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“Fuck.”
I wait it out. Eventually, the vibrating stops and my heart eases. “Don’t be stupid,” I scold myself. “It’s probably just?—”
Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.
Blocked number.
I sit there in open-mouthed fear for fifteen minutes or more. The whole time, my phone keeps tap-dancing on the marble countertop as the grizzly bear calls again and again and again.
Eventually, I kill the power and shove my dead phone in a drawer. I’d prefer to stick it in a locked box at the bottom of a lake, but this will do in a pinch.
Another fifteen minutes passes. I can’t decide if the silence is better or worse than the vibrating phone. My skin is still crawling with anxiety when I look up and see Monroe’s yellow Honda pulling through the gate. A moment later, I see Spencer’s bobbing head pass by the window as he conducts a perimeter search.
“Thank God,” I breathe aloud. “It’s fine. Everything is fine.”
Cassie is the first one through the door. I hit her like a linebacker with both arms around the middle and squeeze until she yelps.
“I’d like to inhale, please!” she cries out.
I let go of her and envelop Monroe for more of the same before I can finally relax. “God, what took you guys so long?” The panic has receded now. The terror from just a few minutes ago feels overblown.
Monroe waves a hand, bracelets jangling. “Slow-Ass Cass here was in the shower when I got to her place, then there was traffic downtown—some big accident, like twenty cars piled up. Couldn’t get around it. Then we had to wait for the burgers. And then, while we were waiting, Cassie ran into Webster.”
“Who’s Webster?”
“You remember,” Cassie fills in. “We met him at that bar in Bellevue. The magician who gave me his magic eight ball?”
I roll my eyes when I remember. Webster was the “greatest love” of her life for about a minute—which, to be fair, beat her previous record by about fifty-eight seconds.
“You could’ve called.” I’m trying to sound annoyed, but I’m worried it comes off as more neurotic than anything else.
Monroe glances at me shrewdly. “Are you alright, Sloan?”
I shake my head. “I was… worried.”
She links her arm through mine. “Well, we’re here now, so no more worries or talk about stalkers, or ex-jobs, or bad debts owed to badder men. This weekend is happy-happy-fun-times, and not anything else.Capisci?”
I swallow and nod as Cassie takes my other elbow. “Yeah. Totally.”
I make Monroe and Cassie sit through Saturday night’s game with me, even though they’d rather huff paint thinner than watch televised hockey. I’m glad for the moral support, though, because it’s a tight one. I scream when there’s a heart-stopping third-period goal by the St. Louis Mules, but Beck rifles a game-winner with ten seconds left and the Wave pulls out a much-needed victory.
This series is important for the standings. St. Louis is only a couple points behind Seattle and Beck wants to go all the way this year. It means tomorrow night’s rematch will have super high stakes.
So, despite their groaning, Sunday finds Cassie, Monroe, and me back on the couch, wearing matching Wave jerseys and drinking virgin mojitos that Monroe whipped up for us.
Right as the anthem is finishing up, Karla brings in a buffet of game food. We have nachos, hotdogs, burgers with all the fixings, and hot pretzels and cheese sauce. If I wasn’t pregnant with a real baby, there’d be a food baby gestating by the time the puck drops.
I see Cassie swoon when they announce Dixon in the starting lineup.
“Wow. You really do have a crush.” I shake my head at her. I haven’t seen her this way in years.
“It’s not a crush. It’s a goal. So hook a sister up, yeah?”
“I’m… yeah, sure. I guess.” She’s my best and oldest friend, so I can’t really say no. But I make a silent oath to murder Dix and blame it on pregnancy hormones if he hurts her.
“What about me? Can I get a hookup with the ginger Irishman?” Monroe points at the screen. “I think I’m in love already.”
“Probably lust,” I correct her. “But who am I to stand in the way of your sexy times?” An idea occurs to me and I light up. “Ooh, how ‘bout this: we’ll have a party to celebrate if they win tonight?”
