Page 28 of Yo Ho Ho
"That's actually true," Logan said with a laugh. "There are definitely days when we like her more than you."
"Which days?" Jordan asked incredulously.
Logan leaned over and quietly asked Charlotte, "Did you order the build-your-own sliders again this year?"
She smiled and nodded.
"Today is one of the days we like her more than you." Then Logan held his hand out for his teammate to shake. "Also, congratulations, captain."
Jordan shook his hand and slapped him on the back. Then their hostess started giving them directions — coats in the office, food in the kitchen, the open bar and hockey on the big TV in the living room, and pool in the dining room.
It was going to be a great party. Charlotte and the captain were engaged, the food was going to be amazing, and the guys had a car service to drive them home. Things would be fine as long as Logan didn't linger on the thought of Maxine Quinn in that parking lot yelling at him, which of course made him think about Max yelling at him. Yep, he was definitely going to need a drink.
Logan headed into the living room to get a drink from the bar, thankful to see a few of his teammates already there. He was hoping they would distract him, and they didn't disappoint. Ryan McCloud greeted him with a "What's up, ho?" before shaking his hand. He already seemed to be well into being buzzed for the evening. Sam Martin greeted him as well before telling Logan to try the specialty cocktail that Charlotte had picked out.
"It's a winter spice old fashioned," he explained. "It's why she has to plan every sweater party from now on."
"Unless she leaves the captain when she realizes he's a hockey player." Logan regretted the words that came out of his mouth as soon as he said them. "Oh, shit. Sorry, Sammy."
Sam took a long drink from his glass, gave him a tight smile and waved his hand in the air. "It's OK. I have to get used to that at some point, right?" he said. "Everyone can't walk on eggshells just because my wife walked out on me."
"That still totally sucks," Ryan said a louder volume than usual. "I mean, I'm totally straight, but I've seen you naked in the locker room and if I were a woman, I totally wouldn't walk out on that body."
Sam and Logan just stared in shock at their young teammate. There were so, so many things wrong with that statement. Sam finally just put his hand on Ryan's shoulder and smiled.
"I appreciate the sentiment, I guess, but this istotallyyour last drink."
"Fine," Ryan replied. "But it's totally not fair. I was just cleaning up Moore's mess."
Logan scoffed. "It's going to take a lot more than that to clean up the mess I've made of today."
"And what kind of mess did you make?" Sam asked.
"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one I insulted in the past 24 hours. In fact, that was pretty tame compared to what I did earlier."
Sam's eyes narrowed as he stared at his teammate. "What did you do earlier?"
Logan just waved him off. "It's nothing. Forget I said anything," he replied. "Besides, I'm a ho. What do I know?"
"Hey, that rhymed!" Ryan announced.
"Yep, we're cutting you off," Sam said. "Let's go get you some food."
"I'll see you in the kitchen."
Logan raised his hand to get the bartender's attention and ordered one of Charlotte's fancy cocktails. Sure, he had a flight to catch the next morning. They all did. But he also had a car service taking him home and quite a few moments when he stuck his foot in his mouth that he needed to forget about. Sam? He was a teammate and wouldn't hold it against Logan for accidentally bringing up his relationship with his soon-to-be ex-wife. But Max? That wasn't going to be fixed with a few drinks and some ugly sweaters.
Instead, Logan mingled with his teammates, talking to them about the Montreal game on television. Some of his teammates had their significant others with them and Logan talked to a few wives and girlfriends about the upcoming holidays. He was a smooth talker. It was something he had learned as part of his media training. He just wished that talking to a player's wife was as easy as talking to Max. For some reason, that was different.
Well, except for this morning, which he was trying to forget.
He politely excused himself from a group of the guys to order another one of the winter old fashioned things from the bartender before heading into the kitchen. It was just as Charlotte promised and more. The huge kitchen island was packed with food and some sort of snowy decorations — white twinkling lights and snowflake confetti. Plates and napkins in a festive light blue.
The team's trainer, Andy Mitchell, was working his way through the food with his girlfriend, Sydney. She was finally starting to get back on her feet after an awful year in which she lost her job because her boss stole a bunch of money from his clients. It was a big stressful financial case that had been all over the news in Detroit for months — and it wasn't over yet. Another minefield for Logan to wander into and blow up if he didn't choose his words carefully. Better to just keep things short and sweet.
"Hey, guys," he said as he started to build his own slider.
"Santa's favorite ho?" Sydney laughed. "That's the best sweater so far tonight. Better than Alex telling me to jingle his balls."
