Page 7 of Game Changer
“Yeah...” Kip breathed.
The game stayed close for the second period. It wasn’t until the third period, when Scott scored two goals and assisted on one more, that the Admirals silenced the fans in the Newark arena. Kip was giddy.
“God, he’s incredible. That last goal, he probably shot that puck a hundred miles an hour, but it looked like slow motion.”
“He’s got talented hands,” Elena agreed, with a quirk of her lips.
She picked up her phone and typed something. “Next game is Saturday night at home against Tampa Bay,” she said. “Are you working on Saturday?”
Kip groaned. “Fuck! I need to be—I’ve gotta switch shifts! Who’s working Saturday?”
He picked up his own phone and texted Maria.Are you working Saturday?
The response came a minute later.Yes?
Kip: Can I switch with you?
Maria: Why?
Kip: I’m scheduled for Friday. Let’s swap. Please?
Maria: Is this about Scott Hunter?!
Kip felt dumb, but he still typed,Maybe.
Maria: Jesus, Kip.
Kip: PLEASE?!
Maria: Fine.
There was a pause, and she added,You’re working with Jeff.
Ugh. Jeff was the worst. Just really lazy and basically stoned all the time. Kip couldn’t even believe he still worked there.
But it would be worth it, because when the game ended, the score was 6–2 for the Admirals. Which meant Scott was going to be coming in on Saturday for sure.
Probably for sure.
Almost certainly for sure.
Chapter Two
Kip may have gotten up extra early on Saturday to put some additional care into his appearance.
There had been nothing he could do about his uniform, but he’d at least made sure his nicest jeans were clean, and he had decided to wear the stylish new sneakers he had bought a couple of weeks ago that he could not afford atall, but had not been able to resist.
He’d even bothered to fix his hair up a bit, despite knowing he had to slap his stupid ball cap over it. He flossed. He tucked mints into his pocket to cover up his eventual coffee breath.
He arrived at the shop ten minutes early after a relatively relaxing commute, and was not at all surprised to see that he was the first to arrive. He got to work prepping, taking special care to make sure they had the ingredients for Scott’s Blue Moon Over Brooklyn smoothie ready.
Twenty minutes after the shop opened at six, Kip was still alone. Again, not a huge surprise given that it was Jeff who was scheduled to work with him, but it was grating.
At six-thirty the phone rang; Jeff was calling in “sick.” Kip couldn’t even conjure up the energy to be angry, especially since this might mean being all alone in the shop when Scott...
You are way too excited about the possibility of a two-minute interaction with a man who is not at all interested in you, Kip.
Saturdays were always way quieter than weekdays. The morning crawled, with just a trickle of customers to break the monotony. Kip ended up pulling out his phone and, of course, reading old articles about Scott Hunter.
