by Toni Aleo
Shea let out a booming laugh, which caused her to laugh.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t look me in the eye. She was shy, cute.”
“Hmm, sounds like a winner in my book,” Grace cooed.
“Maybe.”
“So, anyways, the party for this weekend is almost done, planning wise.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m excited. The guys are gonna have a ball.”
“That’s why I hire the best party planner in Nashville.”
Grace giggled and went on with details, as Shea stood in his stainless steel kitchen. Grace had decorated the whole condo for him when they came to Nashville four years ago. He had just gotten signed with the Assassins from the Flyers and couldn’t be happier to be moved to a team that was gonna pay a hell of lot more than the Flyers ever did. Plus, Grace had hated Philadelphia probably as much as Shea did. Luckily, they both loved Nashville. Since Grace would never go anywhere without Shea, as he wouldn’t without her.
The joy of being twins!
Grace had helped pick out the condo and even lived with him for a while to get it looking perfect before looking for her own. Then she met James Justice and after only being together for a couple of months, got pregnant. Now Grace lived ten minutes from Shea in a beautiful 1.2 million dollar house, blissfully married, with two of the greatest kids in the world, Ryan and Amelia, while running the biggest party planning business in Nashville. Shea couldn’t be happier for her, but he always got nervous with the thought that one day he would be leaving her, if he got traded or anything.
“Does that sound okay?” Grace asked, bringing him back to the conversation.
“Of course, do you have a photographer?” Shea found himself asking, Grace starting laughing.
“No, you never said you wanted one.”
“Well, maybe it would be a good idea. With all the new players and their families, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, you have a certain photographer in mind, Shea?”
“Oh hush, and get her.”
“Who is she!?”
“I don’t know, but find her and get her. Offer her a price she can’t refuse.”
“You have no idea what her name is?”
“I think I heard Elli, but I’m not sure. Call Melody, she would know.”
“Fine. I’ve got three days to find this chick. Jeez, Shea.”
“I love you, Gracey,” he cooed. She laughed.
“I love you, too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
He hung up his phone, tucking it into his pocket with a grin on his face. He went to his fridge, smiling at his niece and nephew’s pictures before opening it to get a beer. He popped the top as he walked to the dimly lit living room. He sat down on his leather couch and turned on the TV to catch some of the highlights before turning in. He had an early practice in the morning. Plus, he was volunteering at the hospital with the team tomorrow over at Vanderbilt.
As he drank his beer, he found himself grinning. If Grace came through, he would be seeing the beautiful photographer by this weekend. And this time, he would conquer.
Chapter 2
Elli was dragging ass when she came into the studio the next morning. The tall mocha from Starbucks she had stopped to get was not doing the job. She was exhausted. She had stayed up until two in the morning editing pictures and got up at six to let Adler out and to get ready for work. She had two newborn shoots, a senior, and then two families, all before three o’clock.
Today was gonna be long.
As Elli unlocked the big glass doors to the studio, she read the writing on the doors, something she did every morning.
Time Standing Still
Owner: Eleanor Fisher
Established: 2004
She smiled to herself as she shut the door behind her, turning the lights on as she walked to the back, where her office was. She laid her coffee down before slipping off her heels and picking up her phone to listen to her messages since she wasn’t there all day yesterday. Usually Harper would do all this, but she wasn’t coming in today. Elli had given all the assistants the day off, since yesterday was such a biggie.
She had forty messages, so she sat down and listened to every one of them. Writing phone number’s down and putting stars beside her past clients because she would call them last. She took a drink as the answering machine lady said “Message Forty, September 13, 2010, 10:30pm”
“Wow, they are calling late,” she muttered as she listened.
“Hello, my name is Grace Justice, and I am calling on behalf of Shea Adler.”
And with just the mention of his name, Elli knocked her coffee cup all over her desk.
“Shit!” she yelled as she flew up, wiping off the front of her skirt.
“If you would like to listen to the message again, press five.”
“Shit!” Elli yelled again, pushing five on the number pad.
“Hello, my name is Grace Justice, and I am calling on behalf of Shea Adler. I am planning his team party that he is having this weekend and we need a photographer. The one I had canceled on me, so I am in a spot. Melody recommended me to you after Mr. Adler had mentioned meeting you yesterday. He asked me to tell you that whatever the price is to get you here for the party is the price he’ll pay. Please give me a call at -”
Elli wrote the number quickly, and then listened to the message again, just to make sure she wasn’t imagining what was happening. Shea Adler had mentioned meeting her? He said he would pay anything for her to be at the party?
This had to be a prank.
Elli glanced at the clock; then dialed the number that Mrs. Justice had left. The phone rang twice before a thick Boston accent came over the line.
“Planning Your Moment, Grace Justice speaking, how can I help you?”
“Yes, this is Eleanor Fisher, with Time Standing Still. I just got your message and was returning your call.”
“Yes! Hello! How are you?”
“Fine, thank you, and yourself?”
“Oh girl, I’m dragging this morning. My daughter kept me up all night, you would think at the age of fifteen months she would be sleeping through the night!”
“I hate to tell you this, but my youngest niece didn’t sleep through the night until she was three.”
“Oh, good God, please don’t tell me that!”
“Sorry!” Elli said with a laugh.
“I just don’t understand. My son, perfect angel, my daughter, a demon!” That had both women in a fit of giggles. “So anyways, sorry to get off subject and bother you with my problems.”
“Don’t you pay it any mind, I love talking about kids.”
“Okay, good, I’m hoping you can help me this weekend, Ms. Fisher.”
“Call me, Elli. When is the party?”
“Saturday at one o’clock, I would need you until everyone leaves.”
“Okay, just a second.”
Elli pulled up her schedule. She had a wedding that day, but Harper could do it with Alice as her assistant. They would be fine, but then that left the studio business. Ryan could handle it, probably; maybe she could call Alice’s brother, Jack, to back Ryan up. It could work.
“Okay, I might be able to, when do you need an answer?”
“When can you give me one?”
“By lunch?”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be waiting for your call, Elli.”
“Okay, talk to you soon.” Elli hung up the phone and just sat there staring into space. Was this really happening? She couldn’t do the party, she was booked that day. She picked up the phone, dialing Harper’s number, but it went to voicemail, but that didn’t stop Elli from continuing to call her. Harper finally picked up after the ninth time.
“I mean, Jesus, El, if I don’t answer, obviously, I don’t want to talk to you!”
“Shea Adler’s party planner called me to do his team party this Saturday.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, well we
have the Baker/Poke wedding this weekend, so Alice and me will cover it, while Ryan runs the studio, and we’ll have Jack come in to back him up.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Of course, it was! But you told the party planner you’ll call her back because you’re too chicken shit to do it, so call the girl back and tell her yes, and then don’t call me back until a decent hour.”
The line went dead.
Elli didn’t pick it back up, though; she just stared at the phone, telling herself to pick it up at call Mrs. Justice.
But she couldn’t.
The day went on, the party for Shea Adler heavy on Elli’s mind. Why couldn’t she just call Mrs. Justice back, tell her yes, she had the coverage. What was the problem?
Seeing Shea again.
Her crush had gotten stronger since she spent most of the night staring at his pictures, and she didn’t know if she could face him again, let alone work for him. After her senior shoot, Elli was sitting at her desk when her phone rang. Elli picked up, with her regular greeting, only to hear the same Boston accent from earlier.
“Alright now, Ms. Fisher, you have not called me back, does that mean no?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I’ve had clients all day, and lost track of time,” Elli lied.
“I’m just teasing you; will you be able to do the party?”
Just say yes, say it! Elli bit down hard on her lip.
“Yes, ma’am, I can. I’ll be there at 12:30. I just need the address and your email to send you the invoice.”
“Wonderful! You’re a life saver Elli!” Grace gave her the email and the address to a well known subdivision, before thanking her again, then hanging up. After staring at the wall for what seemed like forever, she dialed Harper’s number.
“I said yes,” Elli said when Harper answered.
“Good, I knew you would.”
“How did you know? I didn’t even know I would!”
“Because you want to see Shea Adler again. You won’t admit it, but I saw the way you looked at him yesterday. You’re smitten,” Harper said
“I am not!”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Go ahead, but listen, make sure you wear the white tube top dress with the blue flowers, and your bright blue Manolo heels to the party. You’re smoking in that dress.”
“I will not! I’m wearing jeans and a studio tee.”
“Whatever you say, Elli.”
The line went dead again, and Elli threw the phone down. She sat down behind her desk and looked up to look at the Assassins’ team picture from last year. She needed to print one out of this year’s team, since there were new players, and some of the guys looked a little different. She looked at her favorite spot, row four, eight guys in from the left, to where Shea Adler stood in his jersey with a C on his chest and a big grin on his face.
She took a deep breath and shook her head as she said “Damn it. I’m gonna wear the damn dress.”
“Her name is Eleanor Fisher, Elli for short.”
“Excuse me guys, it’s my sister,” Shea said as he stood up, leaving his fellow teammates in the living room as he walked to the kitchen to talk to Grace in private.
“Elli, I like it.”
“She’s so sweet, shy like you said, but sweet. She said yes, after making me wait most of the day, she said she got extremely busy, which was probably true. Her studio is extremely hot right now. Not only is her wedding photography beautiful, but her in studio stuff is amazing. You should look it up online; I’ll send you the link with the invoice for her services.”
“Okay, sounds good. How much is she charging me?”
“Not enough in my opinion, five hundred.”
“Add a thousand to it and send it in, don’t forward me anything, I’ll just lose it.”
“It’s an email, Shea.”
“I lose everything.”
“True, so fifteen hundred?”
“Yeah, she’s really coming?”
“Yes, Shea.”
“You’re awesome, Grace. I owe you.”
“It’s my job, I’m glad I’ve made you happy.”
“You’ve made my day, babe, thanks. Listen I got Jakob and Alex over, see you Saturday?”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Yep, love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Shea hung up the phone, tucking it into his pocket, a huge grin on his face.
Eleanor Fisher. Elli.
The name fit her. He couldn’t believe Grace had come through. When he came into the living room, Jakob looked up at him and shook his head.
“What’s up with the grin, bro?”
“Grace came through for me. You didn’t finish the story did you?” Shea said changing the subject. Jakob had gone out last night with some girl he had met and was telling the guys about it.
“No, so after going at it all night, then a good part of the morning, we wake up, and she rolls over and tells me to leave! I couldn’t believe it! No woman has ever done that!”
“Maybe you weren’t good,” Alex said with laugh. Jakob pinned him with a glare.
“Fuck off, Welch. I was amazing, she was amazing. I don’t know what happened.”
“Crazy dude,” Shea said as he leaned back on the couch, a beer in hand.
“Damn right, it was, she was heaven, damn it.”
“What, she won’t talk to you?” Alex asked.
“Hell no, she won’t answer any of my calls or texts.”
“Maybe she used you.”
“Maybe,” he said with a shake of his head. Jakob was one of those guys that was looking for true love; not that Shea wasn’t looking for the one, but not right now, like Jakob was. Alex had found his true love years ago; he was married to his beautiful wife and had five girls, something Jakob was extremely jealous of.
Shea hated seeing his best friend so upset over a girl, but luckily, he thought with a smile, that would never happen to him.
Shea never planned on what to wear. He usually just threw on a pair of ripped up jeans and a tee, but he would be seeing Elli today, and he wanted to look good. So he spent a good thirty minutes trying to pick something out, he even made the mistake of calling Grace. After being cussed out, he went back to trying to pick something out on his own. He decided on a nice white button up shirt, and a pair of cargo shorts. After fixing his hair, he threw his black Billabong hat on and slid his black Converse shoes on.
He was nervous, something he never felt. Not even during game seven of the playoffs was he nervous. He was always ready.
Shea was basically bouncing in his seat as he drove his chromed out Range Rover over to Grace’s house, where the party was being held. Grace had way more room than he did, plus she loved having parties at his expense. When he pulled up into her driveway, he noticed a huge black F-150 sitting on the side of the road. None of the guys drove that, so he wrote it off as one of the workers. Some of the team had already arrived with their families and the party was just getting started when Shea entered the backyard.
It was the perfect September day for a party. The sun was shining and the sky was brightly blue as kids ran through the sprinkler and went down the water slide that Shea said had to be there. He had a pair of shorts in the car, just in case he got to urge to go down it with Ryan, his nephew. As Shea walked through the party, he stopped to say hi to his teammates and their wives or girlfriends. He looked around the party and saw James, Grace’s husband, holding Amelia in his arms. Shea went straight to them, taking Amelia from him, kissing her loudly on the cheeks. She squealed in delight, kissing Shea right back.
“Hey Shea,” James said. Shea smiled over at him. He had always like James. He was a good man, treated his sister well, and was a great father.
“Hey, man, how ya doing?”
“Good. Amelia has been a terror about going to bed, though. I feel so bad for Grace, she’s gotta be tired.”
“I bet she i
s. The party looks amazing.”
“Like always, she out does herself, she’s over there with a photographer.” Shea whipped his head around so quickly that he was surprised he didn’t have whiplash. His beautiful sister was wearing a long flowing pink dress, her black hair up in a bun, with her big shades over her eyes. She was laughing and he smiled, but when he looked over at the woman in front of Grace, he lost his breath.
Elli was wearing a beautiful summer looking dress, her hair was down in ringlets, her eyes also covered with sunglasses, but he knew the color of them, since he had been dreaming about them for the past two days. His eyes drifted down Elli’s body. She wasn’t skinny like most girls Shea went after, but she wasn’t fat. She was curvy, sexy. He started walking without thinking, he was pretty sure James said something, but he was mesmerized by the beauty in front of him.
Right when he was about to reach the two women, Elli walked off, camera in hand, towards the kids slide.
“Shit,” he muttered as Grace grinned up at him, taking Amelia from him.
“She’s not your norm, Shea.”
“No, she’s better,” he said as he watched her follow the kids around, taking pictures. Grace laughed before kissing his cheek.
“I hope something happens between you guys.”
“Oh, it will.”
The party was going beautifully. Grace Justice was one hell of a party planner. The large brick house was covered in lights, with lanterns hanging above the party. The team colors were everywhere, on every surface. There was lots of stuff for the kids: water slides, games, and even a prince and princess reading stories off to the side in a flower garden. For the parents, there was food galore and drinks, to boot. The party was something straight from LA, in Elli’s opinion.
Elli was getting great shots: the kids, the teammates, everything. It was so amazing to get this inside look on the team, they were such a family. Elli was bending down, taking a picture of the most gorgeous little girl, who happened to be Grace’s daughter, when she felt someone standing behind her.
“I see you’ve found the most beautiful baby girl to take pictures of, Ms. Fisher.” Elli stood up and looked behind her to see Shea Adler looking down at her. She always thought he was tall on his skates, but he was still massive without them. He was such a big man, so strong. Being a defenseman, Elli guessed he had to be huge.