Page 26 of One Shot

“She did not bail on us, Suzanne. She had a baby!!” Bren turns to me. “Laur, I just found out this morning, and Ms. Big Mouth over here blurted it out before I got to ask, but do you think you could do it? We could pay you a portion of what the photographer was being paid.”

Bren eyes are wide with desperation. She clasps her hands together making a begging motion towards me.

“Sure, I’m happy to do it. I don’t need the money though. Wait. Can we put the money toward something else? I have an idea that might cost a little bit of money, but it will be worth it,” I reply.

“You are an angel, Chip. What’s this idea?”

“I’ve got to jet to my call withUSA Hockey Magazine,” Suz cuts in. “I’m hoping to convince them to get us a discounted rate, if not free placement, for some of these player profiles in the ‘Hot on Campus’ section. Fill me in later!” Suz gathers up her things and starts typing away on her phone as she leaves the table.

“First of all, you should have told me about Nick’s jersey retirement. I shouldn’t have had to find out from Lucas.”

Bren fidgets in her seat and avoids meeting my eyes.

“I am so sorry. It wasn’t intentional. I just wanted to be able to tell you about some amazing elaborate plan I have for it to combine with fundraising in Nick’s honor, but of the hundreds of ideas I’ve come upwith, none are worthy of Nick.” Bren’s slightly slumped over the table, still actively avoiding my gaze.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I happen to be a good luck charm. I have an idea for one.”

“It must be perfect. You’re smiling your famous Bellinger smile.” She perks up, finally looking me in the eyes as the lingering guilt in them is replaced with intrigue and thrill.

I go into details on the big reveal of Nick’s own designed jerseys from the little black book. She’s on the edge of her seat with enthusiasm.

“We can send mockups to the fashion school to design! It will be the perfect way to honor him. Maybe we can even take pre-orders!” I am so glad that Bren is as excited as I am.

“I know Nick would be more than okay with us using them. Hell, he would be telling everyone in the universe about how the coolest custom-made jersey of any college team was designed by him.” I laugh picturing him wearing the jersey 24/7.

“Back to Nick’s jersey retirement. Do you want to give a speech? Do you want to plan it?” Bren’s voice is filled with sympathy as she asks.

“No. No speeches, no planning. This is my contribution. I’ll focus on the jersey, if you can send me the design school contacts you have.”

“Okay, you can be involved with whatever you want to be. Just know that.” Bren grabs my hand and squeezes it.

I only nod and can’t find the words to respond.

Bren fills the awkward silence. “What else was in Nick’s notebook? Anything worthy of sharing?”

“Not really. Some running trails, some notes on other teams that I should probably share with Lucas. Oh, and some notes on each of the guys. Everyone on the team last year. Nick wrote paragraphs about some people.”

“What’s in there about Liam and Lucas?”

“You know Liam was one of his best friends. I didn’t read it, but I’m sure it’s a glowing review. He literally just has ‘Great Guy. Will gofar’ written for Lucas.” My eyes dramatically roll instinctively. “Fucking annoying. I could use more intel.” I mutter into my coffee as I take a sip.

Giggling, Bren says, “He’s a great guy, anyone will tell you that. He’s also a great hockey player and captain.”

“It looks like he was starting to add more. Every other player has lines and paragraphs. He wrote one line and one word that’s clearly an unfinished thought.”

“Oh, bizarre. I wonder what he was going to say.”

Did Nick have something against Lucas that he didn’t want to write down? Or was Lucas just the last team member he was writing about, and he didn’t have a chance to complete it? Either way, I need to stop drooling over Lucas.

Chapter seventeen

Laur

The calendar photoshoot is in a few days. The lingering pit in my stomach has driven me to fiddle with my camera anytime I’m at the house. Bren bought me a new lens with some of the money for the original photographer. I’ve taken some photos at practice, but they are all in motion shots. I need to practice on the ice with some still shots before the shoot to calm my nerves.

After the team is done practicing, I wait for Tyler outside the locker room. I volun-told him to be my subject, which has the added benefit of getting more pictures of him for social media and articles too.

“Hey, Ty,” I call to him. He’s walking out of the locker room with Lucas.

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