not having any clue what I was looking at.

“Really?” she asks, pausing in setting out a potato salad.

I scratch the back of my neck. “Yeah. It’s upstairs, but I could go get it.”

There’s that look again. The one that makes me want to do more nice things for her so she can smile at me like that, like I’ve just given her a bunch of diamonds instead of some tea.

“Thank you. Let’s save it for next Thursday. I’m okay right now.”

As I search in the fridge for the buns and condiments, I ask, “What was the meeting at Blue Vista about this morning?”

“Oh.” She takes the items from me, sorting them on the counter. “It’s kind of a long story, but the short version is we’re going to be changing the ownership structure. We’re going to be equal partners soon. I mean, we’ve always been equal when it comes to the running of the business. But Vic owns more of the actual equity.”

“Congratulations, I guess?”

She laughs. “Maybe when there’s not so much going on I’ll explain everything.”

I hand her a couple tomatoes and a knife while I work on separating the lettuce leaves. “It’s probably overwhelming meeting all these people at once,” I say.

“Not really,” she says, slicing the first tomato. “I’m pretty good with names. I like meeting new people.”

“I could tell.” She had seemed happy to meet every person I introduced her to. If it had been me, I would have been exhausted after the first one.

“You’ve known these guys for a long time?” she asks.

“Some of them longer than others. Doug, Mace, and I went to high school together. We were in this big friend group, but I didn’t hang out with them a lot.”

She grins. “Are you telling me you’ve always been a loner, Nate?”

I smile as well. “A little. We kind of lost touch after high school for a bit, then Zach mentioned to Taylor about starting a hockey team and he asked if I wanted to join. Zach and Taylor have always been friends. Actually, you’ll meet Mace and Zach’s sister Syn in a couple weeks. She and Zach work at the tattoo parlour with Sam.”

I’d texted her earlier in the week when I’d scheduled the appointment based on the dates Adalie had said would work.

She grabs the other tomato and continues slicing. “Mace and Zach don’t look much alike for brothers.”

I chuckle. “They shouldn’t. They’re adopted. Same with Syn and their other brother Everett.”

“All of them?” she asks, her eyes wide.

I nod as I take the lettuce to the sink to wash it all.

“But Everett doesn’t play on the team?”

“He’s part of the motorcycle club, but no. Not on the hockey team.”

She takes a plate and lays all the tomato slices on it. “Patricia and Raine said there’s a lot of brothers on your team.”

“Yeah. We have four sets in the main ten and one more among the casual fifteen.”

“It’s nice you have such a close group of guys. I could tell when you were playing that you make a good team. You trust each other. Sometimes it seemed like you knew where someone was without even needing to look.”

“We’ve played together a long time. It’s one of the reasons we won tonight and have such a good record.”

She brings the plate of tomatoes over to where I’m setting out some other things, a soft smile on her lips. “You’re really protective of them. Whenever someone hurt one of your teammates, you were right there, getting in the way.”

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