Page 37 of For the Win
Connor’s are pretty funny.
Connor: I know you’re in your room, Winnie. Where else would you be in this weather? Are you mad I stole your stone massage? I needed it. Is your phone on silent?
Ten minutes later…
Connor: The housekeeper let me in because I remind her of her grandson.
Connor: Your phone is missing but your clothes are all over the floor, so I know you didn’t run away to a warm island full of naked men the way you’re always threatening to. Where the hell are you?
One minute later…
Connor: Val and Bex are calling now. They never call me. They call you, but you’re not answering. Can you please get back here and save me? I’m really worried, man.
He sent another text less than an hour later.
Connor: I talked to the guy you’re shacked up with now. Tanaka said you’re two miles away in a cabin with a generator and food and a trustworthy friend. You dog. You got lost in a freak blizzard and wound up hooking up with one of Batman’s buddies?
I hadn’t planned on it, but yes. That’s exactly what happened. I snicker, though I’m blushing like a tween girl.
Connor: You’re not responding, but who else am I going to talk to now that Kate is circling me like a shark? A really hot redheaded shark. Can I say that? I mean, they were only fake dating, which no one told me about until they were fake broken up. She keeps asking about Bex and Val’s living situation. I told her they’re like the Odd Couple now, but not in a good way. It made her laugh. Should I have said they were dating so she’d be real jealous over her fake ex? I suck at this and I hate it.
I love that adorkable man. I can’t stop laughing. And then I see something really interesting.
Connor: The sweet doll who works at the front desk said you mentioned me before you left, so I forgive you for putting yourself in danger by being an idiot.
Connor: She likes Jason Statham movies and steak, her name is Veronica and I’m buying her a drink as we speak. She’s stuck at the lodge, so I’m thinking of offering her your room in the suite. If you were here, I could get your advice on this so I don’t come off as a creeper, but I have a feeling you’d approve. I really like her.
“Yes!” I pump my fist in the air and the M&Ms bark excitedly.
I am fully aware that it’s weird to be this excited every time Connor has the possibility of finding a good woman. But after his childhood, which in some ways was more of a mindfuck than mine, he deserves to be a worthy someone’s husband.
The problem is, he’s always in locker rooms or at sporting events and doesn’t believe in online dating or my type of hooking up. Connor is old fashioned, but in a “Future World’s Greatest Dad” kind of way.
At first, I thought he’d find someone at work, but the women filling the bleachers during middle school sporting events are mostly harried moms, doting grandmothers, and sisters of team members that are too experienced with Instagram makeup tutorials for me to determine whether or not they’re age appropriate to fix up with my roomie.
Finding him a girlfriend is a difficult and often thankless job, which might explain why I’m really rooting for Front Desk Veronica.
Me: I’m alive and well, just a twisted ankle to show for my adventures. I hope you let her sleep in my room. Or your room, in case you remembered that you’re over thirty and that was an option. I’ll talk to you later. You should see if she wants to have breakfast with you. I bet she’d say yes.
With that out of the way, I get to my feet, walk to the window and stare out at the swirling snow I’m still oddly unbothered by while I call Bex.
“You better have a good reason for not calling me last night.”
“Happy Saturday to you too, and I was mostly unconscious.” I’m not above reminding her I was injured to soften her ire. “Because of the whole lost and frozen in the woods for hours situation.”
“They said you were okay. Were they lying?”
“I’m fine, I swear. Some scrapes and a lecture from Connor in my future about the right footwear, but otherwise, I’m surprisingly good.”
“He told me you lucked your way to some guy’s cabin. And when Seamus Finn described him for me, I thought he might be the one at the bar that night. The guy you disappeared with after your song.”
“Rebecca Asher Gordon. You called him in the middle of his parents’ anniversary weekend to get intel? During a blizzard?” I lean my forehead against the cold window. “You could have waited for me to tell you.”
“You can be protective but I can’t return the favor? I needed to know you weren’t in danger. We’re halfway there, by the way. It was slow going last night, but Val’s truck is built for this kind of thing. We’re currently at a bed and breakfast one town over with the band you were supposed to play with. They’ve been very entertaining.”
She left Val’s house? Except for doctor appointments, she hasn’t done that in months. “I didn’t mean to worry you that badly.”
“Yeah, well, you did. I shouldn’t have pushed you to go there in the first place. And the whole time you were gone, I went stir crazy, wondering what you and Connor were doing. Val actually suggested coming before we heard about the snowstorm, which means I’ve been driving him crazy too.”
