Banks:Would you prefer a formal invitation?
Me:I would prefer more than six words, yes.
A pause. Then:
Banks:There’s a charity gala next Saturday night. The team is expected to attend. I need a date. Will you come with me? Please.
Istare at the screen. He said please. Banks Callahan, who speaks in grunts and monosyllables, typed out the word “please.”
“What’s happening?” Tori demands. “Your face is doing seventeen different things right now.”
“He asked me to the gala.”
“Yay!” Tori whoops. I’ve known about the gala for a couple of weeks. Tori and Zay are attending, and I even helped her pick her dress.
“Please come,” she begs. “It’ll be so much better if you’re there.”
I type back before I can overthink it:
Me:Yes. I’ll come.
Banks:Good. I’ll pick you up at 6.
Me:Okay.
Banks:Okay.
I wait for more. There is no more. That’s the whole conversation.
“Well?” Tori asks.
“Looks like I’m going to the gala.”
She grins so wide I’m afraid her face might split. “We need to go shopping. Immediately. Right after this pedicure.”
She’s right; I don’t have anything I could wear to a fancy gala.
“This is so exciting.” She grins.
“Calm down, babe. He only asked me because it’d be weird if I wasn’t there. His teammates would ask where I was, that’s all.”
She considers this while digging her wallet from her purse. “Yeah, maybe.”
But later, as we’re walking out of the salon with fresh pedicures and a shopping mission ahead of us, I’m more excited than I should be.
Chapter Sixteen
Room Service
Banks
Five days. Three cities. One plane. One bus. And Winnie.
I should be focused on hockey. We have games against Boston, Philly, and Washington—three divisional rivals in five days. It’s a grueling stretch, the kind that can make or break a playoff push. I should be thinking about defensive matchups, penalty kill strategies, and getting enough sleep.
Instead, I’m preoccupied with the fact that Winnie is traveling with us.
Dana arranged it. “Flexibility sessions on the road,” she’d said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. “The guys are seeing real improvement. No reason to interrupt the momentum just because we’re traveling.”
