“Isn’t that a little fast?”I ask.
“Two weeks is nothing,” Renee says with a wave of her hand.“I once put together a black tie gala in nine days.Besides, I’ve had the date reserved with the city for months; I just need to finalize the headliner.This will come together perfectly.”
“I need to run this by my team and my agent,” I tell her.“But if I get the green light, you can count me in.I’ll confirm my buddies by the end of the week.”
Renee lets out a small whoop of excitement.She stands and squeezes my arm, jostling me a little.“I’m so excited.Thank you, Casey.Thank you, Griffin, for even being open to this.I’ll have my assistant reach out soon with the details, and in the meantime, I’ll pray for good news.”She gathers her things, giving Casey a warm smile.“You’ve got a good one here.”
“Oh, we’re just—” Casey starts.
But Renee’s knowing smile shuts her up, and soon she’s across the bar and out the door.
“Wait, did I agree to the shirtless thing?”I ask before taking a pull of my beer.
“You didn’tdisagreewith it, is all I know,” Casey says with a laugh.She wipes down the bar then flits over to a new customer a few spots down.I can’t help but watch her as she works and moves.
I take the downtime and call Neil.I waste no time cutting to the chase.
“Would I get sued or fired if I agree to a friendly game against some local firefighters in order to raise money for a pediatric unit?”
Neil lobs a heavy sigh.Papers rustle in the background.“Hang on.I need to pull out your contract.”I nurse my beer extra slowly while he searches—I’m on a low-to-no-alcohol diet these days.Finally, he says, “Okay.It looks like based on the pre-season clause we added, you have approximately three more weeks of hockey-related off-season endeavors provided you aren’t doing anything strenuous or hazardous to your peak season condition.”
“So in other words…”
“Yes, you can battle the firefighters in order to save the children, or whatever it was you said.”
I’m grinning as we end the call.Casey and Renee are going to be pleased.The bar begins to empty out.Soon it’s closing time, and just Casey and her manager Ryan remain behind the bar.
“I sure see this guy around here a lot,” Ryan cracks in a loud enough voice for me to hear from about mid-way down the bar.
Casey giggles and shrugs as she taps on the register screen.“He’s my other half, I guess.”
“She’s my better half,” I say before I can think better of it.Casey nearly snaps her neck to look over at me, amusement and shock warring on her face.
“That’s what I say to my wife,” Ryan says with a grin.His words sink into me, and I catch the faintest blush on Casey’s cheeks.She busies herself with her clean-up tasks.
“Your last day is coming up pretty quick,” Ryan says after a bit, joining Casey at her side.“There’s no chance we can convince you to stay, is there?”
Casey laughs, clearly flustered.“Well, I…I have everything set up in Chicago—”
“I knew it was a long shot.”Ryan sighs, resuming his wipe-down of the ice coolers.“If anything changes, keep us in mind, okay?You’ve been an incredible addition to the team.”
She smiles, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.“Thanks, Ryan.I love working here.I wish things were different, but…”
She doesn’t need to finish that sentence.
We both know this is better—the choices we made, the paths we carved out.It’s safer this way.
I need to stick to the plan, even if every day closer to mid-August makes me question everything I thought I knew.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CASEY
I've watched the view count refresh four times in the past ten minutes, which is evidence both that something insane is happening and that I have a problem.
Forty-seven thousand views.
I set my phone face down on the kitchen counter, pick up my coffee, and stare at the wall for a moment.Then I pick the phone back up.
