Page 20 of Desperate Pucker
I look up and see her standing in front of me, her eyebrows knit in concern.
“Are you okay?” she asks softly.
I wipe my face. “Um, yeah. All good.”
She gives me a small, pitying smile. “You sure?”
My instinct is to downplay, to push aside my emotions and pretend I’m fine.
But I just don’t have the energy right now. Not after seeing my ex get everything he ever wanted after treating me like crap.
I blink, and a fresh wave of tears fall. “It’s a long story.” I sniffle and let out a sad-sounding chuckle.
Ingrid offers a soft smile. She digs a tissue from the pocket of her jeans and hands it to me.
“Does it involve a guy?” she asks in a sweet voice.
I nod. “My ex. How’d you know?”
She pats my arm as I dab at my face with the tissue. “I’ve been there.” Sincerity flashes in her pretty blue eyes. “Wanna grab a drink after work and you can tell me all about it?”
I manage a small smile, touched by her kindness. I don’t know Ingrid well. Her parents are friends with my dad. I’ve met her a few times before I started this job. But ever since I joined the Bashers, she’s been so welcoming to me, offering to grab coffee for me if she sees me when she walks by my office in the mornings.
A warm feeling gathers in my chest. I can’t remember the last time I hung out with a friend to vent or even just chat. I was so focused on figure skating most of my life that all my friendships fell by the wayside. And when I crashed out at the Olympics two years ago, I didn’t have any friends to lean on. It was my own fault. That’s what happens when you forgo friendships and choose your career over everything else.
I’ve felt so lonely over the past two years. It would be nice to talk to her—to have a new friend.
“I’d like that,” I say softly.
Ingrid beams and gives my arm a gentle squeeze. “Is it okay if I invite a few of my friends? They’re great at trashing exes.”
It’s been so long since I’ve hung out with a group. Part of me is nervous that they’ll think I’m pathetic or weird.
“They’re the best girl group ever,” Ingrid says, as if she can sense my hesitation. “You’re going to feel a million times better, promise.”
“Okay, sure.”
Chapter 9
Maddy
When Ingrid and I walk into Spanky’s, she waves at a table in the back.
Sophie Porter, team doctor for the Bashers and daughter of the head coach, smiles at us. Three other women are sitting with her at the table.
They all smile and introduce themselves when I sit down and join them. They’re all married or engaged to players on the team.
Nerves fire off inside my tummy. They all seem really nice, and they’re so kind to come hang out with me on such short notice…but part of me is afraid they’ll think I’m some loser who doesn’t have my own group of friends to hang out with.
Sophie smiles at me. Her soft blue eyes are bright and friendly. “So. I hear we’re here to trash your ex.”
All the women at the table raise their drinks. I let out a weak chuckle.
“Yeah, if that’s okay,” I say in a shy voice.
“More than okay,” Dakota says. “These girls listened to me countless times when I vented about my awful ex. Tell us about yours.”
Ingrid pours me a glass of wine from the bottle of red at the table. I tell her thanks and take a sip.
