“Oh, people woo,” Marilyn said. “They just don’t call it that.”
“Well, I’m not wooing anyone. She did something nice for me and this is my way of paying her back.”
“What did she do? Stop someone from burglarizing your house? Stealing your car?”
Spencer explained the situation. When he was done, Marilyn didn’t say anything.
“I’m not wooing her, damn it.”
“Spencer, I know how much money you just spent.”
“Out of gratitude for an act of supreme sacrifice.”
“Bullshit.” Marilyn had no problem cussing like a hockey player. “Is she young?”
“Relatively.”
“Cute?”
He frowned. “Yes.”
“You’re wooing.”
“I am not,” he said, even though he was starting to doubt himself. “I’m just a generous guy and grateful she left her dog with me.”
“Whatever you say, Corbett.” Her voice was heavy with sarcasm. “But I’ll bet you fifty bucks you end up asking her out.”
“Done,” he said without thinking. He never could resist a bet.
Marilyn laughed. “I’m already planning what to do with the money. Buh-bye, sucker.”
After hanging up with her, Spencer continued to second-guess himself.
He had to admit, when he thought about spending more time with Miss Maggie Hudson, dog lover, hockey fan, schoolteacher who didn’t live like a nun, he smiled. He found himself thinking about what she looked like out of her clothes. He imagined her softly rounded everywhere. He liked that. He really liked her wild hair. It was like a lion’s mane. It had brushed his cheek when she leaned over him as she explained how to streamline the betting pool calculations. It had sent a shiver down his back and he could detect the scent of her fruity shampoo. It had been a little difficult not to turn his head toward her and get a deeper whiff.
So, maybe his subconscious was wooing. Maybe he did want to date Miss Maggie Hudson. It wouldn’t be the first time he lost a bet, and who knew? If things worked out, Marilyn might have done him a favor.
Just about ready to nod off for the night, Maggie got a call from her boyfriend, Pete. “Hey, babe. I know it’s late, but I really miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she replied automatically, thinking more about how much she was going to miss the hour of sleep he was probably going to rob her of. Pete travelled a lot as a regional manager for a supermarket chain. His region covered four states and when he was away, he called a couple of times a week.
Unfortunately, it was eleven o’clock on a Sunday night and she had to get up early for school.
“What’s been going on?” he asked.
That was a loaded question, considering what she’d been through today, but she just didn’t have the energy to tell him all of that.
She ended up just saying, “Well, I found Kirby.”
“Babe, that’s great! You must be so happy. Did someone find him?”
She recounted the basics, mentioning the party only in the most general terms, like “I hung out for a little while there.”
“That is the most incredible story I’ve ever heard. You’re an angel for leaving Kirby with him, Mags. I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I almost didn’t. But like I said, Kirby wouldn’t come with me. He refused.”
“That’s actually not surprising. Dogs are known for their loyalty. There are many accounts of dogs refusing to leave the graves of their dead owners.”
Pete was wonderful at trivia games.
“But how can it be loyalty when he barely knew that dog?” he asked.
“Apparently two months was long enough for them to have formed a bond. I should be proud of him, I guess. I’m just lonely now.”
“Aww, poor baby. I’ll be home in four days. Wanna have phone sex?”
“I’m pretty tired, actually. Early day and all that.”
He sighed. “Oh. Okay, I guess I’ll just watch porn.”
Perfect. This way she could go back to sleep instead of tediously talking him into a long-distance orgasm.
“I’ll see you in four days, babe. I can’t wait to see you again.”
“Me too,” she replied, kind of hating herself for the lie.
7
Maggie woke determined to put all the bad memories she’d relived back into the mental basement she’d locked them in for so long. Even though she felt justified in her mini-breakdown, considering the situation, it wasn’t like her to wallow in the past. All that did was prolong the melancholy. Better to put it all behind you and move on with purpose.
Dressed in a pink flowered blouse and navy slacks, she entered the teachers’ lounge and saw Jade sitting at a table, her hand curled around a cup of coffee. “Happy Monday.”
Jade seemed half asleep. “That, my friend, is probably the most oxymoronic of oxymorons.”
“Okay, suit yourself.” Maggie turned toward Pam Wheeler, who was cutting construction paper, lining up the pieces and working the long lever blade of the paper cutter.
Leaning against the counter in a careless pose, Maggie said, “Guess what I did this weekend, Pam.”
“What?”
“I crashed Spencer Corbett’s All-Star Game watch party.”
Jade snapped out of her lethargy.
“Was it a good party?” Pam wasn’t a hockey fan, but everyone who worked at Addison Elementary knew Jade and Maggie adored the Dragons. Every casual Friday, the two of them wore their Dragons jerseys.
“It was a very good party. I met several of the players, including Max Stone.”
Max Stone was Jade’s favorite player.
Gasping, Jade stood abruptly. “I hereby disown you as a friend.”
“Why?” Maggie adopted an expression of mock confusion.
“Why? Why? You didn’t call me! Why didn’t you call me? I would have totally crashed the party with you.”
“I’m sorry, but I honestly didn’t think of it. I was busy trying not to get thrown off his property for trespassing. I mean, I just up and walked into the guy’s house.”
Pam was still cutting paper. “This might be a dumb question, but do you make a habit of breaking into athletes’ homes on the weekends?”
“No, but I was desperate.”
“Did you get Kirby back?” Jade asked after Maggie recounted how she’d found her dog to Pam.
Maggie winced. “Not really, no.”
Jade gasped again. “He refused to give him back? What the eff! I’m half tempted to not root for them tonight.”
Realizing they only had about ten minutes before the bell rang, Maggie hurriedly explained Lulu’s health situation and how Kirby had volunteered to be her caretaker. When she was finished, Jade sat there, silent.
“How sick is his dog?” Pam asked.
“I don’t know. She looked like she was in pretty bad shape. Thin and just…slow and creaky. You know how old dogs get.”
“Yeah. That’s sad. You’re doing a really nice thing, Mags.”
The bell rang. Time to get the kids.
Maggie poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a donut hole off the table.
“Just so you know, you’re not off the hook yet,” Jade said as they walked toward the playground where the kids were lining up. “I need more details. And pictures if you have them.”
“I can’t at recess. I have to set up for science.”
“Lunch then. You’re buying.”
“Was Max Stone as handsome in person as he is on TV?” Jade asked a few hours later. They’d gone to a nearby salad place that had fast service.
“More so.”
Jade fanned herself with her hand. “You know, of course, that this is killing me. I want to hear everything, but everything I hear is eating me up inside with jealousy. Who else was there?”
“Only four players. Max and Spencer, of course—”
“On a first name basis, are we?”
Maggie chuckled. “Zappala and DeVries.
It wasn’t a big party. There were a couple of sort of mean girls too.”
“Which player was the nicest?”
“They were all nice. And funny, except, Ian Zappala is sort of a pig.”
She told the story about the betting pool and the topless proposition and Jade laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me because, hey, they’re jocks, but it’s still…I don’t know, shocking and at the same time kind of disgusting-slash-adorable. You know, like when cute dogs get all excited then sniff each other’s butts.”
And so it went. Maggie knew she’d have to pay this price—sharing every detail of the party. She and Jade had met five years ago when Maggie first came to Addison Elementary. When they discovered a mutual love of hockey, they’d become fast friends. Usually they watched the games at home or at a sports bar. Teacher’s salaries didn’t allow them luxuries like live games at the Dragon Arena very often, but Jade dragged Maggie to things that were free, like practices and autograph signings. Between them, Jade was the more rabid fan. She followed all the players on Twitter. She knew the names of Paul Nordbeck’s wife and kid. She’d even gotten a small tattoo of the Dragon logo on her hip.
Which meant that Jade was intensely interested in everything that had happened on Saturday and Maggie indulged her. Truthfully, despite the heartache of having to leave Kirby behind, she’d had the time of her life. Once she got over her initial “I so don’t belong here” anxiety, she’d begun to enjoy herself. Then, when the story of Kirby and Lulu circulated, she’d received some honest praise. Spencer’s teammates seemed genuinely grateful that she was helping out one of their own. It had been both embarrassing and satisfying, and even now it was bizarre to think that if she met one of the players again, they might remember her and greet her with a smile and a cheek kiss like they’d given her when the party was over.
And yet, Maggie did not tell Jade that she now possessed Spencer Corbett’s house key, partly because she was pretty sure she was never going to use it and partly because Jade would freak out and insist they invade his house at the first opportunity and that would be slightly dangerous. Maggie remembered how Spencer’s hand had touched hers when he’d pressed the key into her palm. She’d felt short of breath as warmth had spread up her arm and through her body, especially her lower body. She was ninety-nine percent certain it was her fan girl reasserting herself, but she’d also been ninety-nine percent sure she wasn’t going to win that betting pool and look how that turned out.
No, better to leave that Pandora’s box closed. She supposed fan appreciation could easily turn into something more if given half the chance and she was safer getting nothing more from Spencer Corbett than her dog back.
And besides, Pete would be home on Thursday.
After school, Maggie sat at the kidney-shaped reading table where she did the majority of her paperwork. The traditional desk was too small for her to be able to spread out her books, teacher’s editions and papers. At the moment, she was reading her students’ daily journals with some amusement. As usual, today’s prompt had been “What did you do this weekend?” Hadley and a couple of other kids had had waffles or pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. Jacob played catch with his uncle. Presley and her mom had painted each other’s toenails. Descriptions of weekends were always entertaining. She encouraged them to use their imaginations, so if they chose, they could make up something outlandish, and she could usually count on Jonathan to cook up a crazy weekend. It was riddled with misspellings and missing punctuation, but he led quite an inventive imaginary life…
This weknd a moos cam ovr and we plad video gams.
She was just finishing her comment—“What was the moose’s name? Who won the game?”—when Jade came in and plopped down into one of the tiny chairs at the table. “So, good news. I figured out how you can pay me back for not inviting me to your party-crash.”
“This ought to be good,” Maggie remarked as she put Jonathan’s journal to the side and picked up the next in the pile.
“You can take me with you when you visit Kirby this weekend.” Before Maggie could say anything, Jade held up her hand. “After all, you would never have found Kirby if it hadn’t been for me telling you to watch that video.”
“True, but I was hoping to see Kirby earlier than the weekend.”
She was actually concerned about Kirby forgetting about her or worse, learning to like Spencer more. While she normally walked her dog twice a day, she did not have a huge backyard like Spencer did where he could romp around. She did not have another dog to keep Kirby company when she was at school. It was going to be borderline annoying, but she wanted to see Kirby twice a week. She didn’t think it was too much to ask, considering he was her dog in the first place.
“But the team’s flying to Florida tonight after the game and won’t be back until Friday.”
“Leave it to you to memorize their schedule.”
“I didn’t memorize it. I looked it up before I came over. So, see? Saturday is perfect. We’ll go over in the late morning, after practice.” Jade tucked some hair behind her ear. “Maybe he’ll be having another get-together. Maybe Max Stone will be there again. Maybe they’ll have had a shitty road trip and he’ll need, you know, consolation.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Hey, don’t crush my dreams.”
Maggie finished working on the journals and moved to correcting the day’s math papers.
“So, what do you say? Can I come? Please?” Jade grabbed a purple pen and started helping.
“I don’t know. It’s going to be awkward explaining why you’re with me.”
“No it won’t. We’ll be on our way to something. No wait. Then we’ll be forced to leave. It’s better if we’re on our way back from something. That way, it’ll be open-ended. In case it turns into lunch or a ride in his Tesla, Model S.”
Of course, Jade knew what kind of car he had.
Maggie shook her head slowly. “Jade, seriously, I’m not sure. Let me do one visit solo first and get a read on the situation. He seemed cool with everything this weekend, but his friends were around and it was a party and he was probably trying to be super-accommodating because I might change my mind about letting Kirby stay…”
“You could still change your mind.”
“I won’t. I’m not going to have Lulu’s death on my conscience. And I’m not taking you on the first visit and that’s final. Maybe the third or fourth. And besides, Pete’s coming home Thursday.”
Jade made a face. She’d made it clear she thought Maggie could do better.
Her phone signaled an arriving text message.
It was Spencer.
8
Maggie couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face when she read the text.
Spencer: I wanted to let you know, if you want to come by tonight, it’s okay. I think Kirby was looking around for you after you left yesterday.
Guilt swirled around inside her stomach, not because she’d dumped her dog with a virtual stranger, but because she really wanted to see Spencer again. It was wrong to feel attracted to him when she had a boyfriend.
She put her phone face down on the table.
“It’s him, isn’t it,” Jade asked.
“Him who?”
Jade muttered something under her breath.
Maggie laughed. “Yeah. It was Spencer. He said I could come over tonight, if I wanted. That Kirby was missing me.”
Jade’s eyebrow rose. “Maybe he likes you. Because I can’t think he’s that concerned about Kirby’s feelings.”
“I don’t know about that. He might be. He’s a nice guy. He really loves his dog Lulu.”
She picked up her phone and replied, I thought you guys were flying out tonight.
Spencer: We are. Not until ten, though, so if you came soon, you could squeeze a visit in.
Maggie put the phone down again, conflicted.
“Are you going to go over?”
Pressing her lips together, Maggie nodded. It wasn’t a
s if it was a date. She was visiting her dog, not Spencer.
But she still thought about going home and changing clothes.
Jade sighed. “And you’re still hell bent on not taking me with you? I pinky-promise I won’t gush all over him.”
Maybe it was a good idea if Jade came along. She could chaperone. Her presence would ensure that nothing happened. Not that she thought for a nanosecond that Spencer was similarly interested in her and hanky-panky might ensue. More like Jade would help her not act like an idiot by flirting with a guy who was so far out of her league, he was only accessible by starship.
Maggie: Is it okay if my friend Jade comes along?
Spencer: Sure.
Maggie calculated the route in her head and allowed for rush hour traffic.
Maggie: Okay. Look for us around six-thirty.
She turned her phone off. “This is it. My debt is paid.”
“I can come?” Jade clasped her hands together in front of her.
“Yes.”
Jade thrust her arms up into the air so forcefully, she almost tipped backward in her chair.
As they walked up Spencer’s grand driveway, Jade’s eyes were huge. “This is literally the most beautiful house I’ve ever been to,” she said. “And I’ve been to Hearst Castle.”
“I know. It’s gorgeous. I’m kind of jealous of Kirby.”
“Kind of?”
The landscaping was lit and cast a warm glow on the lush foliage and the beautiful structure behind it. It was like something out of a magazine.
Maggie said, “Remember, stay calm. Don’t freak out. Don’t gawk. And above all, don’t ask him for his autograph. Tell yourself he’s just a guy who happens to play hockey for a living.”
“I know. I know. I’m not five. I’ll be cool. Don’t worry.”
Maggie knocked on the door and when Spencer opened it, she smiled and tried not to stare because, Lord, he was so incredibly sexy. His jeans showed off his muscular thighs and butt so well her knees went a little wobbly. He had a dazzling white smile and a lock of blond hair that insisted on falling rakishly forward. And that five o’clock shadow was dreamy too. She wanted to feel those bristly whiskers against her skin.
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