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“Oh no.” I know her too well. “You’re not looking him up.”
“Why not? Is he hot?”
“He’s twenty-one.”
“He’s hot, isn’t he?” She just won’t give up. “It’s okay I’m Googling him. Goran and Morgantown Mavericks. Yep, there he is. His last name is Olssen. Oh he’s pretty. Look at those cheekbones. You could cut cheese on them.”
“Why would you want to cut cheese on cheekbones?”
“Shut up. You should totally let him show you how sorry he is.”
“He works for a client,” I remind her. “Rules, remember?”
“All I’m hearing is ‘I’d do him if I could’,” Rachel sings out.
“I’m ending this call,” I warn her.
“No you’re not. You wanted to talk to me about something. You haven’t yet.”
“We’ve been talking for twenty minutes,” I point out.
“Yep, and yet you still haven’t said what’s worrying you.”
This is the problem with people who’ve known you for decades. They know all your tells.
“I had to lie to the coach,” I tell her.
“About what?”
“He asked me if I knew anything about hockey. I couldn’t say that I did. So I told him no.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because if I told him I know all the ins and outs of hockey he could guess who I am. And I don’t want anybody here knowing.”
“Does it matter? They might take you more seriously if they know you’re part of hockey royalty.”
“It matters to me.” I don’t want them knowing. Because if they find out then they’ll assume I only got where I have thanks to nepotism. I’ve worked so hard to make it in my own right, and that has nothing to do with the Gauthier name.
And then there’s the other thing. If anybody Googles my real name…
Ugh. I hate the thought of that.
“Then keep lying. It’s fine,” Rachel says.
“But he also asked me if we’d met before. What if he recognizes me? If they find out I’m lying it’s going to ruin things for me.” I hate this. I should never have come. I’ve built up a great life away from the hockey rink.
This is all my dad’s fault. And Kenneth Powers’. Who – by the way – now has an impossible-to-buy rink side season ticket to the Rangers home games, courtesy of my dad.
“Chill,” Rachel urges. “It’s all good. Now fill in that dating profile. You need to relax, meet some guys, get some good sex. It’s been way too long, honey.”
Yeah it has. And maybe she’s right. Not about the sex part, but about the meeting people. I’ve been here for two weeks and the only people I see outside of the stadium are my grandpa and his cleaner.
I’m lonely. And it’s making me a little paranoid.
* * *
ELI
