Page 57 of The Slapshot and the Single Mom
I take a deep breath, but before I can say anything, Liam runs up to me, all smiles. “Mom! Is everything okay?”
I smile back, giving him a quick hug. “Everything’s great! The hot dogs are almost ready, and I thought we should load up your plate with everything else so you’re ready to go once they’re fresh off the grill.”
“Yay!” He jumps up and down. “I’m starved.” Falling in step with Marissa and me, he regales us with tales of the new friends he’s made and the games they’re playing—tag, mostly, and how they made a rule that anyone under five has to be tagged three times before they’re it, kids between five and eight have to be tagged twice, and anyone over eight only has to be tagged once.
“I’m impressed with how fair your rules are,” Marissa chimes in, and it seems like Liam actually notices her for the first time.
He looks at her like,Of course we’re being fair, then says, “Who are you?”
Laughing, I pull him against me. “If you want to know who someone is, it’s more polite to introduce yourself and then ask their name.”
Stopping, Liam turns to Marissa. “Hi. I’m Liam. Are you friends with my mom?”
Marissa glances at me, smiling. “Hi, Liam. I’m Marissa. It’s so nice to meet you. Your mom’s doing a great job of teaching you manners. My mom would be impressed. And your mom and I just met, but I hope we can become friends.” To me, she adds. “Imoved here late last summer, and I’m still building my people. Tina’s great, and she’s made me feel really welcome at games and these kinds of events. Hopefully we’ll see you both a lot more.”
All my thoughts about needing to pull back, to not involve Liam so much in all of this, come rushing to the forefront of my mind. I offer a smile and shrug a shoulder. “I don’t know about that, exactly, but I’m always happy to make new friends too.” I do like Marissa, and even if things don’t work out with Jack, I could use more friends. I’m friendly with a few moms from Liam’s school, mostly his friends’ moms, but I’m too busy to do the field trip chaperone or PTA volunteer kind of thing, so I don’t have a lot of opportunities to build those relationships. And it’d be nice to have a friend who actually wants to be friends with me and isn’t just someone I chat with because our kids get along.
Marissa smiles at me. “Perfect. I’ll be sure to give you my number before the barbecue ends.”
“That would be great.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Jack
I watchMaggie walk away with Marissa, fighting the urge to hop out of my chair and go with her.
“Calm down, Bouchard,” Dozer says. “Your girl’s fine. Marissa’s not going to do anything to her.”
Turning in my chair to face Dozer, narrowing my eyes at him as I sip my beer. “Then why’d she insist on going with her? Shouldn’tIbe the one doing that?”
Chuckling, Dozer shakes his head. “Dude. You need to chill. Marissa wants to be her friend. She sees Maggie as someone she can get along with. She’s friends with Tina, but most of the other wives and girlfriends have their own cliques and groups already and aren’t open to adding someone else. Plus, she has a job and isn’t available for all the random weekday brunch and group spa day things, even though she’d probably love that.” He gets a thoughtful look on his face. “Do you think Maggie would do a brunch and spa day with her? Maybe on a weekend?”
My eyebrows climb my forehead, and I shake my head slowly. “Uh … I’m not sure. You’d have to ask Maggie about that.”
He waves that away. “I’mnot going to ask that. That would be weird as fuck.”
“I thought we were watching our language with kids around.” If he’s gonna bust my balls for flipping him off, I’m happy to turn it back around on him.
Rolling his eyes, he continues. “Marissa can handle making her own friend outing plans. I just know she’s had a rough time making friends since she moved here. It’s easier for us, you know? You get to know your teammates, and there’s usually at least a couple guys you hit it off with right away, even when you’re new. But she’s the boss in her office, so that doesn’t really lend itself to making friends, she works a lot, she fixes up cars in her free time, and she spends a lot of time with me.”
I shrug. “Maggie’s pretty busy too. Single mom, has a job too, all that. But …” I shrug again. She and Marissa were having a pretty good conversation about baseball. “I’m sure she’d be happy to have another friend.” Especially since, now that I think about it, I’m not sure she has that many friends. She talks about her parents and has briefly mentioned some of Liam’s friends’ moms, but she’s never called themherfriends.
Dozer nods. “Well, if you ever want to go out as a group, let me know. Especially if we do it before September.”
“Okay. Yeah. That might be fun. And likewise. If there’s something you and Marissa want to do that you want to do as a group, let me know, and I can see if Maggie’s available.”
“Awesome. Marissa’s mentioned wanting more couple friends. We hang with Nick and Tina sometimes, but it’s always nice to have other people. Maybe we can catch another ball game.”
“That would be fun. I’m sure Maggie’d love that.” And with something like that, she could even bring Liam along if she wanted to. “I’ll check the schedule and see when works for Maggie.”
“Perfect. Let me know, man.”
Liam drags his feet to the car when it’s time to go, hating to leave, which I take as a good sign. The kid’s having so much fun that he wants the night to last forever.
I can tell Maggie’s tired, though, and ready to head home. And while he starts the car ride chattering away about how much fun he had and the new friends he made for the first half, by the time we pull into their parking lot, he’s quiet, his head lolling against the seat back so much, I think he might be asleep already. He lifts his head and blinks slowly when I stop, though.
“He’s gonna crash hard once I get him inside,” Maggie whispers to me.
