Page 34 of Bad Teammate
“Four and a half! Wow. You’re getting so big, Mackenzie.”
She nodded as if she wholly endorsed that statement. “Yup.”
“She’s so darling,” I said to Emma.
“Thank you,” Emma said. “Speaking of darling—I love your outfit, Katerina. You lookamazing.”
“Thank you! I bought it today.”
“You did?” She leaned closer, her interest piqued. “Can I askwhere?”
I told her where I’d bought it, and all the other places I went shopping today. She had all sorts of recommendations for other places to go while I was in town.
“I loveyourdress, too, by the way,” I said. “You’re so pretty.”
“Aw, thanks!” Emma touched my forearm. “I was going to ask if all the girls in Russia are as beautiful as you!”
I didn’t feel half as pretty as Emma, but I liked her already—she was a genuine soul, and I felt so at ease, like I could be myself around her.
But Jack drew an uncomfortable breath, looking like he was suffering from an overdose of estrogen. “Hey, Katerina, could you tell your brother something for me real fast?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, so there’s this problem our line keeps having when we’re on the forecheck,specificallywhen the puck is deep in the o-zone and I’m the F1 and Niko is the F2—”
“Honey …” Emma interrupted, making a funny face and squeezing her husband’s thigh.
“What?” he asked, raising his shoulders.
“She probably doesn’t want to translate the nitty-gritty details of your hockey strategy right now, you know? It’s her party! Let her have fun.”
I smiled. “I don’t mind. It’s partly why I came to visit, so I could translate for Sasha.”
“See?” Jack smiled at his wife. “She doesn’t mind.”
I spent a few minutes doing intensive, back-and-forth hockey strategy with Sasha and Jack. While I interpreted, a group of kids ran up to the couch with an urgent question—“Can Mackenzie play with us?”—and rescued Mackenzie from boring adult talk. Emma also excused herself to mingle with the other hockey wives, but not before inviting me to join them once I was free.
By the time the two teammates had hammered out the hockey problem they were having and agreed on a solution moving forward, Jack suddenly realized he’d lost his ladies. He looked around the party for them, anxiously drumming his hands on his knees. I could tell he was a bit shy. But he was clearly a good man who lived for those girls.
“Well, I should track my girls down.” He stood and shook my hand again. “Nice to meet you, Katerina. Thanks for translating.”
“Anytime, Jack.”
Sasha finished his plate just as Julia entered through the front door. He jumped off the couch to greet her. I took my eyes off them for a moment and they disappeared together.
I was alone again.
I looked around the room to find Emma—but spotted Derek first. He was engaged in a conversation with a friend, though he looked like he was only half-listening. Something had distracted him—and that somethingwasme. Realizing I’d caught him staring, he said something to his friend and broke away.
My heart quickened. I knew he was coming to talk to me. Didn’t he understand that we shouldn’t be talking to each other anymore?
I pretended like I didn’t know Derek was approaching until he stood directly in front of me, and I couldn’t ignore his presence any longer. A flustered heat rushed into my cheeks as my eyes slowly tracked up his expensive sapphire blue suit. Mounds and bulges swelled inallthe right places, making my insides twist and knot.
God, I’m just as bad as he is, aren’t I?
“Hi, Katerina,” he said. “Can I get you a drink?”
I turned away from him. “No, thank you.”
