by Ellen Devlin
Chapter Six
Tom left Liz’s place early in the morning, heading home to shower and change. There was no morning-after awkwardness, and they kissed goodbye at her door.
Liz got ready and went over to Chris and Paige’s house for morning coffee. She and Paige were going to be heading a few miles south to the town of Occoquan to visit the art galleries, have lunch, and generally enjoy a quiet day wandering the pretty little historic area. That had been yesterday’s plan before the zoo.
She had just started her first cup with Paige when Chris came out of the sliding glass doors, followed by Tom. Tom had not expected to see her and did not look entirely happy at the surprise. Liz was equally surprised by his arrival.
“Oh! Hi, Tom. I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.”
“Yeah, same here.” He sounded a little guarded.
Paige spoke up. “It’s our tradition. The week after the pool party is ‘morning coffee with Liz’ and ‘Paige and Liz time’ at our house.” Tom’s look softened a bit, but he still looked slightly ill at ease, almost suspicious. “Did you enjoy the zoo yesterday? Liz had just started to tell me about your visit there, but Lord knows she loves the place, so she’ll probably tell me you loved all the animals just as much as she does.”
Tom looked at Paige for a few seconds, trying to find some sort of innuendo or teasing involved in her line of questioning, but could find none. “I did enjoy it,” he said, a bit cautiously, still searching Paige’s face for signs that she was aware of their later activities. “I think the O-Line was my favorite, though. Watching orangutans swinging directly overhead is definitely not something you see every day.”
Paige didn’t blink at the mention of the name—the name of the zoo feature was a play on the naming of the lines of DC’s Metro System—but Tom saw Liz’s eyes go wide just for a moment in his peripheral vision. She had definitely caught his double entendre.
“Oh, I love that too! But I would not stand directly underneath. I don’t trust an orangutan that far.” Paige laughed. “So we’re heading out to do something that Chris would hate. Do you guys have plans? Because I would love to force him to come along. We could convince him it’s your burning desire to visit the little town of Occoquan.”
“I’m standing right here, Paige.”
Tom laughed and said, “I’m not sure there even is a plan. We’ll probably just sit around and scratch ourselves. We are guys.”
Paige grimaced. “Lord, that sounds about right. Hey, Chris, come help me find my spare set of car keys for next week before I forget about it again, okay? Liz, we can leave in just a second.” Chris got up and followed her inside.
Tom sat down next to Liz, looked at her sideways, and said, “You didn’t say anything.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Neither did you,” she pointed out. She sipped her coffee. “Should I have told Chris that I took advantage of his best friend five minutes after we met?” she asked, smiling around her coffee mug.
He smiled at her, looking completely relaxed for the first time since arriving.
“So,” she asked, “are we okay, then?”
He chuckled. “I think that’s supposed to be my line.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said. “Please, proceed.”
Tom gave her a slightly exasperated look. She gestured for him to proceed. He laughed and said, “Are we okay, then?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
Chris and Paige came walking back out, Chris holding his coffee cup. Seeing Tom laughing, he asked, “What are you two talking about?”
Liz once again inwardly thanked him. Sweet, sweet man. Wait for it…“I was just telling Tom about my reputation as an insatiable puck bunny.”
Chris choked and spewed coffee. Tom gaped.
“No, really, ask around!”
Tom started laughing as Liz grabbed Paige’s hand and ran off. She heard Chris saying, “God damn it, Liz!”
***
Tom watched the two of them heading off around the yard gate to Paige’s car and heard Chris say, “Every time. Every fucking time,” as he was trying to clean coffee off himself. “Well, shit. Come inside while I change my fucking shirt. Again.”
“So this is a thing?”
Chris glared at him, and Tom laughed and put up his hands. They continued walking, with Chris grumbling, and Tom realized this was actually the perfect opportunity to ask about Liz without being completely offensive.
“So I take it she’s not an insatiable puck bunny?” He tried to sound funny, and he guessed it worked, because Chris answered without sounding pissed, but it was not necessarily an idle question.
She was confusing the hell out of him. If he was just one in a line of hockey players, that was fine, but he would like to know.
Chris’s response was to laugh, look at Tom, and then laugh a lot harder at Tom’s expression. “Holy shit, you’re serious! Sorry, Micky, I sometimes forget you two just met. Hang on a minute, I’ll be right back.” Chris reappeared in a clean, coffee-less shirt a few seconds later and continued. “No, she is absolutely not a puck bunny. Insatiable or otherwise.” He laughed again.
“Liz has a ton of friends—I’m sure you picked that up from the party—and knows a lot of the guys on the team just from being around. She and Zee are tight, but he’s probably her closest other friend on the team besides me. She is a huge Guards fan. A hockey fan in general, yes, but she’s been a Guards fan since long before I got here.
“Honestly, though, now that I’m thinking about it…shit, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her with a serious boyfriend. Which I’m sure is why Paige went so batshit crazy when you rolled into town. I’m sorry about that again, Mick.”
Tom said, “No, man, no problem. It’s been fun.”
“Paige just sees two people she cares about and wants them to care about each other. I told her to tone it down. I’m sure Liz told her that too. She’s pretty levelheaded when it comes to stuff like that.”
Tom chuckled. “It’s all good, Becks. You know I love Paige. And Liz is great. I feel like she’s already a really good friend.” He stopped for a second and thought about it. “Shit, that’s just fucking weird. I almost feel like I’ve known her for months, rather than a few days.”
Chris slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Yup. She does that. I have no idea how. And it is fucking weird.”
***
The girls had just gotten into Paige’s car after Chris had spit his coffee. Paige turned to Liz. “Sometimes I think you are about ten years old.”
“I know, right? I’m so much fun!”
“Oh, that’s so not what I meant.”
Liz just grinned at her.
Paige laughed as she started driving toward the highway. “Seriously, though, did you guys have a good time at the zoo yesterday?”
“I told you we did. Really. He is a smart and funny guy.” She thought for a minute. “Hey, do you guys still have the extra room at the condo next week at Virginia Beach? Or did you find someone else to go with you?”
Paige replied excitedly. “No, we didn’t find anyone else. Does this mean you can go after all?”
Liz said, “Ah, I wish. No, that’s still not going to work. But I think you should ask Tom. He’s never been.”
They were sitting at a stoplight. Paige turned to her. “Oh, that’s a great idea. Of course he’s never been to Virginia Beach! Chris will have a blast.”
Liz put her hand on Paige’s arm. “No. Paige, he’s never been to any beach. He’s never been in the ocean.”
“Get. Out.” The car behind them honked to let her know the light had turned green, and Paige turned back to the road and continued on. “How did you find that out?”
“While we were walking around the zoo. It came up in conversation.”
Paige smiled. Liz had a way of making people feel comfortable in conversations and ended up learning details like this. She had known Tom for days. Paige had known him for years.
“I know you guy
s don’t go out and party like we all used to, but there must be some nightspots around there. I’m sure there would be plenty of lovely beach bunnies looking to meet a gorgeous hockey player. At least for the week.” Liz raised and lowered her eyebrows at Paige, who had looked over at her briefly. “What?” Liz asked. The look Paige had given her had bordered on sad. “What’s wrong?”
“I had really hoped that you guys would hit it off.”
“We did! He’s great!”
Paige sighed. “That’s not what I mean, Liz, and you know it.”
Liz smiled and took one of Paige’s hands. They were on the highway now, with straight driving for the next twenty minutes or so. “He just got here, Paige. He’s barely unpacked his luggage, and I’m not sure the ink is dry on his contract yet. It’s not reasonable to think he’s going to want to get involved in a relationship the minute he gets here.”
Paige glanced over and said, “You sound just like Chris.”
“Occasionally even Chris says smart things.”
“I just want you to be happy, Liz.”
Liz sat up, stunned by the comment. “God, Paige—I feel like I need you to pull over to say this to you, I mean this so seriously—I am happier now than I have ever been in my entire life. These past few years have been the happiest I have ever had. I thought you knew that. How could you not know that?”
Paige said, “I know, I know. That’s not what I mean. I mean I want you to share that with someone. I want you to be happy with someone. You don’t have a Chris. You don’t have a family.” She drew a breath. “You know what I mean.”
Liz smiled again. “I know. But that will either happen, or it won’t. And you and Chris are my family. I know you know that. So please don’t say I don’t have one again, okay? Because that kinda stings.”
“Shoot. You know I don’t mean it that way.”
“I do. And you know I love you like crazy. But you can’t force it.”
“I’m impatient. I want two people who I love to love each other. Is that too much to ask?”
Liz laughed out loud. “And you’d like it to happen in, say, two days. That should work out just fine. So are you gonna take Tom to the beach or not?”
“Oh, hell, yes. First of all, Chris will have such a great time. I can’t wait to see that. Second, I will be off the hook for all the stuff that he likes to do that I don’t want to. I can’t see a downside to this situation. ‘Sure, guys! Go ride go-karts! Nope, I don’t mind. I’ll just be sitting here on the beach reading my book.’ That sounds like heaven!”
Liz thought for a minute and then said, “Will you take videos of Tom getting knocked on his ass in the ocean? Because that would be awesome.”
“For you? Definitely.”
Chapter Seven
The week that Chris, Paige, and Tom were at the beach was fantastic for them. As expected, Tom and Chris spent the entire week bonding, allowing Paige to spend the entire week relaxing.
“Liz, this has been ah-may-zing,” she told her friend on the phone one evening. “They just left for some bar—I don’t even know where. I’ve spent the entire afternoon in a lounge chair with a drink and a book, occasionally saying, ‘Sure, honey, whatever you want.’ You are a genius.”
Liz laughed. “I have been trying to tell you that for years.”
“Seriously, though, I haven’t seen Chris this happy in a while. He and Micky always have so much fun together. Oh, I sent you a few more videos. None are as good as those first few, though. They were the absolute best.”
One had been perfect. Paige had managed to capture that moment when Tom got a little too cocky with his new ability to manage the waves, got caught completely unprepared, and was knocked ass-over-teakettle. Chris had been right next to him when it had happened and had been laughing so hard it was amazing that neither of them had drowned.
“I had to watch that one, oh, about fifty times in a row,” Liz said. “I made my boss watch it too. And then we showed it on the really big screen in the conference room.”
She didn’t mention how many times she had watched the videos Paige sent just to see Tom wearing board shorts. Sometimes she missed the entire point of the video the first or second time through because there were those broad shoulders, abs, a gorgeous back…or her vivid memory of what was under the board shorts…keeping her from being able to pay attention to anything but him.
Paige confided, “I sent it to their agent.” Tom and Chris had the same agent. “She loved it, so she’s going to see that it’s released. It should be picked up on local social media soon. Something to the effect of ‘New Guards Player Makes Waves at Virginia Beach.’ Both of them would want to kill me if I did it myself. This way I can play dumb and say I was just sharing it with Janine for fun.”
Liz grinned. “Perfect. You are an evil genius. Chris does not deserve you. I’ll let you know when I see it hit the various Guards Facebook and Twitter stuff.”
“Everything okay at the house?”
“Of course. I’m eating all your food and drinking all your beer. All is well.”
Paige laughed. “See you in a few days.”
***
On Saturday afternoon Liz was sitting by the pool, drinking water and reading a book, when the group got back from their trip. She had been house-sitting all week. It was an easy solution for all of them—Liz left her car parked at her apartment for the week and stayed at their house whenever they were gone for an extended time. She used one of their cars, had an entire house to herself, was able to use the pool, and they had the benefit of the house continually looking lived in, because it was.
She heard the car pull in and walked out front to meet them.
“We had such a great time!” Paige gushed, scurrying for the front door. “Let me get inside and pee before I die!”
Chris greeted her with a hug. “Hey, you! Thanks for watching the house.”
“Anytime, sweetie, you know that. I’m always looking for a location for my next kegger.”
“Ha, ha. But I am going to go check the liquor cabinet. I don’t trust you that far.” He grabbed a suitcase and started toward the house.
Tom got out of the car, stretched, and grinned at her.
“Hey, handsome,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I would see you. I thought they might drop you off at your place on the way home.”
Tom watched Chris disappear into the house, and immediately put his arms around Liz, pulled her close, and delivered a bone-melting kiss. “I know the trip was your idea,” he said, kissing her again deeply. “Thank you.” Another kiss. “I missed you.”
He let her go as suddenly as he had swept her up, and she stared at him, lips slightly parted, speechless, heart pounding, insides swirling. Just then Paige walked out the door chattering brightly about the wonderful time they had. Tom kept eye contact with Liz as he backed toward the front door, smiling, his eyes playful and flirty. Then he winked, laughed at her expression, and turned around to head inside the house.
Liz realized she had missed half of whatever Paige had just said. “I’m so sorry, Paige, what was that?”
Paige squinted at her suspiciously. “What’s up with you?”
Liz went with the easiest answer. “I got totally distracted. I haven’t seen fantasy boy there for more than a week. I need to build up my tolerance again to be able to focus when he’s around. Gonna need more nametags.”
Paige just said, “Oh, sweet Jesus. How often is this kind of thing going to happen?”
“How am I supposed to know? This is all new to me. It’s not my fault he looks like that. And you brought him back all tanned. He definitely looks like he had fun, though. He and Chris both look like they had an amazing time.”
“Oh God, they were like college kids. It was hilarious. I wish you could have been there to see it. You really would have loved it, Liz.” She smiled at her friend. “You have to stay for dinner. We’re just ordering pizza—forget cooking tonight—but I will make every embarrassing picture and video app
ear on the big TV and make the guys watch. They haven’t seen any of them. You don’t want to miss this.”
Liz grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The video Paige had sent to their agent had hit social media two days ago and had been very well received, with lots of comments, shares and retweets.
***
Liz thoroughly enjoyed the retelling of the beach stories, interspersed with the pictures and videos. She hadn’t seen Chris this animated in a long time, and between the two guys playing off each other, she and Paige were breathless with laughter.
The news that the video had been released by their agent did not go as well, though. Chris was a little irritated but took it well. He had been through this with Paige and Janine before, and they were always right about this kind of thing. Good publicity is good publicity. Janine wouldn’t release something that would hurt him; the team certainly wouldn’t pick it up and put it on their news feed unless they liked it. Tom, however, was not happy, and was getting unhappier by the moment.
“Wait, what?” Tom was starting to look seriously angry. “What the fuck, Paige? Why the hell would you send that to her? And why would she release it?”
Paige was taken aback and was starting to look upset. She opened her mouth to reply, but Chris put his hand on her arm and quietly gestured over to the couch. Liz had reached out to Tom and took his hand to talk to him. Chris mouthed to Paige, “Just watch.”
Tom turned to Liz when she took his hand and glared at her. She smiled at him. “She released it because it’s perfect. It’s completely relatable. Every person that has ever been to the beach has been knocked on their ass by a big wave. It’s funny. It shows two big, handsome hockey players having fun at the beach.
“It draws people’s attention to the sport in the middle of summer when most folks aren’t thinking about hockey. Especially in DC—don’t ask me why, but this is still a die-hard football town. Right now, a whole bunch of people that normally wouldn’t care have been reminded that the Guardians have been making roster changes for next season.