Scarlett watches me with angry blue eyes which tell me I should be thankful she didn’t throw the glass at me with the water. Not that I don’t deserve it. You don’t break a woman’s heart and then expect her to be fine with it because two years have passed.
Her family looks at us in shock.
“I wish I could say this is the first time she’s done something like this,” her mother mumbles.
She takes Scarlett’s arm and pulls her back. Harvey holds out a towel for me and I take it from her, wiping away the water.
“Scarlett,” I say again.
“Say my name one more time and I’m going to break this glass over your head,” she hisses.
My little hellion.
“Angel,” her father softly. I almost laugh, but I value my life too much. There’s nothing angelic about this woman. She’ll be sweet as sin until you do something to make her angry and then the hellion inside her comes out.
“I should step in before the police need to be called,” Harvey says. “I’m Harvey, I’m the manager. I hear you’re concerned about your booking?”
Scarlett’s sister throws a curious look between the two of us before looking at Harvey. Scarlett continues to glare at me, but at least she’s looking at me. At least she’s not pretending I’m dead. That’s a bonus in my book.
“I booked one of the smaller ballrooms for my wedding and I’ve just been informed by Hannah that we’ve been moved to the grand ballroom. That’s out of our budget,” her sister explains.
Harvey doesn’t even blink. “I understand, the mistake was on our end. We accidentally booked you in the grand ballroom instead of one of the smaller ones. But don’t worry, there will be no additional fees. We’re also going to give you an open bar, at no additional cost to make up for our mistake.”
Our sister blinks once, twice. Scarlett turns, her eyes narrowing on me. The lavender of her hair makes her eyes even paler and brighter.
The first time I saw her, two years ago, was when I was about to make a goal on the ice, and she was in the audience. Everything in hockey moves so fast I don’t know how I saw her, but that lavender hair stood out against the crowd. And once I saw her, I couldn’t look away. Everything seemed to stop. The noise of the crowd disappeared. My teammates, the game, the referee, coach, everything seemed to fall away.
There was just the woman behind the barrier, watching the game with curiosity. My heart pounded in my chest, my skin vibrating with an awareness I’d never experienced. Someone had slammed into me because I’d frozen solid on the ice, and I’d watched her laugh.
We lost the game and not even the disappointment from Coach and my teammates had been enough to dull the euphoric feeling. I’d rushed out of the dressing room to find her againbecause I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, I’d just met the love of my life.
It was like the universe knew this was my shot because I found Scarlett outside the arena. Her head was down as she texted on her phone and she looked up when I walked up to her, blue eyes widening in surprise, shoulder straightening as she got ready to defend herself.
I stopped a few feet away. “I’m Connor Hayes, captain of the Renegades. Do you want to grab a drink?”
“I’m on a date,” she’d said, blinking in surprise.
“Any man who leaves you standing on the side of the road doesn’t deserve you.”
Scarlett’s lips had tilted up into a curious smile. They were colored a deep red, in sharp contrast to the lightness of her hair and eyes. For a second, I almost thought I was hallucinating. That she was some fairy creature I’d conjured because I was suffering from too many traumas to the head.
“And what makes you so special, Connor Hayes? You’re the captain of a team that just lost the game,” she’d said.
“I was distracted.”
She crossed her arms, a dark eyebrow arched in question. “By what?”
“By you. How is anyone expected to go on with his life when he’s seen you? You’re like an ethereal fairy princess. I’m afraid if I let you walk away now, I’ll never find you again.”
Surprise had flickered in Scarlett’s eyes. Her date wandered up to us, stopping in the middle of what he was about to say when he saw me. She must have realized I was serious because Scarlett told him that was the end of their date, and she agreed to have a drink with me.
And now she can’t even look at me. I have my work cut out for me.
It’s been five hundred and thirty days, six hours and twelve minutes since I last saw her and every day has been a unique kind of torture. I didn’t know love could feel this way.
Harvey suggests they see the grand ballroom and they all turn to walk away.
“Scarlett,” I say again.
