Page 8 of Much Ado About Hockey

“Don’t get distracted,” she interrupted, hesitating. Obviously, Jett has taken a puck or twenty to the head, or maybe he’s easily swayed, but keeping her new husband on track would be tougher than she realized. “I need you to text me your address, and then I’m going to follow you there so we can talk. If you need to call someone, you can do it from the car – but don’t lose me on the road.”

“Sheesh… I had no idea you’d be bossy,” he muttered.

“Oh my stars and garters…” she sputtered in utter shock, her temper flaring at his comment.

“Dude, you’re wearinggarters? I did not picturethatonyou.”

“I’m not a dude! And I’m not wearing garters!” she snapped. “Wait – what did you mean by that comment?”

“Do I get to see what youarewearing?” he grinned at her obvious frustration, and she nearly slapped her forehead in dismay at his question. Of course, he would be thinking of the wedding night, she realized and hesitated. She didn’t want him to shut down or change his mind. She needed to know who she’d just stupidly attached herself to and needed that marriage license or a copy of it— just in case.

“We’re going to discuss all sorts of things at your house,” she said evasively.

“Like garters?” he asked, perking up.

“Sure,” she sighed in exasperation. “We’ll discuss garters.”

No, we won’t, but you can think that…

“Sweet!” he replied in obvious excitement – and then reached over to get her phone, looked at it, and held their phones together, before shoving it in her face.

“What are you doing?” she sputtered, grabbing her phone from him.

“Connecting our phones, duh,” he shrugged. “You’ve got my stuff now, and I’ve got your stuff.”

“What?” she asked in shock, looking at her phone. Quickly, she opened her phone book and scrolled… and sure enough, there were names in there she didn’t recognize at all. ‘J-Wowzer-the-Money-Man-and-Agent’, lots of ‘Don’t call’ and ‘Crazy’as well as a few ‘Skank’that made her do a doubletake. “What is this?”

“Some of my contacts.”

“Who are ‘Skank’and ‘Crazy’?” she asked, shaking her phone in disbelief at how he described and coded people in his phone. None of this made sense, and it was juvenile. “Don’t you dare put me in your phone as anything but Karen.”

“If ‘Skank’or ‘Crazy’calls, I’m not answering,” he shrugged again, making her temper boil. “That’s in my past and a warning to avoid answering it. It’s like a safety net. So instead of having to remember who Cindy was and then ending up traumatized after a ten-minute screaming session of ‘Why didn’t you call me back?’… I choose not to answer a phone call like that because it’s self-evident, don’t you think?”

Karen was speechless.

It made sense, but…still.

She couldn’t imagine labeling people like that in her cell phone that way, even if she understood the ‘why’ behind Jett’s actions. He just appeared to be closing off something that bothered him after deciding that a label wasn’t enough – and what kind of person did that make him?

And shemarriedhim.

Oh man…

Red flag number one - or one thousand?

“Let’s go,” Jett invited, opening up the door to his sleek Porsche and pointed at her Kia. “We’ve gotta upgrade you, Wifey-Pooh.”

“I’m not… argh! Just never mind – and don’t lose me.”

“Keep up,” he retorted and slid into his seat, shutting the door. That movement was enough to send Karen running for her car door, mentally noting that the infernal man did not open the door for her, nor did he make some grand show about being a gentleman.

No, they were outside of the magistrate’s office where they’d just said their ‘I do’s’ with the most curt kiss in the world by a man she never imagined she would ever talk to, much less tie herself and her future to him.

It was official.

She’d lost her ever-lovin’ mind.

Starting her Kia, Karen looked over to see Jett give a slight wave, a wink, and grinning as he began to back out of the parking spot— once again not waiting for her. It was like he knew one speed in his life and was waiting for a force of nature to bring him to a stop – or a wall.

---