Page 14 of Love Lessons
It takes me a second, but then I realize she means her clippers and scissors. “Sure, honey. Thanks for everything. Who’s your friend?”
“This is, um, Danforth. And Danforth, these are my neighbors—Ian and Patrick.”
“Pleasure,” the dude says stiffly. He doesn’t offer a hand, he just moves to stand beside Vera’s front door, waiting with obvious impatience for Vera to open it.
“’Night, countess,” I say.
“Goodnight,” she says softly. Then she unlocks the door, and the two of them disappear inside.
O’Doul takes a sip of his beer. “Something going on between you two? Did I interrupt?”
“Nah.” I sigh. “I’m down for it. But she’d rather pick out ties for me. And not for bondage, either.”
My captain laughs. “I heard management is all over you to clean up your image. Maybe you could do both at the same time.”
“She shot me down more than once already. And only an asshole hits on someone who’s hired to do a job.”
“Maybe you should just hire her anyway, though? Nice girl. And you hate shoppin’.”
“True,” I concede. “But I hate pretense more. I’m a simple man. You of all people should understand.”
He nods. Swigs his beer.
O’Doul and I have a lot in common. We both skipped college to play junior hockey and never looked back. He’s also a team enforcer—a fighter when necessary. He’s basically my mentor. When I said I wanted to take some fights, he put protective gear on both of us and got me into the ring to learn how to do it right.
We still spar once a week. It’s my favorite thing in the world.
“Look, I know it sucks when the suits come down on you,” he says quietly. “I’ve been there.”
He has. More often than me, actually.
“But I think you should take ’em seriously this time. Give them a little of what they want. It won’t hurt as much as you think.”
Uh-oh. “Et tu, Doulie? What do you know that I don’t? Are they looking totrademe?”
Oh hell. Maybe they are. And now I’m panicking.
“No, man. Calm down.” He shakes his head. “I didn’t hear anything like that. But management cares about their reputation, which means they care about your reputation. And nobody wants to see your name in the media over some bullshit.”
I make an unhappy grunt.
“Plus, you got a tendency to undervalue yourself, and I don’t want to see you do that. So I think you could play their games for a minute here and just let ’em all know that you still care. That they should never count you out.”
I suppose he’s talking sense. But I still feel some dread. “That mugshot didn’t help me at all.”
“No,” O’Doul agrees. “It’s not helpin’. That’s why you need to walk the walk. Optics matter. Do you think I’d’ve been captain of this team for so long if I didn’t listen when they got up in my face about optics?”
“Guess not. No.” I hate this, but if O’Doul is telling me to listen to the suits, then I guess I’m going to have to.
“I got news, and I don’t think you’re going to like it. But I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
My stomach rolls. “That’s ominous. What is it?”
“I’m done, man. I told management yesterday that I’m retiring.”
“No shit?” I whisper as another wave of dread rolls over me. “I thought you were going to give it another year.” And honestly, I thought he’d probably push it even another year further. He’s thirty-six. Most guys don’t last that long. But he’s special.
“Yeah, I thought so, too. But I need a knee surgery. So that would bite into my last season. And Ari wants to have a baby, so I gotta get on that, too.”
