Winning It All (Hometown Players Book 4) (14 page)

It’s Sunday, late afternoon, the sun is high in the cloudless sky but it’s freezing. I’m outside Hattie’s Hat in Ballard, Audrey’s favorite brunch place because it serves a billion different kinds of Bloody Marys, waiting for my always fashionably late best friend to grace me with her presence. Finally, after almost fifteen minutes, I see Audrey’s car come down the block. She honks as she drives past and pulls to a stop at an empty meter half a block up.

“Hurry up, princess. I’m starving!” I call as she’s paying the meter. I try not to sound too harsh, because it is her birthday, after all. She comes charging up the street looking fabulous, as always, and I’m glad I put a little extra time into my own appearance. Audrey is a good-looking girl with a flair for hair, makeup and fashion that make her downright stunning, in my opinion. Today she’s wearing a long white clingy sundress with a pair of cork wedge sandals and black onyx jewelry. Her long, perfectly curled hair is spilling out over her shoulders. Her eye makeup is dark and smoldering and stunning. It’s her day so I guess it is her right to have every eye in the place turn and look at her, which they do, when we finally get inside and the hostess seats us.

“How’d you get here?”

“Cab.”

“Still no damn car?”

I shrug. “Working on it.”

“Christ, I take less time deciding on a boyfriend,” Audrey gripes.

Hattie’s has got a seventies diner feel to it with wood-paneled walls and booths down one side and tables down the other. The hostess seats us at the last booth, because Audrey told her there were going to be four of us.

“Are you just angling for a better table, or did you invite Josh?” I ask, slipping into the booth across from her.

“I invited Jessie and Sasha.”

I freeze and stare at her. “Really?”

Audrey nods, reaching up to pull off her hat and fluff her hair. “I ran into Jessie at the gym yesterday after your class, and I invited her. I really like her.”

“Oh. Okay,” I say quietly, and she kicks my leg lightly under the table.

“Shaynie, you seemed to love Jessie when you met her,” Audrey reminds me. “What happened? She says you’ve been avoiding her since she started working there.”

“She’s fine. I’m not avoiding her; I just…” I sigh and open my menu so I don’t have to look at Audrey’s judgmental stare. “We just don’t have a lot in common.”

“Ha! Or too much in common,” Audrey scoffs loudly and I give her a hard stare. Why is she doing this?

Sasha arrives first. I swear her belly is bigger than it was just a couple of days ago. She rubs her stomach as she wedges herself into the booth beside me. Audrey lets out an appreciative whistle. “When are you popping the kid out? He looks like he’s ready to join us.”

Sasha laughs. “Another two months to go. Although I’d be happy with an early appearance at this point.”

I slide over and Sasha wedges herself into the booth beside me, leaning over quickly to give Audrey a happy birthday and a hug. The waitress comes over and Audrey tells her we’re waiting for one more and orders two Bloody Marys—one for me and one for her. Sasha orders herbal tea. After the waitress walks away, Sasha announces, “Oh, and by the way, he’s a she.”

I jump and spin my head to face her. “You know?”

She nods. “We just found out but haven’t told anyone yet.”

I hug her. “I’m so happy for you!”

And then Jessie is walking toward us, smiling brightly. I give her a small wave. I don’t hate her. I have no reason to hate her. I just don’t want to get too close to her. I feel like I’ll get sucked into a world—Seb’s world—that I’m trying to avoid. When she gets to our booth, Audrey introduces her to Sasha and then starts discussing the day’s plans. She wants to have a big brunch with lots of Bloody Marys and then go shopping and get pedicures. I want to pretend I have a stomach bug and ditch them at the mall.

The waitress comes over with our drinks. Jessie orders her own Bloody Mary and we all order various versions of eggs Benedict. Then Sasha starts making small talk with Jessie.

“So are you from Seattle?”

“No. I’m from Maine,” she explains with a friendly smile. “A hole-in-the-wall town called Silver Bay.”

“Huge hockey town,” Audrey adds helpfully. “They’ve produced more NHL players than any other town in the United States.”

“I see you’ve read the Wikipedia page,” Jessie quips, and Audrey grins.

“My boyfriend is a huge hockey fan. When I told him I met your fiancé he started reciting facts and stats about him, his family, the town. I’m surprised I don’t know his shoe size,” Audrey says, taking a healthy sip of her drink.

I sip mine and pull out the wedge of celery and take a bite as Audrey continues talking. “Your sister is dating Jordan’s brother, right? Is that how you met Jordan?”

Jessie smiles. “We’ve all known the Garrisons since we were kids. My mother was best friends with Mrs. Garrison when they were young.”

I look at her, my eyes sliding to the sparkling multidiamond ring on her hand. She watched this guy grow up. She knew he was going to be a high-paid hockey star and she sunk her claws in early. So did her sister. It’s typical in small towns. My dad and mom were from a small town near Minnesota. My mom, the daughter of a dairy farmer, did the same thing. I asked her once, after I knew about the cheating, why she didn’t divorce him, and her answer was: “And go back to the farm?”

“My mom died when I was eight, and after that, Donna, Jordan’s mom, really looked out for us.” Jessie sips her own Bloody Mary. “That’s delicious.”

The icy wall that blocked Jessie off from my heart starts to melt.

Sasha sips her tea. “That must have been hard, losing your mom so young.”

“It was no picnic,” Jessie admits, and she stirs her drink with her straw, her eyes on the table. She looks uncomfortable so I’m not surprised when she changes the subject. “So you’re married to Trey and expecting a little one? That’s great!”

Sasha nods and smiles. “I was just telling everyone before you arrived, it’s going to be a girl.”

Jessie grins. “Congrats! That’s amazing.”

Sasha sighs and runs a hand through her long blond hair. “Yeah. Trey’s father isn’t going to think so. He’s counting on Trey to add a boy to the hockey legacy.”

“Ouch.” Jessie gives Sasha a sympathetic smile. “My father was the same way. He was devastated he had three girls. I wonder if he’d have stuck around to raise us if we were boys who could fulfill his second chance at a hockey career.”

“Your dad wanted to be a hockey player?” I hadn’t meant to speak but I had to.

“Jessie’s father is Drew Caplan,” Audrey announces, her eyes narrowed in on me like a teacher giving a child a life lesson. “He played for Sacramento, was considered one of the best in the league, before a car crash shattered his leg.”

“A drunk driving accident,” Jessie clarifies. “My father had demons. Probably still does, wherever he is. But thankfully, that’s not my problem.”

I stare at her. She sips her drink, and the waitress shows up with our meals. As she places them all on the table, Jessie glances over at me. “You looked miserable out there on the ice during the ceremony. I’m guessing your hockey dad is no treat either?”

I nod. Wow. I did not in a million years see this coming. Jessie Caplan’s dad was a hockey nightmare like my own. I suddenly feel like maybe Jessie is exactly who I want in my life. But I still don’t know why, if she saw the darker side of hockey, she is about to marry a player.

The conversation turns to talk about the rest of our day—what everyone is looking to buy, what color nail polish we’ll get for our pedis. But every time Audrey looks at me it’s with a knowing smirk. Then, as she looks up at me as the waitress clears our plates and Audrey and Sasha talk about a new store in the mall they want to check out, I turn to Jessie and say softly, “I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit of a bitch to you.”

Jessie smiles easily. “You haven’t been. You’ve just been kind of distant.”

“I may have stereotyped you without knowing how much we have in common. I’m sorry.”

“I get it. My sister even accused me of being a puck bunny when we were kids and I first hooked up with Jordan,” Jessie says and reaches across the table to give my hand a squeeze. “You can make it up to me by including me in the next girls’ day.”

“For sure,” I agree happily. Thank God she’s willing to cut me some slack.

I glance up and notice Audrey’s doe eyes glued to something over my shoulder. “Is that Sebastian?!”

I spin around and my eyes land on Frenchie, who is at a table across the restaurant with a couple of guys.

“Gonna go say hello to lover boy?”

I shake my head swiftly as Sasha asks, “Who?”

“Number eight for the Seattle Winterhawks. Leads the team in fights and penalty minutes. Currently the highest scoring defenseman in the NHL, about to crush Glenn Beckford’s record, and a potential Trojan Magnum spokesman.”

I reach across the table and smack Audrey’s arm at that last comment while Jessie groans, “Too much information!”

Sasha’s eyes shoot to Seb’s table and then get wide. “Him? The injured player from the other night? You’re
sleeping
with him?!”

“No!” I bark at my sister-in-law. “It was just a one-night stand.”

“That happened twice,” Audrey adds helpfully.

Three times,
I correct inwardly. Now Jessie is staring at me in shock along with Sasha. “So that kiss I stumbled upon at the game wasn’t a first-time thing?”

“They kissed at the game?” Audrey looks like someone just gave her a check for a million dollars. “Oh my God, you broke your own rules. Knowingly. You like him!”

“I have no idea why I am friends with you,” I say to her and turn to Jessie and Sasha. “That was a mistake. Being around my father gave me temporary insanity. It was nothing. We’re nothing. He’s a hockey player.”

Audrey looks past me at him again, and he must be looking back because she mouths the word “hello.” Jessie waves. “Oh! He’s with Chooch and Dix.”

I can’t help but look back over, and Seb winks at me. I turn away, trying to quell the ripple of heat that starts to flow through my veins.

He looks mouthwateringly good. His hair is styled, pushed back a little off his forehead and tousled. He’s wearing a charcoal shirt. The color makes his eyes look even lighter somehow. His jeans are well worn and he has battered black boots on.

I have to admit, I had expected to see him before now. I thought he would follow me back into the private box at the hockey game, but I didn’t see him again for the rest of the game. And he hadn’t been by the gym yesterday. Whether I liked it or not, I found myself wondering where he was and what he was doing and why I hadn’t seen or heard from him. My heart was the one asking the questions, while my brain screamed the obvious answers.

You haven’t heard from him because he’s done with you. You treated him like crap. He finally got sick of it, which is what you wanted. He’s moved on to the billions of eager, hot girls that want him.

That’s why, now that I see him sitting there laughing with his buddies, I have to ignore him. Because I finally got what I wanted. I can’t screw that up. Sasha glances over her shoulder, at Frenchie and his friends, and back at me.

“He’s got his very pretty eyes glued to you, Shayne.”

“It like he’s trying to remove your clothes with his eyeballs,” Audrey comments.

“Well, that’s not happening again,” I vow, even though I do not sound at all convincing.

“Good-looking, great guy with a good income—why wouldn’t you want to date him?” Jessie wants to know, her green eyes blinking innocently.

I sigh, loudly, and nervously play with my hair. I can feel his eyes on me. It’s making me warm. “My dad and basically all his teammates were cheaters. I dated a hockey player in college and he was a cheater.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon,” Jessie agrees, but she doesn’t look concerned, which I would if I was engaged to one. “But for every player I know who cheats, I can name two who don’t. I’ve never seen Seb in a long-term relationship, but I know him well, and I’m confident he would be in the
don’t
column.”

“And he gives her orgasms,” Audrey adds, crunching on the celery in her now empty glass. I glare at her but she goes on, undaunted.

“Go Seb!” Jessie laughs. “He’s also great at making cocktails. Seriously, Shayne, he’s a catch.”

“Can we talk about something else?” I beg, so embarrassed now I feel like running away. I take a long sip of my Bloody Mary. Audrey rolls her eyes at me but shows me some support and changes the subject, asking Sasha if they have baby names picked out yet. A few minutes later as Sasha is explaining how much Trey loves the name Brandy and how much she hates it, a fresh Bloody Mary is placed in front of me, and the hand holding it doesn’t belong to the waiter. I look up and Sebastian is smirking down at me.

“Thank you,” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.

“You’re welcome,” he replies just as simply, and then he glances at Audrey, Jessie and Sasha with less smirk and more smile. “I ordered another round for all of you too.”

Sasha grins, leans forward and extends her hand. “I’m Sasha, Shayne’s sister-in-law. And thank you. Please join us.”

Ugh!

Sasha slides out of the booth as Sebastian reaches over and grabs a chair from a nearby empty table. “I’ll take that and you can slide into my place,” she offers and pats her baby belly. “I’m running to the bathroom every ten minutes anyway.”

As if to prove her point, she waddles off to the bathroom. He drops his sweet ass into the booth and then leans back and wraps his arm around the back. My stomach does a somersault. God, what a pathetic reaction. The waiter shows up a minute later with fresh drinks for Audrey and Jessie and a Pellegrino for Sasha. Audrey looks back at Sebastian’s friends and points.

“Why don’t you invite them over too?” Audrey asks with a smile. “I can text Josh and Jessie can text Jordan and we can make this a real party.”

“What about shopping and—”

Audrey cuts me off. “My birthday, my plans. And I’m changing them.”

“
Bonne fête
, Audrey.” Sebastian raises his drink at my best friend, and the biggest traitor in my life, and turns to wave his friends over. As he does, his arm presses more firmly against my shoulders and his fingers graze my upper arm. It makes me tingle—between my legs.