Page 5 of Mr. Charming

“Sounds like a drag.” I nod toward the security guard, Mike.

“Does anyone up there know about your past with her?” He changes the subject because he’s concerned.

All of our friends are concerned anytime we might be thrown together. I already bow out of anything Aiden and Saige have because that’s Tedi’s domain. She tends to give me the same respect when it comes to Ford and Lena. She can have Kane and Jana since they screwed me over anyway with that trade from Florida. Tedi and I haven’t been able to coexist with our Florida friends since the demise of our relationship.

“A few, but they’ll be quiet about it.” Although our relationship was never a secret. For all I know, people are talking about it behind my back all the time. “I gotta go. Give Cory my best. Ever since he got out from under you, he’s had the star power.”

“No one made him stay as long as he did, and I don’t see you announcing your retirement.”

“They’ll have to drag me off the ice.”

Aiden laughs. “You, me, and Warner.”

“Fuck, we should do a trio one year. All of us go in one shot.”

He laughs. “You know someone will just come in and take over our spots.”

“They’ll never be as good as us.”

“Definitely not.” The phone muffles. “I know. I know.” He returns. “Okay, I’m here, and so is Ford and all the other guys if you need us. I know this isn’t going to be easy?—”

“Bye.” I cut him off.

“Tweetie.” His voice sounds as though there’s so much more he wants to say, but he can’t fix this situation for me.

I hang up and pocket my phone, chewing over the fact that my ex is going to be working with me. I haven’t seen Tedi in years, and I have no clue how this is going to work.

Three

Tedi

I get snug in my first-class seat while the sun descends and grab my tablet to do some work during my flight. I need to figure out how I’m going to turn this around in Chicago. Scanning through what Gill has done so far, my finger stops on a picture of Tweetie laughing with the men I think are his closest friends on the team. He always makes friends so fast, so it doesn’t surprise me how close he is to the other three key players on the Falcons.

“You a Tweetie Sorenson fan?” the woman in the seat next to me asks.

I tilt the tablet toward the window and turn to look at her. She’s about my age, with red hair cut in a cute short style I’d never be able to pull off, but it looks great on her. Her smile is wide and welcoming.

“Sorry.” She cringes and raises her hand. “Huge Falcons fan.”

“It’s okay.” I lower the tablet, allowing my defenses to subside. I have no claim to Tweetie anyway.

“If my husband was sitting where I am, he’d be talking your ear off about that Trifecta.”

I smile politely. The Trifecta. The name used for Tweetie, his center, Rowan, and right wing, Henry. Coined by his agent, Jagger Kale, the person whose brain I should probably be picking about how to sell these guys. It’s a name he purposely used a few times, then bam, it stuck, and now they will always be referred to as the Trifecta. After Conor Nilsen joined last year as their goalie, it’s now “The Trifecta and Pinkie are unstoppable.”

“They are something.”

She looks at the tablet again. “Go back to whatever you were doing. I’m sorry for interrupting.”

My vision lingers on the line of people still boarding. I could sit here and allow my anxiety over what I’m about to do to keep ratcheting higher and higher the closer it comes to the plane’s wheels leaving the New York tarmac only to land in Chicago, or I can distract myself.

“Are you from Chicago?” I ask.

She nods. “I was just here for business. It’s new for me to be traveling, and I can’t wait to get home. They say it’s so easy doing this career and family thing, but it’s hard to be away.”

“My best friend struggled with that for a long time.”

“The struggle is real, but I think I’m a little hormonal from still breastfeeding. Lugging around a pump isn’t ideal for self-confidence. Petrified you’re going to leak in the middle of the conference room.”

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