Page 27 of Behind the Bench

“Way to bury the lede, Elle!”

Yep. Saw that coming.

“Youinitiated the flirting? Did he flirt back? Tell me all the things!”

I set my glass down on the coffee table, because I’m about to get real passionate and I don’t need to throw wine around while I talk with my hands. Learned that lesson the hard way.

“I think? Lincoln hinted that he may have wanted to spend time with me but then followed it up with him just checking on his coach. He is so confusing. One minute he’s insulting me, and the next he’s maybe telling me he wants to spend time with me. I never know who I’m going to get on any given day with him.”

Sadie seems to ponder that for a moment before surprising me with her next comment. “Ya know, I thought I saw a moment between you two when I was streaming one of your preseason games on my laptop. You guys had just scored a power play goal to win at the end of the game. It looked like you two got lost in each other’s eyes while celebrating. It was dreamy.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Sadie, I swear, you and Hunter read too many romance novels. There was no moment.”

She’s still not convinced. “First off, I need to meet this Hunter character who is stealing my best friend from me. Second, there was a moment. Even if you didn’t notice it. The entire bench was celebrating around you guys and you were just holding onto each other after high fiving.” Sadie sips her wine, completely proud of herself for calling me out on my shit.

Damn. That happened, didn’t it?

“Whatever! We were just excited we won the game. Nothing more. It doesn’t negate the fact that he still gets on my damn nerves. How are you about to tell someone they’re the last person you want to talk to, and then the next week tell them you want to spend time with them? It doesn’t make sense.Hedoesn’t make sense.”

Sadie looks at me, tilts her head, and breaks out into a full shit-eating grin.

“What?” I scream and throw my hands up in the air.

“He likes you.”

Is she serious? “Are you not listening to a word I’m saying right now, Sadie?”

“Oh, I’m listening, all right. He’s pretty much acting like a first-grader who has a crush on a girl. I don’t know why he gets all pissy and takes shit out on you, but I think he’s just using his assholery as a defense mechanism.”

I swear, this girl. “So, what you’re saying is, he’s an asshole to me because he likes me. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Sadie takes another sip of her wine. “I didn’t say it’s smart or even makes any sense. But I think deep down this guy might actually like you and it’s confusing him. Which is why he’s been acting so confusing.”

I think about what she’s saying. I guess it could make sense, but it doesn’t make it less frustrating. I grab my wineand slump back down onto the couch. “We are thirty-one years old, for fuck’s sake. I don’t have time for those types of games.”

She reaches over and grabs my hand. “Maybe he doesn’t even realize he’s playing them, Ellie.”

What the fuck does that even mean?

I decide to drop the conversation and focus on Matthew McConaughey instead. He’s chasing after Kate Hudson on his motorcycle and I can’t help but be a little jealous.

Will a man ever be interested in me enough to chase after me if I left?

Since when do I care about shit like that? And why the heck do I picture Lincoln Scott when imagining a man chasing after me?

I wake up around five in the morning with Sadie’s foot in my face on the couch. Groaning, I gently move her foot and slip off the couch, undetected. I’m not even sure when we fell asleep. It must’ve been duringCrazy, Stupid, Lovebecause the last thing I remember is Ryan Gosling with his shirt off.

Thank you for theverypleasant dreams, Mr. Gosling.

Tiptoeing into the kitchen, I make my way to my French press. Thank god I have some coffee grounds leftover from yesterday. Sadie would absolutely murder me if I used my coffee grinder at this hour. She is many things, but an early bird is not one of them.

After I get the water started on the stove, I pull out my phone to check my emails.

You wouldn’t think a hockey coach would get very many emails, but you’d be completely wrong in that assumption. I am constantly drowning in emails. They vary from day to day but I almost always have emails from the trainers with injuryupdates, our PR team with promotional and interview schedules, and far too many emails from Lincoln. It’s like as soon as he sends one email, his brain remembers something else and he sends another two minutes later with additional info.

To no surprise at all, I have five new emails from Lincoln alone since checking it around eleven last night. His most recent being at two in the morning. Does this guy ever sleep? Maybe he has insomnia or something because no normal person is awake at two in the morning sending emails about hockey line combinations.

I close out of my email before reading anything he sent because I am 99 percent sure I’m going to want—no, I’m going toneed—caffeine before tackling those emails.

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