Page 44 of Yo Ho Ho
She put her glass down on the table and gave him a defiant look. "No, the last guy I brought in here didn't know who Bobby Orr is."
"So you just dated a guy who knew nothing about hockey? You didn't have an actual relationship with him?"
"Exactly. So it wasn't that bad."
Her stoic face started to break and it seemed she couldn't stop the smile that teased the corners of her lips. Instead, she started to laugh and picked up her glass again, pointing a spare finger at Logan.
"In my defense, I was trying something new by dating a guy who knew nothing about hockey. You know, get out of my comfort zone."
"And how did that work out for you?"
She shrugged. "I went on a week-long road trip with the Pirates and never heard from the guy again," she said. "Besides, I'm here with you now if that says anything."
Logan stared into her brown eyes and took a deep breath. "It does."
He raised his glass in her direction, and she clinked hers against his before they both took a drink. The uneasiness of their walk over was finally starting to break away from him. He didn't have to be nervous around her. She was Max. She cracked jokes about guys she had gone on dates with and liked hockey. She was easy to be around. Not pretentious or high maintenance like most women he went on dates with. Not money grubbing or begging him to take her to the fanciest restaurant or the trendiest night club. She was self-deprecating but also self-assured. She didn't need to be seen with him. She just wanted to be with him.
It was an odd revelation for him, but a good one. A very good one. It seemed to warm him, and warmed her up to him. She put her glass down and started asking him questions, but real questions and not hockey questions.
"So you live in Birmingham," she said. "Doesn't seem like a happening place for a single hockey player."
"That's why I like it."
Logan told her about his apartment and why he wanted to live somewhere that wasn't right next to the arena. He talked about the awesome restaurant downstairs that had his order memorized because he went there so often. He mentioned the nice older couple who lived next door because their kids were older and living on their own.
"Mary came by the other day with a whole platter filled with Christmas cookies she made for me."
"Your neighbor is a nice old lady who makes you cookies?"
"Yep."
"And Amanda gave you cookies when she filled in for me on that road trip?"
Logan gave her a teasing smile. "You wish you had my life."
Max laughed in a way that warmed him to his core, her smile infectious and inviting. It was all just… nice. Sure, it was a dumb, boring word to describe it, but there was something just so basic and calming about being with her at this table, talking about his neighbors or her parents. Max told him about some talk she went to a few weeks ago at the library when she actually had a day off. Logan mentioned how much he liked to put on a baseball cap and sit in the corner of the Starbucks near his place, watching people walk by.
They both remembered growing up and playing sports in the winter months when the temperatures would drop and the snow would pile up.
"My uncle had a cabin on a lake in Ontario that had this huge hill out back," Logan explained. "When it was really cold and the lake froze over, we would take our sleds back there and go down the hill until we hit the bottom and slid at least another hundred yards out on the ice."
"I bet it was a long hike back after that."
"Totally worth it." Logan took a drink and gave her a wistful smile. "I miss that place so much in the winter."
"You don't go up there anymore?"
He shook his head. "My uncle died a few years ago. Heart attack. So my aunt sold the place, and the new owners scraped the whole thing off and built a huge cabin on the property."
"I know what that's like."
Logan raised a surprised eyebrow in her direction. He watched Max give him a tight smile and take another drink from her glass.
"That picture you saw at my place? It was from this awesome rink I used to go to over in Ferndale when I was growing up. Three sheets of ice and a smaller rink that had free skating at seven in the morning on the weekends. I was there all the time. All the time."
"But you haven't been back?"
She stared down at her glass. "They sold it a decade ago. It was torn down and now it's a strip mall. There's a trendy sushi place where that little practice rink was."
