Page 46 of Like A Daydream
He turns off main street and onto a side road, turning onto one more before heading to the end. Danielle is waiting for him on the porch.
She’s texting someone, brow furrowed in concentration. Mile long legs are covered in jeans, and she’s got an oversized flannel over a gray t-shirt. She’s stunning, and his heart slams into his ribs when she looks up and sees him in his truck.
He hops out, running to the passenger side so he can get her door for her as she comes down from the porch.
“Such a gentleman,” she teases.
“I know you’ve got that whole ‘independent woman’ thing going on, but my mom would kill me if I was anything less,” he says with a grin. “You look good, D.”
“It’s D, now?” she asks. “No Dani, or Boss?”
“Harper calls you Aunt D,” he says with a shrug as she climbs up into his truck, the way her legs look in those jeans are doing nothing but remind him how long it’s been since he’s actually been with someone. “I figured that, outside of work, I could.”
“I kind of like the way it sounds when you call me that,” she says, her eyes meeting his, gentle smile on her face. He matches it.
“You can call me Andy, if you want,” he says softly, “only the most important people in my life do.”
“Andy,” she says, testing the name, “it suits you.”
He grins, closing the passenger door before jogging around to his side. “I have like, four names, so I’m glad that you like at least one of them.”
“Why do you have four names?”
“Fans call me Andrew, or Fish,” he says, starting his truck, “My team calls me Drew, and the important people call me Andy.”
“Andy is the best one out of all of those,” Danielle says. “Andrew is too formal, and you’re not a formal type of guy. Fish is just lazy, and Drew is pretentious.”
Andrew throws his head back in a laugh. “Why is Drew pretentious?”
“It makes you sound like an overzealous politician,” Danielle says, laughing with him. She deepens her voice. “My name is Drew Fisher, and I’m running for Congress.”
“I’ll make sure I let my teammates know when I go back to Raleigh,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I’ll tell them that my new boss says they can’t call me that.”
“As if they’ll believe you got a job,” she laughs. “I could hardly believe it when you came in and asked.”
“JT and Ainsley couldn’t, either,” he replies, “but I like working with you, it’s fun.”
“But not Cara,” she says.
“Cara hates me,” he shrugs, “I don’t like being hated.”
“I thought you’d be familiar with it,” she replies, “since you’re in the NHL and all.”
“Depends,” he shrugs, “it’s a lot easier to deal with when you aren’t seeing the person who hates you every single day. Knowing I’m hated and experiencing being hated are two different things.”
“I don’t know why you would want to put yourself in a position where half the country hates you at any given time.”
“Because hockey is the best sport in the world,” he says, simply. “It’s worth it.”
A comfortable silence falls between them, as Andrew drives, heading to JT’s house. He wants to know everything about this girl, but he starts with the biggest question he has.
“Why does Ainsley hate you so much?” Andrew asks, turning off of Main Street to head back to JT’s house.
“Loaded question, Fisher, try again,” Danielle says, rolling her eyes. She looks over at him, but he doesn’t change his question, just lets it sit in the air between them before Danielle finally sighs.
“We were academic, and social, rivals when we were in school,” Danielle says. “I had a massive crush on Jet, and so did she. He kind of… led me on.”
“How so?”
