Blindsided: A Moo U Hockey Romance

by Victoria Denault

  “I don’t know if it helps but it doesn’t seem to be hurting,” I say because I still think the banner is a bit much. When Paxton saw the cheesy slogan his face scrunched up like he’d smelled something foul.

  “It’s a bit…over-the-top,” Jace says.

  Raquel huffs, hurt. I would feel bad but my cousin has spent her life being hurt by everything. She’s always been a drama queen because it works for her. Aunt Louise, and even Grandpa and Grandma have always coddled her. “I need a coffee break,” she announces and gets up from the booth, stomping away before I can say anything.

  Patrick walks toward us holding a towel as he dries off. “An eighty-one-year-old woman just nailed the target and sent me swimming on the very first try.”

  I laugh. “The Sox should sign her.”

  “Seriously.” Patrick nods chuckling as he rubs the towel over his wet hair. “Also, I said I would help and I helped. Now I’m going home to dry off. Your turn to get your butt wet, Adler.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I know I should do it.

  “I’ll pay double for the apples if I get to dunk you,” someone says and I look over and see a girl I vaguely recognize from campus standing two back in the line with a friend. The friend starts nodding profusely. “Me too.”

  “If you’re paying double you get VIP access,” Jace says motioning them forward. “Front of the line for you two.”

  They giggle and walk over to him. I am about to talk them out of it, tell them they don’t have to pay more, but a flicker of red in the corner of my eye catches my attention. Maggie is watching—intently—from the corner of the booth. So instead I grin, wink at the girls and walk toward the tank.

  “Hold up, Lex!” Lex freezes on the ladder. He was about to go for his second turn. “I’m gonna take this one.”

  He just shrugs and climbs back down the ladder. I make a big stupid scene about taking off my T-shirt. At least it feels that way because I’m purposely removing it slowly. I know the girls buying the apples are staring, but the show I’m putting on isn’t for them. It’s for Maggie. And hers are the only eyes I can feel on me. I finally get it over my head and I drop my T-shirt on my shoes, which I’ve toed-off. I sneak a glimpse in her direction as I tug off my socks and realize that the reason I feel her gaze is because she looks like she’s trying to melt me into a puddle of flaming goo with just her eyeballs. There’s nothing hot about that, sexually-speaking, and for a second I find myself disappointed.

  I stupidly forgot to bring my swim trunks like the other guys did so I walk over with just my faded jeans on and begin climbing the ladder. The sun is warm but the wind that blows softly has a bit of a bite, and I realize I owe my teammates more than ever for helping me with this. As I drop my butt into the center of the wooden platform, I lock eyes with Maggie and give her a small wave to let her know I know she’s staring. I can see her cheeks pink from all the way over here and it makes my grin widen.

  “Here we go,” one of the girls holding one of our bruised apples says excitedly, and I turn to face her. She lobs one and it hits the ground almost a foot left of the target. “Oops!”

  She giggles. Her friend tells her to go harder next time and she does, but she still misses the target. I swing my legs, my toes skimming the water. I’m thinking they may be the only part of me that gets wet today.

  “Line up the target with the apple before tossing,” I hear Maggie call out. “You can do it!”

  The girl tosses her last apple and misses again. “Boo!” she calls out, disappointed.

  Maggie is marching toward her and she grabs her hand, pulls her toward the pay table and drops three dollars in front of Jace. “Give her three more.”

  “Umm…”

  “My money not good enough for you?” Maggie challenges, her shoulders back and fists balled. Jace cowers, takes the money and hands the girl three more apples without a word.

  “Did you fail Intro to Business last year?” I call out to Maggie as they walk back toward the toss line with the fruit. “Because giving money to me when we’re competing to see who earns the most today is not good business.”

  “Shut up or you’ll get water in your mouth,” Maggie shoots back and turns to the girl to give her more throwing advice.

  The girl listens intently and nods a lot and then tosses it and comes close to the target but not close enough. I smile. “Sorry sweetheart. I think you need a better coach.”

  Maggie glares at me. The girl just smiles because I called her sweetheart. Maggie takes the remaining two apples from the girl who stops smiling and hands them to her friend. “Maybe your bestie has a better arm.”

  The friend is up for the challenge and for a second I think she’ll hit it as the apple sails with some good force toward the target, but she, too, misses.

  “Damn it!” Maggie bellows.

  My grin is beyond cocky now. I know it, and I make no effort to control it.

  “What are your names, ladies?” I ask.

  “Courtney and Sandi.”

  “You know what, Courtney and Sandi?” I say. “For the last one, you can take a step closer because I feel bad you have to deal with this crazy goat-farming lady.”

  They both glance at Maggie who is still standing beside them smoldering like a match sliding across sandpaper, about to erupt into flames. Courtney looks back at me. “We don’t even know her.”

  “Consider yourself lucky. She’s obsessed with me,” I reply and then it happens so fast I don’t even realize what’s going on until I’m submerged under water.

  What happened was Maggie spun toward Courtney, snatched the apple out of her hand and spun back toward me, hurling that bruised fruit like a major leaguer. I barely even heard the ding of the metal target compressing before I was under water.

  I pop back up and try not to sputter and cough but the dunk was so unexpected I inhaled half the tank. I push my hands through my hair trying to get the wet mop out of my eyes and give my head a shake. Wiping my eyes, I see Maggie jumping up and down in victory, a triumphant smile plastered from ear-to-ear and Courtney and Sandi are clapping and staring at me like I’m…well like I’m cleaning their kitchen in my underwear.

  And then I realize, when I start climbing the ladder and something catches my leg, that I am actually in my underwear. My very wet, very white, very see-thru boxer briefs. The weight of the water drenching my jeans had tugged them halfway down my thighs.

  “Oh my God!” Maggie gasps and covers her eyes.

  I drop back into the water and duck down to grab my jeans and yank them back up. Jace is laughing so hard he’s doubled over and Patrick and Paxton are using each other for support or else they’d be rolling on the ground. Jonah is embarrassed for me, I can tell, because he’s covering his open mouth with his hand and trying not to look me in the eye. Lex is running toward me with a towel as I make my way up the ladder and my jeans start to slip again. He’s my new favorite teammate.

  Getting out of the tank while keeping my pants on is not a graceful display but thankfully I manage it and as soon as my feet hit the grass, I grab the towel from Lex with a slightly humiliated smile. Courtney and Sandi come rushing over to me.

  “Sorry she stole your last apple,” I say to the girls. “If you want to press charges there’s usually a police officer at the Community booth.”

  Maggie snorts from laughter.

  This did not go as planned at all.

  9

  Maggie

  I can’t believe I hit that target on the first try. That says a lot about how angry I am because normally I wouldn’t be able to hit the side of a barn. His pants falling down was just an added bonus I hadn’t planned on and luckily he was too embarrassed to notice how my face went scarlet when I saw his almost completely see-through boxer briefs. I would never admit this to anyone, but I got a good look. Even though my brain was screaming for them to focus anywhere else, my eyes refused to move from his groin and I ended up having to cover them with my hands to stop staring.

&nb
sp; Tate Adler has a nice package.

  The two girls from our school also enjoyed the show and unlike me aren’t ashamed to admit it. They make their way over to Tate now and fawn all over him. Argh. That isn’t what I wanted to have happen. I want him to wallow in his embarrassment. “Way to go Maggie, looks like you got him two dates to go along with his win over us.”

  I turn and see Daisy standing a few feet away. I walk over to her. “He’s not going to win. We still have a chance. People loved the free flowers we’re handing out with purchases.”

  “Were handing out,” Daisy corrects. “We’re out.”

  “The apartment and the farm?” I ask and when Daisy nods my heart breaks a little. I decided after seeing Tate’s dunk tank we needed something more, so I had Clyde and Bobby go and cut my beloved flowers. They pillaged the tiny flower garden on the farm I’ve had since I was ten and the pots and flower boxes on our apartment balcony too. I had gladiolas, dahlias, roses, sweet peas and marigolds. I’m not looking forward to going home tonight and seeing nothing but dirt. If we’ve lost—and I think we have—I gave up my flowers for nothing.

  “Bobby is working his magic on every woman who walks by the stand though,” Daisy says trying to bring my spirits up. “Two moms bought like four jars of honey from him. And one lady bought six different flavors of goat cheese because he winked at her.”

  Yes, we were totally and without shame pimping out our handsome, single uncle. Desperate times, desperate measures. Daisy suddenly frowns as the wind whips her hair into her face and she pushes it back, annoyed. “But now Clyde is back at the booth, and we all know he’s the worst salesman ever.”

  “Go send him on an errand,” I say giving her a shove. “Tell him we need batteries and send him off to the store.”

  “Batteries?” Daisy looks confused.

  “Batteries. Water. Coffee. Whatever! Just find a way to keep him away from the booth. We’ve only got an hour left,” I say. Daisy nods but she doesn’t look confident as she heads back to the booth.

  I’m about to join her when I overhear a conversation that makes me freeze.

  “No. I swear I know him!” a woman is saying. I turn and follow the voice. It belongs to someone I’ve never seen before. She’s tall, curvy, middle aged and smiling excitedly as she stands at the ticket table talking to Jace and Tate’s teammate, Lex.

  “Do you follow the local college sports?” Lex asks her. “Because we’re all players for the college team. Maybe you recognize him from that.”

  “No, I live in New Hampshire. I’m just here for the weekend visiting a friend,” she says and her eyes are locked on Tate who is now taking pictures with Courtney and Sandi. “I’ve never been here before and I don’t follow hockey, but…he looks so familiar…”

  It hits me like a ton of bricks how she might know him. She might have hired him. I start to walk over at the same time Lex stands up and turns to call Tate over. “Adler! This lady thinks she knows you.”

  Tate’s green eyes lift from Courtney and Sandi and land on the woman. The color drains from his face in the blink of an eye and I know my suspicion is right. I start walking faster directly toward the lady. His expression seems to flick the switch on the lightbulb in this lady’s head and her eyes flare and she claps her hands.

  “I know! I know it!” She exclaims loudly and then points at Tate. “You are the guy who—”

  “Sold you apples,” I finish for her in a voice abnormally loud but I need to drown out the revelation she’s about to express. “He probably sold you apples. Anyway, I hate to interrupt but your friend is at our booth and she wants your opinion on which cheese to buy.”

  “Anne Marie is here? Where? I thought she was working this morning,” the lady says, confused.

  I take her arm and lead her away, toward my booth. “I’m sure it’s your friend. Come with me. Do you like goat cheese?”

  “Maggie…” Tate says my name kind of under his breathe but I hear it.

  I look over at him his face is still void of color and he looks positively terrified. I remain cool and give him an icy smile. “Just shut up and look pretty while I take this woman to sample cheese.”

  “She’s stealing a customer Tate! That’s not fair. We should win by default,” Jace announces and Tate walks over to his brother, but his eyes stay glued to mine and his expression softens as he realizes what I’m doing—saving his ass.

  The lady is completely and totally perplexed as she gets to our stand and realizes her friend, Anne Marie, is nowhere in sight. I act bewildered. “I swear I thought she was here. I mean there was a lady looking for her friend and I assumed it must be you. I’m so sorry. Look, do you eat goat cheese? I can give you a free tub of our creamy and delicious roasted garlic goat cheese spread. You’ll love it.”

  I grab a tub from the mini-fridge and hand it to her. She looks at it and at me, more baffled than ever. “Please. It’s the least I could do. Also if you like honey our lavender honey is the best in the state and completely organic. It’s magical. You should try it. It’s on sale.”

  Daisy is watching our interaction with one eyebrow cocked. Luckily, Uncle Bobby and Clyde are nowhere to be found and Raquel is on the Adler side of the booth, trying to get a good selfie with her iced coffee, ignoring us.

  “I do like honey,” she says with a nod but she turns to look over at where the dunk tank is. “That guy works for this maid service. I swear he cleaned my house this summer.”

  I shake my head. “Nah. Not him. You must have him confused with someone else.”

  She cranes her neck to look at Tate again and then turns back to me and shakes her head. “No, I’m sure of it. See, it’s this service my girlfriends got me for my birthday as a joke. And let’s just say it’s not his face I…”

  I step closer to her and lower my voice. “Are you saying you recognized my fiancé’s…body?”

  “Your fiancé?”

  I try to look like I’m on the verge of tears. “Are you saying you’ve seen him without his shirt before? When? If that man has already cheated on me, before the wedding, I swear I will—”

  “No. No. I think I have it all wrong,” the woman says, her voice suddenly soft and soothing. She reaches out and pats my arm. “I think he just looks like someone I know. I’m sorry. Thank you for the goat cheese and you know what, I will take a jar of that honey.”

  “Great!” Daisy pipes in and hands her a jar. “That’ll be four bucks.”

  She hands Daisy a five and tells her to keep the change before almost running away. I watch her go, happy she isn’t trying to return to the dunk tank. When she’s completely out of sight, I turn back to the booth and am confronted with Daisy’s judgmental stare. She crosses her arms over her chest, over the Todd Organic Farm logo on her shirt, and says. “What on God’s green earth just happened?”

  I sigh and tug her across the path, away from the booth before I whisper. “That woman was about to announce Tate’s little part-time job, so I intervened.”

  “Why?”

  My brain short circuits for a second. Why did I do it? I did it because Tate was about to be hurt and I didn’t want that to happen. But there is no way I can confess that to my sister so I scramble to find a different reason. “Daisy, if his teammates and family find out about the maid thing, then we lose our leverage.”

  There. That makes sense. Phew.

  Daisy mulls that over, chewing on her full bottom lip. “Smart. He’d definitely kick us out of the booth if we didn’t have that secret to hold over his head.”

  We head back to the booth. An hour later, the last of the customers wanders away and the market is officially closed. But there are at least half a dozen people still in line at that stupid dunk tank. I tell Daisy and Bobby to count the money and march over. “Market is closed. Any sales after this moment can’t be counted toward today’s total.”

  Jace gives me a cool smirk. “No worries. We are out of apples to toss anyway.”

  “Oh,” I frown. They had
a lot of apples. We’re screwed.

  “Nothing left to do but count the cash,” Jace says confidently. “It should take a while, so have a seat.”

  I huff like a disappointed toddler and stomp my way back to the booth. I know Tate is watching me go. I can feel his eyes on me, but I refuse to look at him. If he’s smiling as smugly as his brother, I will have to kick him in the shins or something.

  Back at the booth, I go about packing up with Clyde while Uncle Bobby and Daisy count the money. Raquel and Louise are also counting their profits. I watch Raquel out of the corner of my eye while she skims a couple twenties and tucks them into her bra. I will tell Tate about that at the end of the season but for now, her petty theft works to my advantage.

  I pack a round of stuff into the SUV and when I get back to the booth Daisy motions me over.

  “Four hundred and forty-four dollars and fifty cents,” Daisy whispers in my ear as she tucks the money into our metal lock box and hands it to Uncle Bobby.

  “Hope it’s enough, Mags because we don’t want to lose a day here.” Bobby tucks the box under his arm as he starts to pull our loaded dolly back to his truck. “See you girls at home.”

  “Here he comes.” Daisy tips her head toward the dunk tank.

  I turn and walk toward him, meeting him in the middle of the path that runs the course of the booths. I do not feel the least bit confident but I am determined to fake it. I place a hand on my hip and wait. “So…what’s your number?”

  “What’s yours?” he counters.

  “I asked you first.”

  “Okay, but this isn’t kindergarten, so just tell me your number so I can get this over with and go home,” Tate barks. “Being admired by the entire female population of Burlington is exhausting.”

  “Your ego needs its own zip code,” I reply.

  “Before we begin, we should set up a margin where we will call it a tie,” Tate says. “I mean do you really want to win by like one penny? I’m proposing if we’re within fifty bucks of each other, it’s a draw. Sound good?”