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And when I told her about Vancouver, I’ve never seen her look so worried. The only thing that put a smile on her face was when I admitted to not giving Vaughn my real name and then sneaking out while he was asleep. At which point, she jumped up on the couch with a whoop and grabbed my hand for a high-five I wasn’t totally into.
Basically it’s been eight months of her waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I really don’t think he’ll talk. He’s got too much to lose if they sit him with his contract running out.” But also, for a reason I can’t totally explain, I just don’t think he would do it.
Both women start talking a mile a minute. Helene wants to know if the chemistry was still here. George wants to know who Vaughn thought he was showing up at my place like that. They both want more details about Vancouver and pretty soon I’m itching to escape.
Helene taps her lips. “I’m thinking we should meet at my house to discuss. I’ve got Doritos.”
George offers up ice cream, but before they have a full buffet planned, I hold up a staying hand. “Sorry, girls. Home game against the Avalanche tonight, and I’m going with Julia.”
And suddenly I’m thanking my lucky stars I’ll be spending the game with my sports-obsessed sister-in-law. Because the last thing I’ll have to worry about with her is getting grilled about my sex life.
* * *
“So what gives?”Julia asks, handing me a beer as she wiggles down in her seat, getting comfortable.
“Huh?” Pucks fire one after another, the guys lapping the sheet, stretching out, jostling each other with elbows and grins. Wagner Arena is unbelievable and Greg’s seats are killer. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I came to a live game.
She looks me over. “You’ve been suspiciously absent lately.”
It was bound to come up. “I know. Things have been nuts. I’m just glad it finally worked out today.” Things have not been nuts and I’m turning out to be quite a little liar. It sours my stomach to think about all the people I’ve been telling fibs to, but this is one truth there is no way I can give up. Especially not to Julia, as I’m pretty sure spousal privilege ranks higher than sister-in-law secrets.
I take a long swallow and keep my eyes on the ice, waving to the guys who skate past, rapping the glass with their sticks when they see us. Watching the one man with the hard scowl who doesn’t even look our way.
“You sure about that?” Her camera-perfect smile stretches and suddenly she looks a little dangerous. “Because I was thinking it might have more to do with a certain guy you don’t want your brother to find out about.”
My heart skitters to a stop. She can’t know.She can’t.Except she kind of knows everything. She knowseveryone. Like not just around the NHL circles either. This woman could call up pretty much any pro player in the country just to chew the fat. And if they had a juicy bit of gossip, like say, someone saw Greg’s little sister hooking up with his mortal enemy… it would take less than a nanosecond to get back to her.
Oh God, shetotallyknows.
“You can’t tell him,” I whisper, barely finding the air to push out the words.
“Ah-ha, I knew it!” she exclaims, springing up in her seat, sending her beer sloshing over the top of her arena cup. She takes a deep drink, bringing the level down, and beams at me. “Spill it, sister!”
Spill it? “Wait—what do you know?”
“Nothing, really,” she confides easily, pinching her beer between her knees to adjust her blond ponytail through the back of her cap. “Just a hunch. I mean, the only time I’ve seen you miss a game before was because the girls you coach had one of their own. So I started wondering why you wouldn’t be showing up.” How could I forget, this woman has made her career by getting professional athletes to open up to her. What did I get myself into tonight? “I mean, to the best of my knowledge there wasn’t a boyfriend. But what if there was? I know you’ve had some bad experiences with guys you date being kind of hung up on your brother, so it would make sense you wouldn’t immediately start bringing him to games. First, so you could make sure he wasn’t just in it for the tickets and, second, to make sure you didn’t have big brother checking the poor guy into the boards for looking at his little sister. At least not while things are so new. Right?”
Breathing easier, I take a long swallow of my beer. A really long swallow.
She’s off track. She doesn’t know anything.
“So I get it, anyway. You want to spend time with this new guy, but not where Greg is going to catch wind of it. You’re entitled to your private life.” Julia flashes a wink at me. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell him.”
At that I raise a disbelieving brow. “Really?”
“Okay, not unless he asks me. But seriously. He’s not going to ask me. So dish. What’s his name? Where did you meet? Does he like hockey or have you finally managed to find that one elusive unicorn who isn’t into your favorite sport, but doesn’t bore you to tears?”
Cutting a sidelong look at Julia, I realize there’s no way I’m going to get out of here without telling her something. So I settle on the truth, but a stripped-down version that won’t get anyone into hot water.
“Okay, there was a guy from a while back that sort of resurfaced lately, but it’s not going anywhere. Heck, it didn’t really go anywhere the first time either. But definitely not now.”
“Definitely?” And great, why did I think Julia would let that go?
“And you’re right, this isn’t really something I want Greg to know about. For real.” I tear my eyes away from where Vaughn is stretching out his legs, talking with O’Brian. He turns his head, looking out over the crowd, and my heart stalls… until he skips right past me. “He’s not my type. At least not for anything long term.”
Julia turns in her seat. “And in theshort term?”
