Page 44 of Coast to Coast

Callie covered her mouth, doing her best not to laugh at us. And while the kitchen was an absolute mess when we finished, I already dreaded having the place to myself once they returned to Boston in a little over a week from today.

CALLIOPE

Ichecked myself in the mirror for what had to be the fortieth time, finally satisfied that both my dress and accompanying bathing suit were impressive and respectable at the same time. Was I worried about impressing the WAGs a bit? But other than the first day I met Tom when I wore a skirt suit, I’d only dressed casually. Jeans, t-shirts and shorts and bummy clothes.

“Kiwi, huwwy,” Crew called outside my door.

“Coming, buddy.”

Here goes. I opened my bedroom door and walked straight into Tom. Fuck. He wore fitted khaki shorts and a polo-style shirt that stretched across his chest. If I hadn’t already been exposed to a shirtless Tom for half the morning, I would have said this was my favorite look on him.

“Woah,” I said. “You headed to a celebrity golf tournament?” I joked.

“Nah, these shorts are amphibious. I plan to swim.”

Yeah, now I’m thinking about him shirtless again.

“I love the dress.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling the impact of his appraisal on my self-confidence.

“I’d like it even more on my bedroom floor,” he said with a wink.

I gasped, though that brought on a slew of other dirty thoughts of what I would do with him alone in his bedroom. Would he let me take control? Or would he be like everyone else and make me feel ridiculous for wanting to experiment? I didn’t think Tom would be intimidated by anything, but who knows?

Crew grabbed my hand, tugging me towards the door. “Hold on, buddy,” I said. “We have to bring the food we made. Do you have your swim floats?”

He shook his head solemnly, and I headed to the closet to dig out the pool bag I had packed earlier. Crew struggled to carry the bag, and half of its contents fell out, only for Tom and I to scoop them up after the little hurricane raced ahead of us.

“So, should we like hold hands or something?” I asked nervously, unsure if I wanted both hands tied up while still being responsible for Crew.

“It’s okay. They all know we’re wrangling a toddler. No one here expects a PDA. But, you will be able to tell which WAGs will last and which ones won’t.”

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously, wondering if there was some ranking or rating scale that I needed to prepare myself to be judged against.

“I can’t explain it; you’ve met Mariana; she’s just comfortable with it. She lives here for half the year, and then they move back home for the summer. She welcomes the new WAGs, helps support them, and does her best to keep us together as a family off the ice. Kayleigh and Damon were high school sweethearts; they broke up mid-season last year, and while he swears it will last this season, I was there for the aftermath. Kayleigh isn’t clingy; she’s sweet as hell, but when she’s alone, and our significant others are alonea lot,she gets antsy. And then occasionally, the guys try to wife a puck bunny.”

“And?”

“You want the person you love to know and understand the game, but sometimes the puck bunnies like the idea of dating a player more than the actual player. We get injured all the time, and every time we skate onto the ice, we risk a career-ending or life-altering injury. None of us like to think about that, but we also don’t want to have someone run off when things get hard.”

Crew had reached the gate, and Mariana stood on the other side, waiting for us to give him the okay to let him into the pool area. The complex had a built-in outdoor kitchen that was usually for all residents, but today, they allowed the team to book it for half of the day. Oh my, these men were all huge, and the women were all hot, even those carrying around infants.

“You okay?” Tom asked, sensing my hesitation.

“Wow, this is a lot. I’m so far out of my league it’s not even funny.”

“You’ll be fine. Just be yourself.”

Crew thankfully offered the perfect distraction, and while I was prepared to be in the pool with him most of the time, it looked like it was the dad’s turn. Mariana and Kayleigh quickly pulled me into their circle, introducing me to Vasil Mink’s girlfriend, Bridget Gandolfi, who was originally from Colorado and taught fourth grade, and Charlie Duncan’s fiance, Gwen Cooper, who lived in New York City, writing for the society pages and living the dream as an influencer.

“Hey, you look familiar. Where do I know you from?” Gwen asked.

“Hmm, not sure. I’m from Boston, and while I traveled here and there, I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

“Wait, I never forget a face,” she said, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her apps. “Here it is, girl, you just went viral on TikTok.”

“What?” I asked, looking over her shoulder to see that the video of me singing my new original song had indeed gone viral. I had some activity on older posts, but nothing like this one. “Oh, I hadn’t even thought to check; none of my other posts did much of anything.”

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