Page 11 of Holly Jolly Rebel

Gunnar and I stared at O’Malley in wonder.

As usual, I assumed the task of spelling out the obvious. “No one will ever accuse you of being an elder statesman, Oh-Em-Gee—and yeah, I can still call you that even if no one remembers why I gave you that nickname in the first place.”

Hatch had suddenly appeared, as stealthy as O’Malley in his prime. “Wasn’t it because he got caught with his pants down with some chick on camera and she screamed OMG when she?—”

Dex cut him off. “Old news, Kershaw Junior. We don’t talk about my checkered past in mixed company.”

“What’s mixed about it?” Hatch asked. “We’re all guys here.”

“Mixed, meaning generations.” Dex patted Hatch on the shoulder. “You’re far too innocent for that kind of talk, youngling.”

“The Internet is forever, Uncle Dex. Or should I say Oh-Em-Gee?”

“Permission to push my honorary nephew around, T.”

I chuckled. “Permission not granted. Chickens coming home to roost, Dexter, and you can’t blame my kid for calling it as he sees it.” I turned to Hatch. “Seen your sister or your mom?”

“No. But the twins are running a poker game in Remy’s den if anyone wants in on that action.”

“They just took me for close to a grand.”

We all turned to Dash Carter, the Rebels’ recently acquired right winger, who had just uttered that inane comment.

“A grand? I’ll talk to them and have them hand it over.”

Dash laughed. “No worries. They’re just being entrepreneurial. So have you guys met Summer?”

A very attractive blonde peeked out from behind Dash’s shoulder and waved. “Hey, there!”

“Yes, we have,” I said, “because she works in the Rebels front office, which means she is senior to you as a member of the Rebels org.” I leaned in and kissed Summer on the cheek. “Nice to see you, Summer.”

“Thanks,” she said cheerfully. “Doesn’t everyone look so nice in their Christmas threads? Gosh, I love this time of year.”

I divided a glance between Summer and Carter. “Are you two … on a date?”

Summer blushed while Carter laughed. “Yeah, I managed to grind her down. She thinks it’s a conflict of interest.”

I shot a quick glance at Gunnar, who gave me a look that said not to bother. If this dalliance went tits up, the hockey player would come out of it just fine.

“I didn’t say that, exactly,” Summer said, looking embarrassed. “I just have my career to think of.”

Carter grinned and rolled his eyes, but Summer didn’t see that. What a tool.

Summer arced a gaze over the crowd. “I know everyone here from the team, veteran and new, except for …” She smiled at Hatch.

Who looked like he’d never seen a pretty girl in his life, a fact I knew to be blatantly untrue given the number of girls he was caught sneaking around with during his teens. He was staring at Summer like she’d stepped on his foot in stilettos.

“This is my son, Hatch,” I said after the silence stretched to awkward.

Summer smiled gently, clearly accustomed to dealing with men of limited intelligence. I wouldn’t have called Carter the sharpest tool, especially if he was letting my kids rook him at cards.

“Hi, Hatch. Great to meet you.”

Hatch nodded, kind of curtly. “Yeah, likewise.” He jerked a chin at Carter. “Good to see you, man.”

Okay, weird. Maybe Hatch took exception to Carter’s diss of Summer’s concerns about dating a player. Before I could smooth that over, I was distracted by the sight of my gorgeous wife approaching with Jordan in tow. Earlier I had thought she looked worried; now I was convinced of it.

But I didn’t want to make a big deal of it in front of everyone. My Ellie hated the spotlight as much as I craved it. (Was that why I wanted to keep playing?The things you discovered about yourself at the most inconvenient times.)

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