Page 13 of Slap Shot Surprise
“Well, it’s a good thing you did. Now you can start working on that list.”
“What list?”
“Of all the things you haven’t done.”
Our eyes met, and my belly flipped.
“Hey Joe!” someone yelled from behind him. “We need you for pictures before it starts raining!”
“Be there in a minute!” he called over his shoulder. Facing me again, he asked, “So will I see you at the reception?”
Somehow I found my voice. “Yes.”
“Good. Maybe we can have a drink while your life isn’t flashing in front of your eyes.”
I smiled, trying to sound breezy, like hot NHL playersasked me to drinks all the time. “Okay, but you have to promise you won’t bring up anything I said last night.”
“Well, now you’re just taking all the fun out of it.” Grinning, he started walking backward, his eyes turning my insides molten. “See you there.”
“He wasdefinitelyflirting with you,” Ari said as we made the short drive over to The Pier Inn. I’d repeated my conversation with Joe for her, word for word.
“I don’t know.” I remembered how he’d flirted with the pretty blond flight attendant. “I think that’s just his personality.”
“Listen, I was standing right there. I saw the way he looked at you. I heard him say he was glad to see you. And he said you looked beautiful, right?”
“I think so. I might have dreamed it.”
“And he said he’d been thinking about you.”
“Only because he was at Buckley’s Pub last night and remembered my name.”
She thumped a hand on the steering wheel. “Mabel Buckley! Is it so impossible to believe that he’d be attracted to you?”
“Kind of.” I shrugged. “I’m not saying that to be down on myself—it’s just facts. This guy is some kind of NHL superstar, and hot jocks usually go for a different type of girl.”
“Stop it. You’re gorgeous and funny and smart.”
I smiled at her. “You’re my best friend. You are not a good judge of me.”
“I’d argue I’m thebestjudge. And I don’t think you should ignore this kind of sign from the universe.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Think about it. Less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought you were going to die without ever having a one-night stand with a hot stranger, and lo and behold, a hot stranger hath appeared before you—twice! This is fate taking the reins of your life, Mabel Buckley.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, laughing at her dramatic assessment. “It’s not fate, it’s geography. We both grew up in this area. His friend married your cousin. We happened to be on the same flight from Chicago.”
“You say tomato, I say to-mahto.” Ari turned into the parking lot of The Pier Inn and pulled up at the valet.
“Because I know a tomato when I see one. I’m not saying I won’t enjoy his company over a glass of bubbly, but don’t get your hopes up. Nothing is going to happen.”
However, inside the ladies’ room of The Pier Inn, I fussed with my hair, reapplied my lip gloss, and swiped my roll-on perfume oil behind my ears, across my throat, and inside my wrists. Then, after a furtive glance around to make sure I was alone, I stuck it down the front of my dress and rolled the scent between my breasts.
I was pretty sure this situation was a tomato.
But if itwasa to-mahto, I wanted to be prepared.
FOUR
