Page 68 of Delayed Offsides

“You’re not eighty,” he points out.

“See,Evan, at least Leo is gonna make me a granny before I die. I want great-grandbabies. I’m an old woman. I can’t wait forever.”

Mase clears his throat. “I don’t think you’re ever going to die, Granny B,” he grumbles, only to have Ami slap his arm.

“You know, I think I saw this on a card once.” Granny B sneers at Mase. “But life is like toilet paper. You’re either on a roll or taking shit from some asshole.”

Mase blinks slowly, shaking his head, only to have Ami stare him and Granny B down. “Knock it off, you two.”

Callie sinks into my side, her hand on my thigh, when I wrap my arm around her shoulder. That’s a good sign, right?

“What does the B stand for?” Callie asks, diverting the conversation back to the table when our drinks arrive, apparently never knowing Granny B’s real name.

In her best erotic voice, Granny B turns to Callie and whispers, “Beverly,” with as much seduction as a phone sex operator does. It’s impressive.

Mase clears his throat again and straightens his tie. “Maybe weshouldgo.”

“The hell we are! I’m eating here,” Granny B announces, cutting into her steak when it arrives. “And it’s my anniversary.”

“It’s your birthday,” Mase hisses at her. “I am not getting kicked out of another restaurant because of you.”

She holds up her steak knife in his face. “Well then, stop trying to control me.” Granny B has a mean streak. She has Italian in her, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t piss off Italian women. It never gets you anywhere.

“So when’s the little guy due?”

Callie snorts, picking at her mashed potatoes. “We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. I’m only two months.”

All the baby talk is making me sweat. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why is this bothering me? I just carried a kid all around the ice today. I can be a damn dad. But I’ve only just accepted the fact that she’s pregnant, and now here we are talking about the gender. Is it hot in here? Am I having a heart attack? I’m breaking out into a sheen of sweat.

Mase notices and elbows me. “You okay, bud?”

“Yeah.” I excuse myself, my legs knocking against the table. “I’ll be back.”

Without looking at anyone, I make my way to the back of the restaurant and to the bathrooms. What the fuck is my problem? Why can’t I get my shit together and be normal?

I’m staring at myself in the mirror when Mase comes in and leans against the sink beside me. He crosses his arms over his chest. “What’s up with you?”

I hang my head. “I don’t fuckin’ know.”

“You’re scared,” he deduces. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” I lift my head and look over at him. “But don’t be a douche to her. She deserves better than that.”

I stare at myself in the mirror again. “I know. I’m here, aren’t I?”

He nods once. “Yeah, but you’re in a bathroom. Staring at yourself. She’s out there, wondering what she did wrong.”

He has a point, doesn’t he?

I think back to my first game in the NHL. I was nervous. It was back in New York against the Rangers with eighteen thousand fans watching at Madison Square Garden. I played ten minutes total of that game throughout the night and scored my first NHL goal. I remember thinking,I’m here. I’m playing hockey in front of all these people because I made it.So why am I nervous? That had been the first time in my life I’d been nervous before a game. Until now.

* * *

Dinner calmsdown after I return. When dinner is finished, we all part ways, but Callie and I walk back to my car together. I can’t help but wonder, what now? Are we still friends? Does she want to be? Does she even want me around her?

I know I need to say more, assure her in some way this will all work out even though I don’t know, but I’m not sure where to start.

I open the door to my car for her, and she gets in. No words. Sighing, I sneak around the front and slide easily into the driver’s seat.

Callie smiles. “Granny B is a hoot.”

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