Page 58 of Hot Puck
“How do burgers sound?”
“With fries?”
“Of course. Who eats a burger without fries?”
Stell has joined us, and both the girls look at me. With a sigh, I raise my hand. “Me. It’s me. I eat burgers without fries.”
“Are you even human?” Gem asks, the twitch of her lips telling me she’s struggling to hold back a smile.
“Yes. But only in the off season. And no more than a couple of times.”
“Whoa.” Gem shakes her head. “I’m always surprised by the weird dietary restrictions you players have. They’re never the same.”
“I don’t have many, but I hate weighing my body down with carbs, so I make sure I don’t eat many.”
“Well, you might want to make an exception tonight. Where we’re going has the most amazing duck fries.”
“Duck fries?” Cass takes a hasty step away, shaking her head. “I’m not eating duck!”
Gem laughs. “They’re called duck fries, but they’re not made of duck, only cooked in duck fat,” she explains.
“I’m not sure that’s any better,” Cass pouts. “Do they have normal fries?”
“Yes.” Gem palms Cass’s shoulders and turns her around. “Now go grab a towel, head upstairs, and shower so we can get going.”
Stell follows her sister although, unlike Cass, she’s already dried off and wrapped in a towel. I wait until the girls have gone inside before I ask the question that has been plaguing me since Gem first came home.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to take over the basement with gym equipment?”
“Yes. Stop worrying about it. I won’t change my mind.” She waits for me to acknowledge her words before saying, “I’ll go get changed—how long do you think it will take the girls to get ready? I might do some work before we leave.”
“I have to wake Candace.” Glancing at my watch I see it’s time to do that anyway. If she sleeps any later, getting her to sleep tonight will be a struggle. “Will half an hour work for you?”
“Perfect. But I won’t do anything that can’t be interrupted so come get me if you’re ready before.”
I nod. “I’ll send the girls in.”
One thing I haven’t done is intrude on her personal space. We’ve taken over her house, basically pushed her into a couple of rooms, and I don’t want to infringe on her territory any more than we have.
I might be curious about her space, but that’s because I’m curious about her. She’s such a different person when in work mode.
It will be interesting to see how things go once we’re working together. And I know she said she isn’t in the training facility and only around on game days but she’s still my boss.
And we’re living together.
And as off today, we’re free to follow through on her suggestion to give the girls more security and get married.
Nat
It begins.
Months—no,years—of hard work and stupid amounts of money have come down to this.
Today.
The Rogues’ first game in the NHL.
Game one of pre-season.
