Page 50 of The Husband Game

“Of course,” Charlie said with a wry smile and roll of his eyes.

“But I’ve always thought it was because she knows hockey and hockey players. She knows what guys are like. If they’ve spent all of their teenage years working to make it to the NHL, they kinda miss a lot of life stuff, you know?”

Charlie nodded. He’d missed a lot because of his skating career.

“So I really appreciated her sitting down with me and going, ‘Okay, this is how you set up your calendar. This is how you prepare for interviews and make all of those little pieces work together so you’re never letting people down.’ I tried to take over once I became captain. Teaching the new guys the ropes. Paying it forward for what Kate did for me, I guess.”

“You really admire her, huh?”

“I do,” Dustin said. “And I think you’ll like her too.”

“I’m sure I will.”

Dustin glanced at his screen again. “Okay, so looking over my schedule for the rest of the week, I have a handful of interviews I have to do. Most will be phone or video chats and I can probably shift some stuff around if I need to. Reporters are usually pretty flexible if you ask nicely. I do have a couple this morning though so if you need anything before noon I’ll be around, holed up in my office.” He gestured vaguely to the room around the corner Charlie was dying to renovate. “Also, I have some volunteering commitments at the local children’s hospital. I try to go at least a couple of days a week during the off-season so I need to decide when that’s happening.”

“That’s nice of you.” Charlie gave up on the search for tea and leaned against the counter.

Dustin shrugged. “It’s the least I can do. Oh, at some point this week we’re going to need to go to the arena to do some paperwork. They need some signatures for the insurance stuff. Kate wants to talk PR strategy too, although I think mostly she’s dying to meet you.”

Charlie let out a small laugh. “Should I be scared?”

“Terrified.” Dustin grinned at him. “I’m still not convinced she won’t string me up by my nuts for this hasty wedding.”

“I’ll protect you,” Charlie joked.

Dustin’s smile turned crooked. “I do believe you could be absolutely terrifying if you wanted to be.”

That shouldn’t have pleased Charlie so much but it was nice to think Dustin didn’t look at him and see someone frail and helpless the way so many people did. Dustin looked at him like he was strong and fierce and something to be reckoned with.

“Well,” Charlie said with a shrug. “My schedule is pretty much open until I hear more about a job. I did get an email from my boss in Chicago saying she’d call tomorrow morning and we could ‘chat’.”

“Is that as ominous as it sounds?”

“Maybe. We’ll see. If you wanted to do your volunteering tomorrow during that time, that might work well though. We could go to the arena Wednesday.”

Dustin glanced at his screen, then let out a little hum. “Sounds good. Oh, we’ll need to take care of your work visa paperwork soon too. That’ll take a little while to process.”

“How long are we talking?” Charlie asked apprehensively.

“It sounds like six weeks is the usual but I was told the team would try to expedite it. So maybe a month?”

“Oh, that’s not so bad. I was afraid I’d be sitting around twiddling my thumbs for months and months.”

“It’s up to you, of course. If you want to relax and sun by the pool and shop or whatever, that’s an option too.”

Charlie wrinkled his nose. “No. I like those things but only in smaller doses.” He’d spent his entire childhood and adolescence figure skating and attending school.

Idleness did not come naturally to him.

“You could do some volunteering, if you’re interested. Elena organizes the WAG charity events so you can talk to her about opportunities there. Or I could get you in at the children’s hospital.”

“Volunteering would be good. I’ll definitely talk to Elena about it.”

“Hey, what were you looking for earlier?”

Charlie shrugged. “Just some tea.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any. We can pick some up while we’re out though.”

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