Page 27 of Home for the Hockey-Days

Maggie claps her hands. “First date!” Mirth dances in her eyes. “If I’d known you were coming I’d have brought the baby pictures with me to work.”

Rowan snorts. “NowthatI’d have paid to see.”

“Come on.” Maggie leads the way to my favorite booth in the back, grabbing menus as she passes the till.

When Rowan and I are settled, menus in hand, Maggie pops her hip. “Been to see your brother lately?”

My stomach clenches. I knew she’d ask, it’s even part of why I brought Rowan here, so she’d see all my skeletons up close and personal in one fell swoop. “No. Mom went a few weeks ago. She sees him weekly.”

Maggie’s face turns somber. “Poor woman. Having to go to a place like that over the holidays can’t be easy. Are you ready for Christmas? Or as ready as you can be?” The sadness in her eyes drills at the seed of guilt in my chest. I don’t miss having my brother or his shitty schemes around the house. Things at home feel less unhinged with him behind bars.

Rowan watches the exchange with silent curiosity. The look on her face tells me she’s bursting to ask what my aunt is talking about.

“Rowan, my dear. I recommend the Blue Line BLT, or the Goaltender grilled cheese, obviously with a Slapshot shake. And if you feel like a shakeanddessert, the Breakaway Brownies are delicious if I do say so myself.”

She turns to me, taking the menu back out of my hands. “We both know you don’t need that, Gus. The usual?”

My stomach growls in answer.

“Hat trick and penalty box fries it is.”

Rowan’s face lights up. “Wait.” She scans the menu. “What’s that?” After a quick beat, she reads the description out loud. “Hat trick burger, triple stacked beef patties with allthe trimmings. Hmmm.” She taps a fingernail off the menu. “Penalty box fries... loaded fries with cheese, bacon, and jalapenos. Sounds good on all counts, make it two please, Maggie! Oh, and I’ll have a strawberry slapshot shake since they come so highly recommended.”

Rowan beams at Maggie, who returns her grin right back. “No problem honey. I’ve got you.” Maggie takes Rowan’s menu, but before she leaves, she thwaps me on the head with both of them. “Don’t fuck it up August Nathaniel Kade. I like her.”

She can’t possibly like Rowan. She’s said less than a dozen words to her. But the threat in her tone tells me she’ll smack me with more than a couple of laminated menus if I mess things up. Except that’s exactly what this is about, isn’t it? Letting Rowan see my dark underbelly and watching her run for the hills in terror.

“Do I ignore the way your face puckered like you chewed a lemon when she mentioned your brother and pretend I didn’t see it? Or do we talk about it?”

Fuck. She doesn’t cut corners or fuck around, does she?

I shrug. “My brother’s in prison for grand theft auto.” I study her face as the information sinks in, but it doesn’t give anything away until she breaks into a huge smile.

“Oooooh. Isthatwhat this is?” She gestures around the diner. “Bring me out to lunch at your family’s diner. Introduce me to your aunt whom you knew would bring up your criminal brother?” She snorts. “You’re going to have to try harder than that to scare me off AugustNathanielKade. Not to mention burger joints are a guilty pleasure of mine. Granted I’ve never been here, though as a hockey fan I have no idea why not. But that’s beside the point. You can’t scare me off with diner food, or meeting your charming aunt, or talking about a brother who’s in prison.” She sits back smug. “But points for trying I suppose.”

I don’t answer, so she leans toward me. “Were you expecting me to paint you as guilty by association? My uncle is on the sex offender list for date-raping his female secretary. He got away without a conviction because he was friends with the judge. As scandals go.” She shrugs. “Yours is pretty tame.”

I had expected her to be surprised, disgusted, judgmental, but it’s me who’s taken aback. “Th-that's awful.”

She nods. “I know. Poor woman. Am I guilty of being a criminal because he is?”

“No.”

“Well then. What were you trying to accomplish? You just wanted to eat me out for dessert this morning, feed me a burger, and send me on my way?”

She tasted sweeter than any milkshake Maggie could bring to the table. I lick my lips hoping there’s a faint taste of her on my tongue. “You tasted fucking delicious.”

Her cheeks turn pink. “Thank you. But I’m not letting you away with dismissing this. I don’t know what preconceptions you’ve made about me, August, or rather about yourself, but I feel like it’s unfair as fuck. You barely know me, I barely know you. Just because you have a felon for a brother doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to think you’re a felon too, or that you’re going to get some kind of criminal ick on me. Or whatever fucked up thoughts you’ve been stewing over in that thick skull of yours.”

Maggie appears with a milkshake in each hand. “Peanut butter for my favorite nephew, and strawberry for his beautiful future wife.”

Rowan doesn’t miss a beat. “You better wear a big hat, Maggie.” She slurps her shake. “And if you’re not careful, you’ll be on the hook for catering, too. Shakes for all the guests would be a bitch for you to put together, but they’re delicious as fuck.”

Maggie grins. “I like her.”

I nod. “I know, you said.”

“And I’ll say it again. I. Like. Her.” She winks at Rowan who takes another drink. “If he fucks this up, you come find me, I’ll beat him with my shoe.” She fucking would and all.

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