Page 3 of Game Changer
“I don’t think... Do you really think that was him?” Kip asked.
The customer nodded. “Oh yeah. Definitely. Surprised he shows his face around town, the way he’s been stinking up the ice lately.”
“He’s not doing well?” Kip did havesomeawareness of who Scott Hunter was, of course—everyone did, sports fan or not. He was the star center and team captain of the New York Admirals. Three years ago he had led Team USA to Olympic gold. But Kip mostly knew him for his Hugo Boss ads. He was a big fan of those ads.
Kip liked hockey just fine, but he hadn’t been following the NHL too closely. Scott Hunter had always been, to his knowledge, celebrated and beloved in this town. The King of New York, really. But apparently Kip had missed something.
“Yeah, he’s been terrible this season,” the customer continued. “Hasn’t scored a goal since November! Don’t know what they’re paying him all that money for. They should trade the bum.”
“Well...” Kip said, not sure how to finish. It was ridiculous, but he felt personally offended by this guy’s criticisms, and was compelled to defend Scott Hunter. “Maybe he’s just going through some stuff.”
The customer snorted. “He can go through it in the summer. We’re not gonna make the playoffs this year if he keeps this shit up.”
Kip still felt inexplicably angry, but shrugged it off and gave the guy his smoothie so he would leave.
When they were alone again, Maria said, “Was Scott Hunter really in here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, now that that guy mentioned it, I think it had to be. I was kind of distracted by how hot he was, but, yeah, he definitely looked like Hunter. And, uh, he gave me a huge tip.”
“How huge? We have to split it, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. It was like a thirteen-dollar tip!”
“What?”
“Well, if itwasHunter, that’s probably, like, nothing, right? He probably doesn’t care about money at all.”
“Must be nice.”
“Yeah.”
“Soooo,” Maria said, leaning over into Kip’s personal space, “he was hot?”
“Oh my god.” Kip grinned. “He wasvolcanic.He didn’t look real.”
“What was he wearing?”
“Workout clothes. He’d just been running, I think. Reallytightworkout clothes.”
“Oh my god.”
“Yup.”
“I can’t believe I missed it. If he comes back, you have to tell me. Even if I’m in thebathroom, just get me!”
“Sure, that won’t be weird.”
Maria started loading the freshly chopped fruit and vegetables into the fridges. Kip helped. They worked quietly for a few minutes.
“Hey,” Kip said, “he said my name.”
“Who? Hunter? He actually said the word ‘Kip’?”
“Yeah,” Kip said dreamily.
“God, I’ll bet whenhesays it, it doesn’t even sound dumb.”
Kip threw a strawberry at her.
