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He held my gaze. “No, I’m single. And I think I get it. Maybe work-from-home positions are providing a lot more opportunities for people than I realized. If you’ve earned a promotion, it shouldn’t matter what you look like. Though youdolook very nice. Beautiful, even.”
I swallowed several times before I could speak again and quickly changed the subject. “So Indiana plays for the Avalanche?”
Shane chuckled. “Yep, when needed. He’s one of Colorado’s best.”
“And…he’s…the backup goalie? I don’t think he can skate.”
“That’s unfortunate. But anemergencybackup goalie is not the actual backup goalie. They’re not technically part of the team; they just help out in a crisis.” Shane shrugged. “I was thinking on my feet. I hope I didn’t make things worse. If what Evan was saying is true, I thought it might help with him trusting you with S.J. Sporting. Too far?”
“Thank you. Really. And no, not compared to the crap Patrick and Heidi have come up with.”
“Do you have a plan for how you’re going to keep this up? What about the company brunch tomorrow?”
Tomorrow’s brunch. In all the excitement, I’d almost forgotten about it. Leave it to the higher-ups to think having a mandatory work event on a Saturday morning would be a treat for the employees. Even if there was food. The information I’d let slip past earlier reared back up. “Are the bosses really going to be serving us?” I asked.
“That’s what we were told.” Shane shrugged.
I put my forehead down on the bar. “Are you kidding me?” I groaned. “Why can’t they read the room? Like, they think it’s a cute role reversal, but it’s actually super degrading and upsetting.” I lifted my head, instantly regretting having put it on the bar. My forehead was sticky. “To answer your question, I don’t really have a plan,” I admitted. “My plan went up in smoke today. Literally. But I have to tell the truth, so I guess I find another opportunity to do that.”
At that moment, I heard a loud laugh coming from the pool tables. Definitely Patrick. “But not today. I think I need to follow Melvin. Not sure my friends should be talking to him, especially when they’re tipsy.”
I got up and took off for the pool tables, arriving just in time to see Heidi throw her arms around Melvin’s neck, sniffling into his shoulder.
“He broke my heart, Melon.” She sobbed. “And then he broke my winning streak, and then he left!” Thank god. Heidi had gotten rid of Indiana the same way Shane had. “Did you see him on your way over? He’s so handsome, he’s not even real. I could drown in those blue eyes.” She saw me over his shoulder and gave me a thumbs-up. Her eye makeup was perfectly intact.
“He had to get to the Avs game,” Shane said, coming up behind me. “Don’t take it personally.”
Patrick popped up, a look of ecstatic glee on his face. He threw his arm around Shane’s neck. “Yes! He had to get to the Avs game because…” He looked at Shane.
“Because he’s the emergency backup goalie,” Shane supplied.
“Of course he is.” Patrick nodded, barely keeping the grin off his face.
“He goes to all the sports rehearsals,” Heidi interjected.
“Practices,” Shane corrected.
“Right. He’s great with a ball,” she said.
“Puck,” Shane muttered.
Melvin awkwardly patted Heidi’s shoulder as he pushed her away. “Right. Okay. I’ll just text him. Thanks, everyone.” He looked around, then took off for the door.
“He might have gone out the back way,” Heidi shouted after him. “I couldn’t see through my tears.”
A few seconds later, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I squeezed my eyes shut. No doubt a check-in from Melvin. How had this imaginary version of myself completed more in his week of life than I had in all of mine?
“Can you give us a second?” I asked Shane as I grabbed Patrick and Heidi and dragged them toward the women’s restroom. Shane waved at us as I forcibly jammed them through the door.
“We can walk on our own,” Heidi said irritably but stopped moving when she saw my face.
“He knows,” I said breathlessly, bugging my eyes out at them.
Patrick squinted at me. “Who, Melon? Me?”
I took a deep breath to steady myself and leaned against the sinks.
Patrick checked for feet under the stalls. “I don’t think I should be in here,” he said. “It’s nicer than the men’s, though. I like it.” He turned to Heidi. “I’m not the ‘he,’ am I?”
