Page 49 of Home Game

He continued. “She wants to know if you want to go to the game?”

I didn’t answer, watching as he zipped up his bag. His hands were huge.

“It’s just a pre-season game.” He glanced up, catching my stare and smiled. He was almost painfully good looking when he smiled like that. And he had the most beautiful teeth. What was going on with me? I felt mute.

He tried again, “Do I have something on my face?”

I shook my head feeling suddenly, inexplicably nervous. “No.”

“So, what should I tell Krista? You want to hang out here tonight?”

“I want to go.”

Another smile that almost knocked my socks off. My stomach weirdly pitched. When had he started smiling at me like that?

“It will be good to have someone in the crowd cheering for me.”

“I think you have lots of people cheering for you.” My voice sounded tart.

He stood up and started to text. “You know what I mean. Friends.”

Was he calling me a friend? How could I respond to that? “I’ll cheer hard.”

A smile played on his lips while he looked at his phone. “She said she’ll pick you up at 6:30 PM.”

“Okay.”

“Make sure she feeds you.”

“Good luck.”

He grunted. “We will need more than luck.”

He picked up his bag and looked back at me. “You know you’re going to be helping me put all that furniture together.”

I pointed at my sling. “Sore arm.”

He laughed. “You’re not getting off that easy.”

Krista showedup with a jersey for me to wear. It had the nameParkeron the back, and Ryan’s number on the front. Lucky for me, I could pull it over my hoodie without twisting my shoulder. She wore the same jersey, but she wore hers over a black, skin-tight pencil skirt and a pair of black stilettos.

I was in awe of the stadium, the crowds, and the music. She led us down towards the ice. We had sideline glass seats, just off to the side of the players’ benches.

“I’m starving,” she said. “So, you need to eat with me so I don’t feel guilty.”

I looked over at her. “Why would you feel guilty for eating?”

She waved at someone, who walked towards us. “Because according to my trainer, I should only eat organic grains and no trans fats and right now I am about to order fries and a burger. And a beer.”

“Technically beer is from grains.”

“I like how you think.”

Someone took our order, and then she sat back. “So, what did you guys do today?”

Everything distracted me. “We went to IKEA.”

“IKEA?” She sounded surprised. “So Ryan is finally getting you a bed?”

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