Page 113 of Game Changer

“Thank you,” he whispered through her hair.

“Any time,” she told him, blushing.

“Again?” he asked, hopefully.

I’ll even sing with you!

“Any time, but now. Plus, you owe me a dance, and then have presents to open,” she told him, smiling, clearly unsure what to do with the compliment.

You can’t be surprised I liked it, Lis. I love when you sing.

“Oh! I forgot I had presents!” He announced excitedly, but Lisa led him to the dancefloor instead. When the song was over, they found their way back to the table. She gave Brad the thumbs up from across the room. The lights went dark. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday,” and she made him make a wish as he blew out the candles on the cake she’d obviously had a hand in ordering.

The cake was designed like a hockey rink, and said, “Happy birthday, Hockey Boy! All my love.” There was a little sweetie bunny stuck next to it. AJ smiled and kissed her. Then started to cut the cake. Before he’d gotten too far, Jeremy hollered, “Time for presents, Pim!”

“Number one?” AJ asked, turning to Lisa for confirmation that it was ok to open the boxes. She nodded.

You look nervous, Lis. Perhaps a public gift-opening wasn’t in your plan? You look like you’re going to hurl.

He shook the box, then paused. “Is it ok to shake?” he asked her with a concerned look.

“Yup,” she answered grinning. “They all are.”

He opened the lid and inside was a bunch of shredded tissue paper. Beneath the paper, sat a little plane.

“You’re going back to Ireland, dude!” Jeremy shouted. “I bet she got you a ticket to Ireland, man.” He was drunk and obnoxious. Just as AJ was about to tell him to shut up, Lisa beat him to it.

Confused, AJ closed the lid on the box. He sat it on the table with the model airplane on top of it.

“Can I go on?” he asked tentatively.

“Sure, work away,” she told him as color crept back into her cheeks.

Box number two. He shook it and opened the lid. More tissue paper. This box held a tree.

A plane and a tree? I have no idea where this is going. Utterly clueless. What kind of tree is it? I have no friggin’ clue. I’m not a… a… Who the hell deals with trees? A gardener? A tree surgeon? Shit. She’s panicking. Smile at her.

“It’s a tree. Ireland has trees. It’s pretty green. I think you’re going to Ireland,” Mike chimed in. “Jeremy’s right.”

More confusion, as he placed the tree on top of the box and regarded the airplane, and then the tree, and then the airplane again – searching for a connection.

He opened box number three to find a puck. Realization began to dawn on him, as he smiled a half smile, though still looking a little confused.

Box four contained a tin of oil.

As he stared at the four objects sitting on top of their respective boxes, he turned to her and grinned.

“You know what it is?” she asked him.

Nope, I have no friggin’ clue and if I tell you that, you’ll probably chuck this puck at my brain-damaged head. I thought I knew, but I’m mostly just confused right now.

“I have an idea,” he replied.

Please don’t make me pull a guess from my ass in front of all these people.

Realizing her hands had remained behind her back the whole time the box spectacle was going on, AJ drew Lisa close, kissed her and pinched the envelope from between her fingers. The contents of the envelope were two plane tickets to Toronto, together with two tickets to the Maple Leafs versus the Edmonton Oilers game that coming weekend. He laughed and kissed her again.

“Could be a fun game,” he said to her, his eyes sparkling.

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