Charlotte was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard more and more chattering around her while she headed down the stairs to her seat.
"Damn, her ass is better looking in person than on TV."
"Have you read her novels? They're so trashy."
"I know, right? I love them!"
"Charlotte Stone!"
That last one came from the man she apparently was going to be sitting next to for the rest of the season, causing her to put on her most reserved expression. He looked to be about the same age as Jack with brown hair and brown eyes to match. The woman next to him had long black hair and an expression on her face that made it look like she was silently apologizing for the man's temporarily boorish behavior.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled that so loud," the man said, sticking out his hand for Charlotte to shake. "I'm Adam Ward. I'm a friend of Jack's."
She felt the tension in her shoulders relax a bit as she took his hand. Maybe if he was a friend of Jack's, he wouldn't be so weirded out sitting next to someone well known like her.
"I'm Adam's wife, Rachel," said the woman with the black hair next to him. "And this is our son, Aiden."
A little boy with big brown eyes and dark curly hair like his father's ducked out from behind Rachel with a huge smile on his face.
"Hi!" The boy gave her an overly enthusiastic wave.
"What's up, kid?"
"I like your jersey. Is Jordan King your favorite player?"
"I'm not sure yet," she said. "Jack gave me this jersey and said I would like him."
He smiled innocently up at her. "I think everyone likes him! My mom says he has a lot of friends who are girls."
Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte could see Rachel shift uncomfortably and couldn't help but find it all amusing.
"I know quite a few hockey players like that," she told Aiden.
"Really?" he asked enthusiastically. "Like who?"
Like that stupid ass Declan Reed. "Oh, I can't think of any at the moment."
"So," Adam said, trying to help her change the subject. "Jack said you finally moved in this week. How did that go?"
"Not bad. A little stressful."
That was an understatement. When she originally bought the place eight months ago, it was a big space with four walls. She brought in a local architect that Jack had suggested to develop the living area. Her interior decorator from New York made the trek to Detroit and nearly passed out when she saw how much space she would be working with. It definitely wasn't the typical shoebox-sized New York apartment.
She got the moving van packed up two weeks ago, much to the chagrin of her mother, who turned her nose up at the idea of her daughter "slumming" it in a place that wasn't Manhattan. But Margaret Stone thought Brooklyn was slumming it so Detroit was practically another planet. Now that Charlotte was in her own place with her own decorations and her own boxes, even if they were over the place, her penthouse had already started to feel like home.
Charlotte turned to Adam who was watching the players warm up. "So you worked with Jack in California?"
"Yeah," he said. "I took a chance and moved to San Francisco to help Jack launch his website, Titan, then met this beauty when I was out there." He put his arm around his wife and smiled. "So when Jack and I decided to sell the company, we both came back here."
"Do I dare ask how much you sold it for?" Charlotte asked before quickly realizing what she had said. "Actually, sorry, never mind. That was a very New York thing to ask."
Adam laughed and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you have to look any farther than these seats to find your answer."
He was right considering they were three rows back from the glass, close to the penalty boxes so they could hear every player's frustration after he got locked in. She looked out on the expanse of ice in front of them and smiled just as the lights went out and the loud music started playing.
"This is my favorite part!" Aiden yelled enthusiastically over the bass line.
"Let's hear it for your Detroit Pirates!" yelled the announcer as the team poured out onto the ice. "On your feet for the captain, Jordan King!"
