Page 38 of Shootout
Vick snorted. “Normally, I only see that look on a guy’s face when it involves a woman. Things must be heating up with Jessie.”
I didn’t deny his take on the situation. I enjoyed being with Jessie. I was intrigued by her. And yeah, I wanted things to heat up.
“Where are you off to?” I asked, shifting the conversation away from Jessie and me.
“Getting a bite to eat, then I’ll head home.”
“I’ll join you.” I have a few hours before I’d need to be back here. “How about the Place?”
“Works for me. Let’s walk?”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
The Place was almost empty. The lunch crowd had left, and the dinner crowd hadn’t arrived yet. We settled into a booth and ordered burgers and a beer. We talked about the team and hockey for several minutes before Vick looked at me straight on. I sensed what was coming and stiffened.
“What’s the deal with you and Wild’s sister? Seems pretty serious on the surface.”
“But below the surface?” I weighed in my head how much I trusted this guy. He’d soon be my roommate. As a goalie, he noticed little things, and he’d figure out Jessie and I didn’t have a normal relationship.
“Something doesn’t add up. You wanna tell me about it?”
“Can you keep it on the down-low?”
“Absolutely.” Vick spoke with utter conviction, and I believed him.
Before I thought better of it, I blurted out the entire sordid story about Jessie and me, leaving out a few details. He sat back and scratched his chin when I was done, not commenting for several seconds. He had a goalie’s calm, unreadable expression. I had no idea what he was thinking.
“You do realize you’re playing with fire if Wild finds out the truth?”
“Fuck, yes, I realize that.”
“And you’re sure this is completely fake because I’ve seen how the two of you look at each other?” Vick eyed me with skepticism and a bit of amusement, which rankled me.
“I mean, I’m a guy, and she’s an attractive woman. So, yeah, but it’s nothing serious. Besides, she’s not ready to jump into another relationship.”
Vick frowned. “You said it’s been a year?”
“That’s what I understand. They have a long history together. As a guy who’s never been in a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks, I can’t speak to what the normal time frame would be.”
Vick’s expression changed like the clouds blocking the sun. “Sometimes a guy—a person—never mends a broken heart and moves on.”
I squinted at him, trying to decipher if he was talking about Jessie or himself. I didn’t probe into my teammates’ personal lives or get too involved. When he didn’t volunteer any additional info, I let his comment go. We all had skeletons, and Vick appeared to have his fair share. Being passed from team to team as he had probably didn’t bode well for any relationship. Vick wasn’t a huge partier, and I imagined he was a one-woman guy who craved stability instead of variety, unlike me.
I didn’t know much about him. Had no idea if he’d been married before or engaged or anything. I had the urge to ask, which for me was surprising.
“Is there a story I need to know?”
“No.” His blunt answer was unlike him, and he refused to meet my gaze. “All I’m saying is some people get attached for life, and they can’t just walk away and find someone else. It’s not in their DNA.”
“I see. You think Jessie is like that?”
“No fucking clue.”
I shrugged in response. I had no clue either. After all, I’d known her under two weeks. Oddly, I felt as if she’d been in my life longer than that, and there was something about her that drew me in. Something I wasn’t able to resist. I neglected to tell him about us trying to find a hotel room that one night before we both came to our senses and the undeniable sexual attraction I felt toward her. None of it meant anything but that I was a sex-deprived guy in my prime, and I needed someone to scratch my itch. That had to be it. Nothing else explained my reaction to her.
If I’d been in Detroit, I knew my share of discreet women who were up for a night of fun and nothing more. I’d have been able to satisfy my urges rather than fixating on the one woman I couldn’t have among all the other women I had to stay clear of until we ended this thing.
Being guys, we didn’t talk about personal shit for too long. Soon the conversation turned to hockey. We ate dinner and drank a few beers. I liked Vick. He was a good guy, and he’d be a great roommate, not that he had a tough act to follow when it came to the rookies.
