Chapter 16
PHOEBE
There’s no bended knee, no words of love, no ring. Instead, it’s a cold rink, a bunch of sweaty hockey players, and what I hope is a mutual understanding we’re going to let people think we’re getting married. Not how I thought I’d end up engaged. But it’s Ollie, so I’ll take what I can get.
Daphne hugs me again. “I know Shelby doesn’t know yet—she would have told me when we spoke this morning—but it’s starting to show up online. We can post it on the team social media. Send me a cute couple picture of you.”
My head is spinning. Ollie is standing there, stunned. He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it. I guess this is on me.
“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Mallory’s rounding the corner to join us.
“Phoebe and Ollie are engaged!” Daphne shouts. Considering we’re all in a five-foot radius, the shouting was not necessary.
“OMG, congratulations!” Mallory gives me a hug. “When did you get engaged?” She turns to Ollie. “Were you engaged when you went on Bigfoot Finds a Bride? Is that why you wouldn’t kiss the bachelorette?”
Crap. We hadn’t worked out our story.
“Go ahead, honey, tell them,” I say with a smile.
“Are you sure you don’t want to, sweetie?” Ollie replies with a tight smile in return. “You tell it so much better than I do.” His helmet is off, so it’s easy to see his brown eyes pleading with me to get us out of this mess.
I clear my throat and take a sip of the bottled water I grabbed on the way from the training room.
My hand is trembling as I put the bottle down on the ledge in front of me.
Ollie notices and grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together and resting them on his thigh.
He must take pity on me because he leans forward to answer Mallory, who’s now seated next to Coach.
“We weren’t engaged when I went on the show. If we were, I wouldn’t have gone.”
“Were you dating?” Mallory asks, and Ollie shakes his head.
“No. It’s crazy,” I say. “We met at our siblings’ wedding a couple of years ago. I was attending school in Paris, so it was a quick trip back here. I thought Ollie was so cute, but I was seeing someone casually, and he was going back west to finish his degree, so nothing happened.”
His hand holding mine is warm as I give it a gentle squeeze.
“You thought I was cute?” he asks with an adorable boyish grin and a flush that makes the tips of his ears turn red.
I grin back. “Yes. You were. I love it when you wear your glasses. Gives you a Clark Kent vibe. You didn’t have your beard yet, so you still had a boyish look. You were adorable.”
“So, you met at the wedding and then went your separate ways,” Mallory says. “When did you see each other again?”
“Last summer.” I smile up at Ollie, happy to be telling the truth. “I moved back here after my time in culinary school in Paris. Ollie had graduated with his degree in computer engineering and came out here to visit with his family, so we hung out.”
“Is that when you started dating?” Daphne asks.
“No,” I say.
Stone sighs. “Put us out of our misery. Tell us when you started dating.”
I have no idea what to say—lying is not something I’m good at. I went on a date with Stone, so I can’t say Ollie and I were dating while I was dating guys on the team.
To buy time, I giggle and rest my head on Ollie’s biceps, and he lets go of my hand to wrap his arm around my shoulder.
“Honestly, we never dated,” I admit.
There’s a break in the drill, and everyone is staring at us. At least, that’s how it feels. I’m afraid to meet anyone’s gaze.
“We’ve never been in the same place at the same time until now,” Ollie says.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Bedard says from his spot further down the bench. “You’re engaged, but you never dated? You weren’t engaged when you were on the show, which was like a week ago. So you got engaged this week?”
Ollie and I both nod.
“Saturday night,” he says. “After the Sasquatch game.”
“And now we’re engaged.” I have a huge smile meant only for him.
“Aww…” Mallory’s and Daphne’s sighs make Ollie’s cheeks burn even more.
“Have you set a date yet?” Mallory asks.
I shake my head.
“I haven’t even gotten her a ring yet,” Ollie grumbles.
“I don’t need a ring, Ollie.” I set the tip of my chin on his padded biceps. “I can’t wear it when I’m working with all the doughs. It’s not practical.”
“I’m getting you a ring, Phoebe Albright,” he says sternly.
Everyone laughs when I blow a raspberry at him. “Fine, if you insist, Oliver King.”
“Do you want a long engagement?” Mallory asks.
“No,” Ollie and I say in unison.
I say no because I want to be married and have a family.
With Ollie. The sooner the better. Did Ollie say no because he wants it over with so he can focus on hockey?
Dare I hope my plan to woo him is having an effect and he wants to move to the next level with me?
We’ve almost kissed multiple times. I know Ollie well enough to know he’s not kissing women randomly, so if he wants to kiss me, it must mean something, right?
Or am I interpreting things how I wish they were and not how they really are?
“Are you thinking during playoffs? You won’t be able to take a honeymoon or anything like that,” Mallory says. “That’s why we’re waiting until this summer.”
Ollie shrugs. “Honestly, haven’t thought about it too much.
Phoebe has always been the woman I wanted to marry, and now that we’re both single and in the same place, I decided to shoot my shot.
Shocked the hell out of me when she agreed.
I’m here to play hockey, and that needs to be my focus. Phoebe understands that. Right, honey?”
He looks down at me, and I try to show happiness and not how his words hurt me. Of course he’s here for hockey. We’re only in this mess because I got high on basic pain meds and said something stupid. I hope he can’t tell that my smile is trembling slightly at the edges.
“Of course! I know how much hockey matters to you, Ollie. What’s important to you is important to me. I think the most important thing is to wrap up the season, win the Dickinson Cup, and then we deal with wedding stuff.” I turn my attention to the ice and the drill they’re running.
I don’t want to talk about any of this anymore. My heart hurts. “Hey, Ollie, don’t you need to get back to practice?”
Coach smacks his stick on the ice. “Let’s get to work!”
Ollie clears his throat. “Okay, that’s more than I usually say in a month. Please don’t take it personally if I crawl back in my shell and grunt in response for a while.”
That makes everyone laugh, but hopefully they realize he’s not joking. He’s so introverted that being around this many people and constantly socializing must be exhausting for him. Ollie stands and gets ready to go back on the ice.
“No kiss for your fiancé?” Daphne asks.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no. I mean, yes, I want to kiss Ollie.
But not like this. Not for his first kiss.
Not for our first kiss. Before I get the chance to panic, Ollie places his hand on my cheek and leans in, pressing a kiss to the very corner of my mouth.
Since I’m on the end and Ollie’s giant hand is blocking their view, it looks like a real kiss to Daphne and Mallory.
But I know it’s fake.
Like our engagement.
My feelings are real though. Ollie’s been pushed into the fake engagement, and I’m so scared he’ll put up another wall because of it—and this time, I’ll be on the wrong side of it.