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“And maybe you can bring Mia?”
I raise an eyebrow. “How much has Jake been talking, exactly?”
“Enough for me to be excited to meet this girl.” She takes a step back from me, looks me up and down, smiles again, and then pats her thighs with her palms. “Well,” she sighs.
We both grin. Mom used to joke that you know it’s time to leave a Midwesterner’s house if they sigh, pat their thighs, and say “well…”
“Well,” I agree, grinning, giving my thighs a pat.
“I know you’re being tactful right now,” she says. “But it’s okay if you are still mad at me. You have every right to be. And I’m going to do my best to make it up to you, bit by bit.”
“It’s in the past,” I say, hugging her again. “Stop apologizing. I’m not going to be mad at you, even if you want me to be.”
“Asshole,” she says, chuckling softly.
40
NOLAN
Iadjust my suit and tie, smiling a little uncomfortably. I’ve never enjoyed interviews or cameras.
I’m sitting on a stool that’s too small in the middle of a large room, surrounded by warm lights and cameras. There’s a crew of people moving around, checking cables, cords, and scribbling notes on clipboards or holding phones.
A woman with her hair done to perfection and TV makeup sits down across from me, folding one leg over the other as she smiles. “Erin Arejo,” she says, sticking her hand out for me to shake.
I take it, shaking. “Nolan,” I say.
She lifts an earpiece up to her ear, checks the microphone, and continues going through the usual pre-interview motions.
I tried to turn this thing down when I was approached the night after winning the Stanley Cup, but my agent was adamant. He said it was a huge opportunity for exposure and possibly contract negotiations. I was still going to say “no,” but I realized it could be the perfect opportunity I was waiting for.
I look to the side and notice the guys coming in from a door. They’re all holding paper plates of catered food. Maddox is shoving a cheeseburger in his mouth with one hand and chasing it with some kind of croissant in the other hand. He has a milkshake tucked in the pit of his elbow.
He bends awkwardly with full cheeks, sucking down half the drink in one go. He winks when he notices me looking.
The girls are behind the guys. There’s Andi with Amelia in tow. Amelia is clutching and gnawing on the little hockey stick keychain I gave her. Caroline is talking to Paisley about something she’s showing her on her phone. When Caroline turns to the side, I can’t help noticing the way her belly looks rounded. I narrow my eyes at it and tilt my head. She has always managed to keep herself pretty thin, but I guess we’re all getting older. Maybe she’s just putting on some holiday weight, or settling into her thirties with some extra cushion. Or maybe… No. There’s no way Caroline is pregnant. She wouldn’t be able to keep something like that secret from all of us.
I don’t think much more of it because I see Mia behind the group. She meets my eyes and her lips press together just slightly. She looks down and tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and it might just be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
I adjust myself on the dumb stool they’ve got me sitting on. I feel like an idiot with everybody circling around me and all these lights and cameras.
“Almost ready?” Erin asks. She’s getting final touches from a few makeup artists.
I shrug. “Whenever you are.”
The makeup people come toward me, but the look I give them must scare them off, because they back away and head behind the cameras.
I feel like I should be nervous. I know what I’m about to do is going to shock everybody in the room. I did try to warn the guys this was coming, but I may have been too vague for them to suspect the full extent of it.
I’ve been thinking nonstop about this decision. I know it’s the right choice, and there’s not any doubt left in my mind. Even if this doesn’t go the way I hope, I’m still going to stand by it.
“Alright,” Erin says. She’s looking over her shoulder at someone behind the cameras and lights. They’re all just dark silhouettes to me. “We’re good.”
Someone adjusts one of the bright lights down and I feel like I can see again without squinting.
“Five, four,” a guy behind the camera to my right says. He silently counts the rest of the way.
Erin sits up a little straighter at two, plasters on a megawatt smile at one, and then we’re live.
