Page 35 of I'm Your Guy
“That was a great deke!” Rigo’s gaze is glued to the TV. “I think we can win this one. And your man DiCosta looks fierce tonight.”
I gulp when the camera shows me his face. It’s sweaty now, and his murderous expression is strangely hot. It’s all that intensity. Like a leopard stalking a tasty gazelle.
And then he pounces! He chases after a competitor, boxing him in and then skating backwards at top speed, all while antagonizing his opponent with lightning-fast jabs of his stick.
He snags the puck, and before I can blink, he’s off in a new direction, passing to a teammate, and then boxing a new opponent out of the action.
A whimper of longing escapes my chest.
“What?” Rigo says. “I missed that.”
“Nothing.” Keep it together, Flynn.
“Did you just whimper when DiCosta made that play?” Rigo laughs. “I thought you weren’t a hockey fan?”
That’s what I thought, too.
THIRTEEN
Tommaso
We fly home after the game, and I don’t make the turn into Red Rock Circle until one in the morning. Newgate’s place across the street is lit up like a literal Christmas tree.
My house is dark as a tomb, of course.
I make my way inside, flip on the overhead light, and get a shock. In my absence, the whole room has been transformed. It’s hard to know where to look first.
For starters, the new white paint is clean and crisp. I wouldn’t have guessed painting over that yellow color would make the room look bigger, but somehow it does.
Next, my gaze lands on the fireplace wall. It looks smashing in slate green. Like it was always meant to be that color.
When I step a little farther inside, I notice the TV is sitting on top of some kind of long, low shelf made of dark wood. Carter said this particular piece of furniture would be only temporary, but it looks really good anyway, confirming my original impulse to choose wooden furniture for this room.
Most surprising of all, the drop cloths and painters’ gear have disappeared from the floor. In their place is a spacious rug, centered on the shining floorboards. It’s patterned in subtle hues and thick underfoot.
The rug looks vaguely familiar. I’m sure Carter showed it to me in the rug shop, right about the time my anxiety was kicking in. I’d gotten twitchy about making it to the airport on time.
He’d noticed. He’d cut our time short, gave my elbow a squeeze, and told me he’d choose something to show me later.
I guess he meant right now, because there’s a note in the center of the rug, and I pace over and pick it up.
Dear Tommaso,
You’re not the only one who doesn’t know jargon. So I’ll just say this: good job sportsing tonight. I can tell you were sportsing harder than the other team, because the scoreboard said Colorado 4, Nashville 2 when you were done.
Also, Rigo got very excited and did some jumping up and down on the ladder.
We’re insured, I swear.
Anywho, I hope you like the rug. Unlike furniture, rugs can go out on approval. You have fourteen days to decide if you like this one. Bear in mind that your couch arrives on Monday, and I want to see them together.
Maybe I’m just high on paint fumes, but doesn’t this place look great?
Toodles,
Carter
Toodles?
