Page 121 of One Night Only
I’m pulled from my thoughts, turning to see Hannah standing right there, a can of White Claw in her hand.
“Oh, hey!” I smile.
She wraps an arm around me in a side hug that I reciprocate, hugging her back.
“Who you watchin’ with a smile like that, huh?” Hannah nudges me playfully.
I try to play dumb, but when I look at her, I can tell she already knows.
My shoulders fall on a resigned sigh, but before I can confess, she dismisses it with a wave of her hand and a conspiratorial wink as Fran returns from the bar with another wine for me and one for herself too.
“Oh, hey, Han.” She nudges Hannah with her hip. “We’re going to go watch the game down by the ice so we can be feral without being frowned upon by some of the snobs up here. You coming?”
“Yeah, but I need proper snacks. I can’t with all this fancy shit,” Hannah murmurs with a derisive glance at a tray of unappetizing looking canapes, turning and nodding for us to follow.
After a lengthy wait in the concessions line, I follow Fran and Hannah down the steps to our designated row. I’m hardly paying attention to anything other than each steep step. The last thing I need is to fall on my ass and drop my giant bucket of popcorn. But when Hannah and Fran stop suddenly, I don’t realize until I collide with Fran and almost take her out, thankfully steadying myself at the last second.
“Need a map?” I yell out over the noise of the crowd, craning my neck to see what the hold up is.
“Um…” Fran turns, her big blue eyes wider than normal when they land on me, and I don’t know what the problem is, but panic swells low in my belly.
“What?”
“Did you know he was going to be here?” she hisses.
Confused, I peer over her shoulder, almost ducking to theground when I spot Andy seated right there in the very aisle our seats are for tonight. I gape at her, anxiety tightening around my chest. “No!”
She grimaces before looking back at Andy and forcing a smile, pulling me with her as she mutters over shoulder, “Just play along.”
Taking a deep breath, I lift my chin slightly higher, forcing a smile as I follow Fran and Hannah along the aisle.
“Hey, Boss,” Fran says sweetly.
“Oh, hi, ladies,” Andy says, glancing up from his cell, doing a double take when he spots me. “Emily?”
Hannah and Fran take their seats, leaving the one next to Andy for me, of course, and with a waning smile I sit down, meeting his curious gaze. “Hi.”
“What are you—” Andy looks around, for what I don’t know, his brow furrowed when his eyes meet mine once again. “What are you doing here?”
I tuck my hair behind my ear, considering my response. And I wish I had the balls to just tell him straight, right now, that I’m here to watch my boyfriend play, and that he just needs to deal with it or fire me. But I’m a chicken shit, and suddenly I’m flailing for words. “I… um… I?—”
“Oh, Em’s my hockey date,” Fran interjects, sitting forward and talking around me. She looks at me with a conspiratorial wink, grinning. “I hate coming to the games alone, and thankfully Emily is just as clueless about hockey as I am, so we just spend most of the time gossiping.”
Andy snorts. “Now, why doesn’t that surprise me.”
My shoulders ease because he seems to buy it. But then…
“How was your Christmas?” Andy asks, diverting his attention back down to his phone. “Did you have a nice time with your folks?”
“Uh, yeah…” I lie. “It was… perfect,” I quickly add with slightly more conviction because at least that part’s not a lie. It was perfect. My most perfect Christmas yet.
Andy glances up at me, a penetrating look in his dark brown eyes that almost makes my bravado crumble down around me. But then he smiles. And before he can say anything more, before he can interrogate me any further, the lights in the arena dim as the opening guitar riff of AC/DC’s “Thunder” starts to play throughout, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, the game is exciting enough that we managed to get through the first period without any more small talk forced between me and Andy. There’s been plenty of yelling and screaming from Fran, Hannah, and Andy. I’ve remained quiet, standing where appropriate, clapping when required. But honestly, I’ve been too preoccupied by my literal boss, the very man who imposed the non-fraternization clause that I’m currently in breach of, sitting right next to me, while I watch the man I’m breaching it for, fight in the crease, defending the net from puck after ruthless puck.
During the first break, I was able to disappear to the bathroom, and thankfully the line was long enough to take up the entire fifteen minutes. But now, seven minutes into the second period, the tension is high, and my attention is so fully captivated by what’s going on out on the ice, I almost forget Andy is sitting right there.
When the Lion’s right wing shoots from the blue line, the puck hits the cross bar with a loud clang, rebounding back into the play and turned over with Alex Henry snapping it to Logan, then Logan to Rusty, who takes it all the way down. Neither team has scored, but apparently that’s normal for a game like this. Rusty shoots, and the Lions’ goalie saves it, catching the puck in his glove.
