Page 13 of Leo and His Love Bunny

It also has to do with the fact that I signed her contract, which offered me less money than any of the other five contracts I was offered when I was a rookie. Glenda rewarded me by keeping me on the team.

“I’m not sure,” I say as my fingers run through the condensation that has gathered on my glass.

I told the world that Nora and I have something going on, and I’m feeling guilty about the lie. Because we don’t.

“I have no idea what in the world we could possibly do together to make the lie I told actually be truth.”

I hate liars. I always have. I have always tried not to be one, but she just seemed so down and out, everything going wrong, that I couldn’t just not do something to help. Sometimes things come out of your mouth when you don’t mean for them to. It wasn’t like a premeditated lie, although I know that I’m splitting hairs. A lie is a lie, and it’s always wrong.

“Maybe she could help you with the speaking gigs you’ve been working on,” Cal says, grinning at me with his happy-go-lucky attitude. Cal is outgoing and fun, and he’s a great teammate as well. Because we spend so much time together, we can almost read each other’s minds. On the ice, that’s gold, and it makes up for some of the other things we’re not as good at.

“What? You think I need her to help me speak?” I ask, trying not to be offended. Cal has always told me that I am a natural at encouraging and uplifting people, and he is one of the reasons that I’ve been trying to turn it into a career. I have notes and have been working on writing a book. With my hockey career and being a captain of our team, I have the opportunity to put a lot of things into practice. I’ve also had the opportunity to be invited to speak at various organizations, schools, businesses, and even college campuses. I actually have a commencement speech to give in a couple of weeks. It’s kind of a big deal. The more people hear about me and know that I do these things, and the more that what I say actually helps them, the more booked my speaking schedule might become.

“She could be your booking agent,” Pete says, and I try not to snort too loudly. After all, Pete is a straight shooter and sees everything in black and white. A lot of times, those types are not very creative. And I hate to say it, but that’s about the worst idea I’ve ever heard.

“She owns a cupcake shop. She’s probably not going to have time to be my bookkeeper,” I say, and I allow just a little bit of sarcasm into my voice.

Pete doesn’t even smile, but he nods, looking thoughtfully at the empty plate in front of him.

We’re done eating, but while our meals were delicious, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time talking when we could be eating.

“What if she brought cupcakes to your speeches?” Cal asks. His voice sayswhat do you have to lose? I appreciate that the guys are willing to throw ideas out, because sometimes it takes a whole pile of ideas before you hit on one that is actually good.

In this case, I feel like Cal hit on one that is good immediately.

“That would really help her, wouldn’t it?” I say, the wheels in my head turning. “It wouldn’t just have to be speaking engagements. She could bring cupcakes to the team. Feed the wives, even sell them at our games. I could probably get some vendor space for her, even if she’s just sitting in the hall with a table.”

“Yeah, it’s premium. You might not be able to get her anything good, but breast cupcakes are going to catch the eye no matter where they are.”

“She wants to get away from that. I already told you,” I say to Cal, who is smirking.

He puts a hand up, nodding. “I was just messing with you, man.”

I wonder why I’m so sensitive about the breast cupcakes. They were realistic, and they have been a huge hit, but I guess just because I know that Nora didn’t mean for it to happen, and she wants to get away from it, and I want to help her. Also, I know the church ladies, as well-meaning as they are, won’t stand for it. But if other people act the same way my friends are, it’s going to be really difficult for her to get out from underneath the shadow of that.

“I think you might be onto something now,” I say. “I mean, I can talk to the people where I’m going to be speaking and see if there’s any place for her to set up shop. I can present us as a package deal. Where I’m speaking about how to be your best self, and I have a successful businesswoman from my hometown who built her business from scratch, selling cupcakes at my gig, proving the point of what I’m saying.”

I can get into this. It’s cheesy and not exactly original, but it would totally work. That’s if Nora is interested.

“It would make your lie the truth. If you and Nora have some kind of thing going on where she is the only one who is allowed to cater your speeches and presentations,” Pete says thoughtfully.

Our waitress comes back and removes our plates, asking if we want dessert.

Normally I’m all about dessert, but I guess I have cupcakes on the brain and almost feel like I’m not being faithful to Nora if I order dessert from someone else. Which is absolutely ridiculous. I’m thinking about this way too much. Kind of funny that my friends decline dessert as well.

“We need cupcakes,” Cal says as the waitress walks away after leaving our checks.

We all pull our phones out and scan the QR codes to pay, so it takes me a couple of minutes to answer him.

“Maybe that’s what I’ll work on tonight when I go to Nora’s.”

“Why would you say that in the first place?” Pete says, like he can’t quite wrap his head around why someone would do something spontaneously like I did. Pete is methodical and doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in his body. He also holds a grudge. I still love him, but I know that he doesn’t forget things. Like that woman he had arrested for indecent exposure. Now that would be a woman that Pete would never look twice at. He might forgive her, but he’s not going to forget that she was running around without a shirt on at an animal-rights rally, and he’ll remember that until the day he dies. She will always be Indecent Exposure Woman. I don’t think Pete believes in second chances.

Regardless, he booked her, because that was the right thing to do, but I have a tendency to believe the woman was actually caught up in the moment and indeed forgot that she had let someone else borrow her shirt.

“I guess... I guess I just felt so bad for her, and I wanted to do something to fix the situation. I know,” I say, holding up my hand as he opens his mouth. “I should learn to think before I speak. One of these days, maybe I will.”

The three of us get up and walk out of the small restaurant. It’s just a few blocks to our apartment building, and we spend most of the walk in silence.

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