“What’s up?” I ask nervously.
“Um…there are two women here to see you.”
“About treatment?”
“Uh, no. They said they’re friends of Lance.”
April and I exchange a look.
“Oh. Ah, I guess I’ll be right out?” It’s more question than answer.
“They’re right here. They were quite insistent,” she whispers.
“Oh.” My stomach flips. If it’s a couple of Lance’s former conquests, I might throw up for real—hopefully directly on them.
“Do you want me to stay?” April asks.
“Please. Yes.”
Bernadette opens the door, and two women appear. Two gorgeous women. I try not to imagine them naked. Or Lance naked with them. One has short dark hair, almost black, cut in a bob. She’s tiny and lean, with stunning almond-shaped eyes. The other one is a little taller, with long, wavy auburn hair, huge boobs, and a narrow little waist. I can’t tell if they’re real or fake—her boobs.
They both smile and look from me to April and back again.
“You must be Poppy,” Boobs says to me. Then she turns to her friend. “Oh my God! She is so cute! Can you even imagine how adorable their little ginger babies would be?”
April cough-chokes.
“Ohh...” Boobs makes a face. “Is that politically correct? Can a non-ginger use the word ginger when referencing another ginger? Is that offensive?” She looks to me for some kind of response. “I mean, my hair is auburn, so I guess it’s kind of reddish, but I don’t know if it’s red enough to qualify me for the use of the word ginger.”
I’m so confused right now.
“Violet, tone down your crazy a notch,” says the other one. She gives me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’d like to tell you she’s not always like this, but that would be a complete lie. I’m Lily, and this is Violet. We’re friends of Lance.”
The name Violet is familiar. I think Lance has mentioned her before.
“What kind of friends?”
This is an incredibly odd conversation to be having with women I automatically assume have had sex with Lance, because I don’t see him having a lot of female friends. This makes me want to rip their faces off—and that is a very non-me kind of reaction.
Boobs, or Violet, makes another face. It rivals one of April’s. “Not that kind of friend. I’m married.”
Violet holds out her left hand and nearly blinds me with the giant rock on her ring finger. Her nails are pretty and fancy. I can’t have long nails because of my job. They also can’t have polish on them. Hers are painted in Chicago’s colors.
She points to the girl beside her, Lily. “And this one is living with Balls.”
At my furrowed brow, Lily elaborates. “I’m Randy Ballistic’s girlfriend. We live together.”
“In his house,” Violet says. They both snicker.
“Am I supposed to understand what’s going on here?” I ask.
“Um, probably not. Sorry.” Lily looks apologetic.
“We’re here to stage an intervention,” Violet declares.
“I still don’t understand.”
“Me either.” April moves to stand beside me. She crosses her arms over her chest. She’s not very threatening, though. She’s too sweet looking, and gangly.
“To get you and Lance back together,” Lily explains. She looks at Violet. “Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. I think we just look like nutters right now.”
“It’s a fantastic idea,” Violet counters. “Lance is the reason Alex and I are married. Lance is part of the reason you and Nut Sac christen every bathroom in the greater Chicago area. It is our job to give Lance his happy ending.” Violet scrunches up her nose and makes a jerking-off motion. “But not that kind of happy ending. Well, maybe. Hopefully, actually.”
“Violet,” Lily hisses. “Sorry. We’re not crazy. Well, she is, but I’m not. Look, Lance is really sad, and we know it’s because he’s missing you. Randy says he moped around the entire time they were on the road, and he’s been moping around since he got back to Chicago last night. So we want to sort of help smooth things over.”
“Look, I appreciate you trying to help, but I need time to figure this out on my own.” This is so weird.
April coughs a word that sound a lot like liar.
“I don’t think we’re doing a very good job here, Lily. I knew we should’ve brought Sunny.”
“Sunny?” April asks.
“Sunshine, my sister-in-law. My stepbrother, Miller, knocked her up, so now she’s like my stepsister-in-law and my sister-in-law. It’s all very incesty soap opera. Except there’s no actual incest,” Violet explains.
“Is Sunshine a yoga instructor?” April asks.
“You know her?” Violet’s eyes light up.
“We took her class until she went on maternity leave. We miss her so much, don’t we, Poppy?” April nudges me.
“We do.” This is the most bizarre conversation ever. Talk about six degrees of separation.
“I’ll tell her that when I see her later. She’ll probably cry. She cries over almost everything right now. Yesterday Logan made spit bubbles, and she cried over the cuteness,” Violet says.
I’ve stopped speaking, because my brain can’t fit all these puzzle pieces together.
“Oh my God. What a small world! Did you know this?” April gives me an accusing glare.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” I say. There’s a little nugget of his outside life I did know about, I suppose. “Did he ask you to come here?”
“No. Oh, hell no. If he knew we were here he’d probably shit a pot of gold.” Violet shakes her head vigorously.
“He’s Scottish, not Irish, Vi.” Lily rolls her eyes.
I think I might like her despite all of this.
“Whatever. It’s the same part of the world. Just like Canada and the US are almost the same.”
Lily’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. She looks so horrified. “Not even fucking close.”
“You say eh and corner the market on all the real maple treats. We say hey and like the fake maple-flavored garbage, and you call mac and cheese something weird.”
“It’s KD, and that has nothing to do with you always mistaking Lance for Irish. That’s not the same as Scottish. Anyway, we have a purpose here.” Lily shoves her hand in Violet’s purse, rummages around, and produces an envelope. It’s bent at the corners. She flattens it and pulls out the contents. “We have two tickets to tonight’s game.”
“Really great seats right on center ice behind the bench,” Violet chimes in.
I take them from her. “Why are you giving these to me?”
“We want you to come,” Lily says.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” I finger the tickets. The seats are incredible. They must cost a small fortune. “I haven’t spoken to Lance in a while.” And he’s never wanted me to come…
“Look, we know Lance’s reputation isn’t great, and it’s not all rumors making it that way, but he’s a good guy, and he’s, like, totally into you. He’s moping, and Lance doesn’t do the moping thing, like, ever.” Lily gives me an imploring look. “Violet and I both know how hard it can be to date one of these guys.”
“When I started dating Alex I heard the hat trick rumor,” Violet offers. “Later I found out it wasn’t actually true, but when I thought it was… Well, I puked all over his shoes. It was epic. But now we’re married.”
“And Randy had a huge player reputation. I mean, most of it was actually legitimate because he was a player, but well, that’s changed.”
“We’ve known Lance for a while now, and neither of us has ever seen him this hung up on anyone.”
“Not even Tash?” I arch an eyebrow.
They exchange a look. “That situation is comp—”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Complicated. So I’ve been told.”
Violet grimaces. “He would probably kill me for saying this, but she really messed with his head, and Lan
ce, he’s not the way the media likes to portray him. I mean, yeah, he’s done the bunny business, but I think it’s blown way out of proportion. He hasn’t had it easy. Anyway, you should come to the game. See him play. We’ll all be sitting in the same section, so you can see what it’s like. And Sunny will be there with the baby, too.”
“Really?” April gets all excited and checks out the tickets. “Holy shit! These seats are killer! We have to go.”
“So Lance doesn’t know you’re doing this?”
“Hell no. He’s been adamant about making sure you have your space. I tried to get him to call you, but he refused. He said he doesn’t want to do to you what Tash did to him.”
If Lance wants this to work, and it certainly seems like he does, he has to let me into this part of his life. Which is why I decide to take the tickets.
“Okay. We’ll come.”
“Yes!” April begins to bounce.
“But you can’t tell Lance. It has to be a surprise,” Violet says.
“I don’t know…”
“I bet he’ll be so happy when he sees you sitting in the stands; he’ll forget to be mad at me for doing this. When Alex was a stupid dick and told the world we were just friends on national TV, I stopped talking to him for a month. Then he was so excited when I showed up at the final game of the Cup championships. Chicago won, and he stole his own thunder by grabbing a microphone from a reporter and asking me to be his girlfriend.” Violet sighs.
“She rambles a lot,” Lily says.
Violet blinks a few times, like she’s coming out of a daze. She waves the hand with the ring on it around. “Anyway, we have a car picking us up at six at my place. We can swing by your house on the way if you’d like, so you don’t have to worry about getting there.”
“Yes. That’s perfect! Thank you so much,” April answers for me. “Come on, Poppy, you’ve been sulking for almost two weeks.”
She’s right. I have. And this scenario is exactly what I need to put into action what I’ve already decided in my head. I’ll get to see firsthand what this world is going to be like outside the confines of my bedroom and my house. And how Lance handles me being there.
We exchange numbers, which is strange all over again, and Violet and Lily high five each other, hug me, and leave.
“That was surreal,” I say once they’re gone.
“And awesome!” April adds. “Oh my God. We’re going to a hockey game! And our seats are amazing.”
I share her excitement and fear what it means that my heart is beating so hard right now. My decision is made. And my heart is terrified.
I’ve changed my outfit three times. I’ve redone my makeup twice. And I’m not really a makeup girl.
I’m wearing a pair of dark jeans and a green top, because Lance has mentioned that he likes the way I look in green. I’m also wearing my pale yellow and green flowered bra and panty set. It’s very feminine. I don’t expect he’s going to see it.
Okay. Who am I kidding? Now that I’ve made the decision to go to the game—and start hashing this mess out—a significant part of me wants tonight to end with him at least getting a glimpse of it. But I’m so nervous. Because this whole situation is entirely unprecedented. The wife of the captain of the team and the girlfriend of the legendary Randy Ballistic are picking up me and April so we can go to the game together. Something Lance never asked me to do. And he doesn’t know.
I consider texting him.
I want to text him.
But it’s just hours until the game, and by this point it’s unlikely he has his phone with him. If he does, I don’t want to be a distraction—the way right now he’s totally mine.
The car that comes to get us is a black extended SUV limo with tinted windows. I follow April out of the house to find Mr. Goldberg, who I’ve had a lot more tea with over the past week or so, chatting up Violet.
“Ladies night out, Miss Poppy?” he asks.
“We’re going to a hockey game, Mr. Goldberg. This is Violet; she’s married to Alex Waters, Chicago’s team captain.”
“Is that so? Violet Waters, that’s a lovely name.”
I’m positive he’s checking out her rack. She’s wearing a form-fitting sweater with the Chicago logo on it.
“It makes me sound like a Disney princess, right?” Violet says with a big grin.
“That it does. Have a nice night, ladies. Be safe, Miss Poppy, and if you see that boyfriend of yours, make sure you remind him I’m out of those biscuits.”
“I’ll be sure to let him know.”
“What’s that about?” April asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing important. I’ll tell you later.”
I wave and get in the car where the rest of the girls are waiting. Lily’s sitting to the left with a baby seat between her and Sunshine—or Sunny, I guess her friends call her—and
there’s another woman I’ve never met seated behind her. She looks vaguely familiar.
Sunshine’s face lights up when she sees us. “Hi, girls! How are you? It’s so nice to see you!” We give each other awkward side hugs since I’m hunched over and she’s sitting.
“Is this Logan?” I peek in at the tiny sleeping bundle in the car seat, covered with blankets. “Is this his first game?”
“It’s his fourth.” Sunshine smiles proudly. “I hope he’s awake for at least a few minutes this time.”
I move to the bench seat on the right where there’s room to sit, and April goes in for hugs, then joins me.
The woman on the other side of Logan extends her hand. “I’m Charlene.”
“She’s dating Darren Westinghouse,” Violet calls from the front seat. “Or whatever she’s decided to call it.”
I don’t know what that means, but I introduce myself and April, and then we’re on our way to the game. Charlene, Violet, Lily, and April drink champagne while Sunshine and I drink sparkling juice. She’s breastfeeding, and I don’t want to be tipsy before I’m even at the rink.
It doesn’t take long to get to the arena. We’re dropped off at a private entrance, and we have some kind of special pass that allows us to avoid all the line-ups and security checks along the way to the ice.
“Okay, so things to prepare for before we get to our seats.” Violet laces her arm through mine. “There will be bunnies wearing jerseys like they’re dresses with Lance’s number on them. They’ll have signs and things that say they love him. That’s normal. Sometimes a few of them will be sitting close by, and you can hear their conversations. It can be funny, and sometimes disturbing.”
“You mean like that time you called out one of Randy’s bunny conquests before the game even started?” Lily asks snidely.
“She was asking for it.”
“The humiliation was mine,” Lily says.
“They’re making it out to be worse than it is.” Sunshine adjusts Logan, who’s now strapped to the front of her body in a carrier that looks more complicated than a straight jacket.
He’s resting his cheek on her boob, eyes closed and lips parted. He looks like a sleeping angel with his pale blond ringlets curling out of the tiny red hat he’s wearing.
“Miller had a horrible reputation when I started dating him. Probably almost as bad as Lance’s.”
I don’t think she’s saying this to be mean. I don’t think Sunshine has a mean bone in her body, to be quite honest.
“I let it interfere for way too long before I finally decided it didn’t matter what the media or the bunnies said and did. Who Miller was with before me isn’t important—not that it didn’t bother me at the time.”
Being with Lance when it’s just him and me isn’t a problem. It’s being allowed to engage with the rest of his life that’s the issue.
“How did you deal with it?”
“At first? Not all that well. I should’ve been prepared since Alex had a terrible rep, even if most of it wasn’t true. But it’s a lot different with a brother than a boyfriend.”
“But you got over it
obviously.” I motion to sleeping Logan.
“I did. It took a while for me to figure out what I wanted. But when it comes down to it, it’s about how Miller is with me. Everyone said the same thing when we started dating: that they’d never seen him like this with anyone else. It was the same way with Randy and Lily, and with my brother and Violet. And that’s how Lance is about you. I know some of the rumors are true, and with Miller, a lot of the rumors were true. But he was worth getting over it for.” She pats Logan’s bottom when he makes a snuffling sound and kisses the top of his head.
She looks so in love, and happy.
“Thanks for sharing that.” I mean it. That I’m being taken in by these women who obviously care about Lance—and have not slept with him—gives me new perspective. The man they’re describing seems like the person I know, and that’s reassuring.
Our seats are amazing. We’re right behind Chicago’s bench, which is currently empty. I’ll be able to see the back of Lance’s head the entire game.
Violet and the other girls all get drinks. Sunshine asks for hot water and produces a tea bag.
“They don’t have herbal here,” she explains.
I want hot chocolate, but I don’t know if it will cause Lance to have an allergic reaction. I definitely want to leave open the option for kissing. Maybe more, depending.
When they announce the teams, butterflies flit around in my stomach and try to flutter their way up my throat. Chicago skates onto the ice, and I immediately search for jersey number twenty-one.
“There he is!” April elbows me in the side a little too hard.
“Ow!”
“Sorry.” She’s bouncy. She’s almost finished her drink, which is either her second or third, depending on how much champagne she had in the limo.
I scan the ice and spot him. He’s halfway around the rink and moving quickly, following right behind number sixty-nine. That’s Randy, Lily’s boyfriend.
As they take the bench, they knock on the glass, waving to the girls. Lance waves absently and takes a seat, his mouth set in a thin line. He’s serious on the ice, from what I’ve witnessed in all my game watching. Randy taps the Plexiglas with his glove, winking at Lily. He scans the rest of the row and does a double take when he sees me. His eyes dart back to Lily with questions in them. She gives him a big grin, which he returns with a shake of his head. But it’s not a bad look.
Pucked Off (The Pucked Series) Page 29