32. Wren
32
WREN
…three weeks later
“Good job,” Tania says to me as we stand in the team suite watching the guys take on San Francisco. LA is leading and with only a few minutes left in the game, the win is ours.
“I’d love to take the credit for this turnaround but it’s all Stefan.”
“Please,” Tania scoffs. “I’ve seen the two of you together, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you two were getting it on.”
My eyes widen at her comment, it’s one thing for Fern to tease me but my boss’s boss, nope, this cannot be happening.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. He’s my client and he’s?—”
“A hot motherfucker with an enormous … ego.” Shaking my head at Tania, I can’t help but smile because Stefan is a hot motherfucker, as she put it. “Hotness aside, he’s still on my shit list and I’d love nothing more than to fire his ass but, man, that boy glides up and down the ice like an angel, and he can handle his stick like a pro.”
At the mention of Stefan and his stick, I’m once again taken to Dirtyville, and thoughts of our hot and heavy kiss play on a loop in my mind.
In the three weeks since the intervention of sorts, Stefan and I have spent a lot of time together. Since he’s no longer out barhopping each night and bringing home a different bunny, we’ve spent many nights at home watching movies or sitting in the hot tub chatting. We haven’t crossed that line again, but there have been more than a few touches that were borderline inappropriate.
“Ms. Brookes,” one of the security guys interrupts us.
“Yes?” I say, turning to face him.
“There are some people here to see you.”
“Me?” I screech because no one has ever come to see me before. From the corner of my eye, I see Tania grinning.
“Yes, shall I let them in?”
Standing here, I think as to who it might be, but I can’t think of anyone who would visit me here. Before I can reply, Tania tells the guard to bring them in. She shuffles me toward the door of the suite and a few moments later, it opens. The guard returns and behind him is my parents. “What … what are you doing here?”
“Stefan invited us,” my mom says, pulling me in for hug.
“He what?” I ask, totally confused.
“He called and said he’d like to fly us out to visit you. He’s put us up in a hotel around the corner from his place. We would have been here before the puck dropped but the flight was delayed and then LA traffic is, well, pucked, for lack of a better word.”
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Brookes, I’m Tania,” she says joining us. The game is over and LA won. By the looks of the score, another goal was scored in the last few minutes while I was with Mom and Dad.
“Please,” Mom says in her mom tone. “It’s Samantha and Penn.”
“I thought Penn was your brother?” Tania asks in confusion, like most people do.
“Dad’s Penn Senior and my brother is Penn Junior, but you can call him PJ.” Then I think of him and look to my dad. “Are they here too?”
Dad shakes his head. “Fletch has school and?—”
“How is that little rugrat?”
“Just as adorable as ever,” my dad says, his eyes lighting up. His grandson is the apple of his eye. He’d do anything for that little boy.
“What about Penn and Tatum?”
“They’re doing good. It’s nice to see him smiling again.” Mom gets that happy look on her face. “Told you I had a feeling.” She nudges Dad in the shoulder, and I can’t help but chuckle. My giggle garners her attention and she turns it to me. “You know, Wren, I have?—”
“Ohhh, look, the game’s over, we should go meet the team for the press conference.”
“Ohhh yes.” Mom nods. “We don’t want to hold you back from your work.”
Phew , I think to myself but then Tania speaks up. “Wren, you don’t need to go. Why don’t you head home with your parents?”
“Ohhh, umm, Stefan and I arrived together.”
“Well, wait here.” She spins her hand around the suite. “I’ll send Stefan up when we’re done.”
Nodding, I smile and with that agreed upon, she says goodbye to Mom and Dad and heads out.
“Okay,” Mom says as she links arms with mine. “Tell me everything.”
Furrowing my brows, I stare at her in confusion. “We spoke like three days ago, I have nothing to tell you, but it seems this trip slipped your mind.”
“We all wanted to surprise you. I was shocked when I got the call from Stefan. I thought he was calling to tell me something bad had happened.”
“Mom,” I whisper and pull her in for a hug.
“I’m just being silly but I still remember the day your brother called about Mads.” She sniffles. “It’s still so fresh in my mind.”
“I don’t think her loss will ever go away; she was a pretty special woman.”
“She sure was. I hate thinking that now Penn is with Tate. I think she and Tate would have gotten on like a house on fire?—”
“Should you really use an analogy like that when Tatum is a firefighter?”
“Ohhh, ummm, I never thought about that before.”
“Tatum would get a kick out of it,” Dad pipes up with a grin, saving Mom from heading into a spiral for offending someone … even when they’re not here and at the other end of the state in Lockhart Falls. “Now, what’s a fella got to do to get a beer around here?”
“Well, Dad,” I state. “There are these things called legs and you walk over to the bar, then you use your mouth.” I circle my finger around his. “Then say, ‘Duncan, can I get a Miller, please?’ and then Duncan gets you your beer.”
“I see you’re still sassy.”
“Working with Doucheman brings it out of me by the bucketload.”
“Speaking of Stefan,” Mom says as Dad walks over to Duncan. “Has my feeling come true yet?”
“Nope, and it won’t,” I defiantly inform my mother. She gives me the eye and then I tack on, “He’s my client, Mom. You know my rules about that.”
“Client. Schmient.” She waves her hand around dismissively. “My feelings are never wrong, and this time will be no exception. I was right about Mads, and I was right about Tatum, and I’m right about this too.”
“Let’s lay off the feeling talk, hey?” She just eyes me. “How long are you guys here for?” I ask, changing the topic of conversation.
“Just a few days,” Dad answers, handing Mom a glass of red and a mineral water with lime for me. “Fletcher has a school play, and we want to be there to see him perform.”
“What play, and what role did he get? He never mentioned anything about it.”
“They’re doing Alice in Wonderland and he’s a Playing Card. It’s a non-speaking role, but he’s so excited and he looks adorable in his costume.”
“Well, I expect pictures and a signed program from our up-and-coming thespian.”
“Done.”
We take a seat and watch the Zamboni buff the ice for tomorrow’s game. We chat about what they’ve been up to recently, and of course, the stuff with Stefan and Alicia comes up. Mom was aghast when I told her what went down. “That poor boy. Luckily for him, he had you to put the pieces back together again, and I’m sure he’s grateful for all you’ve done.”
“Too right I am,” the man in question says, entering the suite and walking over to us. He’s in his after game suit and, fuck me dead, he looks sexy. What is it about a well-fitted suit that makes me go gaga?
“Stefan,” Mom singsongs when she greets him. “You played well,” she tells him and I shake my head. Mom watched like five seconds of the game and I’m sure when she did, Stefan was on the bench.
“Thank you, Samantha,” he tells her, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. I swear her cheeks darken from the kiss. Dad chuckles as he shakes Stefan’s hand. “Glad you could make it, Penn. Was the flight good?”
“No dramas and the upgrade to business was greatly appreciated and not necessary at all.”
“It’s my pleasure. Shall we head off to dinner or would you like to check in to your hotel first?”
“Maybe the hotel to freshen up first,” Mom suggests.
“Wren and I can wait in the hotel bar for you both.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
With the plans locked in, we all head to Stefan’s car and make our way to the hotel. Traffic is light and we arrive just as the sun has set. Stefan made the decision to drop Mom and Dad off first. Then we can drop the car off at home and the two of us will walk back to the hotel to meet up with Mom and Dad.
“Thank you for this,” I tell Stefan as we walk along the boardwalk back to Mom and Dad’s hotel. “I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed them. Them being here is just what I needed.”
“You don’t need to thank me because it’s the least I can do. I know I’ve not been the easiest client you’ve ever had, and I wanted to apologize for my douchey behavior of late.”
“Of late?”
“Okay, since you moved here.” He pauses and stops walking. Turning to face him, he has a look on his face that I’ve never seen before. Stepping closer to him, I take his hand and squeeze. He smiles and continues, “I know I’m just a job, but you really are great at what you do. You have my best interests at heart and when I look back at our time together, even when I had my head up my ass, you’ve had my back. You’ve supported me, even when I didn’t deserve it. And when I made a stupid decision and trusted Alicia, you were there. Even though I could tell each time she was near, all you wanted to do was rip her hair out.”
“I wouldn’t go that far but I did not like that woman, and I definitely did not trust her.”
“You were right not to but I was blinded by, hell, I don’t even know. All that aside, you had—have—my back and this, bringing your parents here is just my way of saying thanks.”
“As you said, I’m doing my job.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “You go over and above because you care. It’s more than just a job to you.”
Staring at him, I’m amazed he sees me that way. This job is hard at times. Especially when your client is a douche and you don’t like them as a person, but the more time I spend with Stefan, the less douchey he’s becoming. I've come to realize there’s hockey Stefan and home Stefan. They are two different people and if home Stefan can merge with hockey Stefan, then I will have done my job.
“You continually shock me, Stefan, and seeing you like this, it’s why I do what I do. And for the record, you aren’t just a job.” Silence surrounds us but it’s not awkward. When it becomes too much, he pulls his hand from mine and we start walking again.
Side by side, we head back to meet Mom and Dad.
They’re waiting outside the hotel for us, and when I see them, I can’t help but smile. “Thank you again, Stefan. No one has ever done anything this thoughtful for me before.”
“You deserve all the happiness, Wren.”
Before I can say anything else, we reach Mom and Dad and the four of us head off to dinner. The night is amazing and when we get back home, my relationship with Stefan once again changes.