Page 103 of Fake Out Hearts

“What am I, a lucky charm or something?”

As we pull out onto the street, Theo looks me in the eye and grins. “Something like that.”

Theo parks in the area reserved for the players and staff at the arena a few minutes later and walks me inside to the family room. Callie and Margo are already there, and they both light up when they see us walk in.

“Becca! You’re back,” Callie says and darts over to throw her arms around me. “Glad to see you’re up and moving again. You feeling okay?”

“Never better.”

“We missed you,” Margo says as she catches up and hugs me too.

“Me too. The group chat was a real lifeline, but it’s not the same thing.”

Theo kisses the top of my head. “I’ll let you girls catch up. I need to go get changed.”

“Good luck tonight. Not that you’ll need it,” I tell him as I press my head against his chest.

“I already have it.” He kisses me once more and disappears.

Callie beams at me when I turn back around after he leaves.

“It sure sounds like things are going well for you two,” she says with a teasing expression.

“They are for sure.”

“And it seems like the furor over the episode is dying off already too, at least as far as I can tell,” Margo says as she scrolls on her phone, no doubt monitoring the social media chatter. “Not that any of us believed that shit for a second. I don’t thinkthe public bought it either, based on how quickly the story is already fading.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” I ask with my chest clenched. This whole thing blowing over without any real fallout seems like too much to hope for, but if Margo is right, that’s exactly what’s happening.

“Oh, definitely. I mean, people are still talking about it. But that’s kind of the way these social media stories go. People move quickly from one outrage to the next.”

“Well, I don’t wish the firestorm on anyone else, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t grateful I’m out of the hot seat. At least for now.”

“Don’t blame you there,” Margo says as she pockets her phone. “Anyway, we’d better get you to your seat before the warmups start. I don’t want to fight the crowds, and I’ve got to work this game..”

I follow her and Callie to our usual best seats in the house and get settled in just before warmups start. The Aces are playing against Minnesota’s Monarchs tonight, a lower-ranked team that they haven’t played against yet this season. It should be a pretty uneventful night unless the Monarchs have really upped their game since last season.

Neither team seems particularly excited when they take the ice for warmups, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Theo finds me in the crowd right away, beaming at me through his visor. He’s loose and free on the ice, which is a nice change from how I’ve seen him the last few games, all tense and agitated.

When warmups are over, both teams form up for the face-off, and I cheer with the rest of the Aces fans when Theo takes the puck. He dances down the ice, gliding between the Monarchs like they aren’t even there, and attempts a shot. But the goalieblocks it, which seems to mildly annoy Theo, but he bounces back quickly.

At the next face-off, the Monarchs take the puck, but they don’t hold it for long. Their center attempts a pass, and Theo’s there to intercept it. The crowd goes wild as he drives down the ice in the opposite direction, and this time he sinks the goal. I jump out of my seat to cheer for him with everyone else, and again he finds me in the crowd, pointing at me with this stick and winking.

My face appears on the giant screens above the ice as the crowd cam locks on me, and I instantly freeze. After the crap with Shawn’s show, I’m way less comfortable being this visible right now. The mob online will be looking for anything at all to use to tear me apart again. My arms drop, and I look down at my feet until Callie takes my hand and drags it back up into the air.

“Screw them. Don’t let Shawn and his goons steal your happiness. Enjoy this!” she shouts over the noise, making me smile. She’s right. I love hockey, and I love watching Theo play, so why shouldn’t I soak it up? Anyone who’s on Shawn’s side in this would tear me down no matter what I did, so I might as well have fun.

And Theo really is playing better than I’ve seen him play all season, which is saying something because he’s been on fire the last few games. His first goal seems to have taken the wind out of the Monarch’s sails though because they don’t put up much of a fight for the rest of the game, and the Aces end up taking it 3-0 with another goal from Theo and one from Reese.

After the game, I head back to the family room with Callie and Margo to wait for Theo. I don’t think the press interviews will take very long after a game like that, and I’m right because Theo appears just about fifteen minutes later. He opens his arms to me, and I throw myself into them for him to kiss me.

“Three to nothing, how about that?” he asks when we break. “I guess you were right, my wife really is my lucky charm.”

“I don’t know if it was luck so much as it was skill. You played amazingly tonight.”

“Because you were there watching.”

“Now you’re just flattering me.”

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