Chapter 55
HANNAH
‘O h, hi.’ Hannah smiled awkwardly. ‘I didn’t expect to see you … I mean, I do come here a lot since …’
But despite all that had happened in the interim, she felt even more uncomfortable now than when she’d crashed into Ward that day and sent him sprawling.
‘Hey.’ He quickly averted his gaze and looked at the ground.
‘Everything OK?’ she inquired, studying him. He looked awful. ‘I haven’t been able to reach you lately and I wanted to check in about prep for the NHL presentation thing. Knee still holding up?’
‘Sure, I’ve just been … busy.’
Ward shifted a little, glancing to the side, and it was then Hannah realized that he wasn’t alone, and a woman’s arm was threaded through his.
A gorgeous twenty-something brunette in workout gear with dark eyes and a flawless olive complexion, she looked every last iota of the Classic Athlete Other Half.
Ah. So that must be what had been dominating so much of his time lately, to the point that he hadn’t been returning her calls.
‘Hi there,’ she greeted his companion enthusiastically, watching them together, her gaze alternating between their faces.
‘This is Shelley …’ Ward began, awkwardness thick in his voice.
Hannah extended her hand in greeting, slightly slopping her coffee in the process. ‘Oh shite … er, um, just hold on.’ She grabbed a paper napkin off the counter and placed the coffee cup down as she tried to wipe her fingers dry. ‘Hannah,’ she replied pleasantly, and a smile of recognition broke out on the girl’s face. Extracting her arm from Ward’s, she grasped Hannah’s hand in an enthusiastic greeting. To the point that she was worried her fingers might break.
‘Great to meet you,’ Shelley greeted in return, her voice low and throaty and which Hannah immediately recognized as the one behind the camera in Ward’s famous fitness video.
Aha.
‘ I have to tell you, everything you have been doing for Ward is wonderful,’ she continued. ‘Seriously, nice work; you had a job cut out.’
She searched the girl’s face for any sign of insincerity or discomfort but found nothing. Shelley didn’t offer any explanation of who she was either as if it was obvious that she and Ward were together. Hannah felt foolish for worrying about his reaction to Rob answering his call. She had been self-conscious over nothing because even though she’d turned Ward down that night in the park, he’d simply brushed himself off, taken it in his stride, and resumed whatever he had going on with this gorgeous creature.
She was stunning, almost Amazonian in stature, and while Shelley also seemed lovely and self-assured, Hannah got the sense that this confident, no-nonsense lady would not take kindly to anyone cheating on her, and thus decided she would not like to get on the other side of her if wronged.
As this flurry of thoughts raced around Hannah’s brain, she forced herself to come back to the present moment – and noticed that Ward was staring at her. So she made a conscious effort to even out her features.
‘Thanks and it’s lovely to meet you too …’ she beamed at Shelley, then made a show of checking her watch. ‘But I’d better rush, I have an appointment with a client,’ she added. Hannah had nowhere to be at that particular moment, but she needed to remove herself from the café and away from Ward and his stunning companion. Then she turned to him but didn’t make eye contact. ‘Like I said, we need to touch base about preparations for the NHL ceremony. Wardrobe and all that. Big red carpet affair for sure. Huge. I know it’s not your thing but …’
Shelley punched his arm playfully. ‘Don’t make Hannah’s job harder than it has to be. He told me about the experience you all had at Armani. For the record, he enjoyed it, even though of course he’d never admit it.’ She rolled her eyes conspiratorially, evidently all too aware of Ward’s contrary reluctance.
‘Well, even better that we ran into each other today then too,’ Hannah chirped, the thought occurring to her. ‘Assuming you’ll be his plus one for the night, Panthers’ management would be more than happy to pick up the tab for your outfit too.’ She winked. ‘They have a Bergdorf account so I could meet you guys there sometime this week and go through some options?’
Shelley’s eyes widened with delight and Hannah congratulated herself on that little brainwave. What girl wouldn’t want someone else to fit the bill for something fabulous to wear at a glitzy red carpet-ceremony?
She wondered why Ward hadn’t taken Shelley as his plus one to the Plaza that time, then figured that maybe she was camera shy or that he didn’t want the press ‘up in his business’, to use his words. And also couldn’t help but wonder what she had made of that gossip paparazzi photo of him with his ‘mystery lady friend’ in the park. Maybe Shelley didn’t care a whit either way, and stuff like that was par for the course and simply the price you paid for being with a pro athlete.
Something Hannah had come to realize far too late.
Bidding the couple goodbye, she reminded Ward once again to call her to go through arrangements for the event, and then headed back out onto the street, happy to put some distance between her thoughts and the encounter.
But still curious about Shelley, she took out her phone and brought up Ward’s socials, scrolling to his follow list, which despite her continued encouragement remained in the double digits, even though he now had hundreds of thousands of followers.
The people he had deigned to follow were mostly teammates, sports sites, ESPN etc and then she saw it.
Shelley Winters. Private profile, so whatever her profession, it seemed she wasn’t a woman who courted the limelight either. Ward didn’t even follow Lotus PR. But he followed Shelley because clearly she was important to him. An important, albeit thus far concealed, part of his life. Whom Hannah had just strong-armed into accompanying him to a very public event.
She winced.
My private life is off-limits.
Not anymore.