Chapter 34
Skyler
The office closet was cramped and smelled like industrial cleaning supplies, but it had one crucial feature: I could hear everything happening in the main office through the thin door.
Kevin had done what I’d asked. He’d brought Jacks and his friends here, told them to wait, and left them wondering what the hell was going on. From my hiding spot between a mop bucket and a stack of copy paper, I could hear every word.
“So”—Jacks’s voice came through clearly—“not that I’m complaining, but what’s happening here?
Kevin said one of the players wanted to see us, and I wouldn’t put it past Sky to do something like this, but .
. .” There was a pause, probably him looking around.
“This feels very official. Did you three do something wrong? Is there anything you need to tell me before the cops arrive?”
I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
“Did we break some kind of arena rule? Is that what you’re asking?” That was Benji, and he sounded excited rather than worried. “Because I may have taken some napkins from the concession stand, but they seemed free, and I was going to use them to make confetti if Skyler scored again—”
“You made confetti?” the woman’s voice.
“I was going to make confetti, Mia. I had a whole plan. Napkin confetti is very festive. I mean, not as festive as edible glitter, but we work with what we have, right?”
“Benji,” Finn said, “please tell me you don’t have a pocket full of napkins right now.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you that.”
I had to bite my knuckle to keep quiet.
“Oh my God,” Mia said. “You absolutely do. Show me.”
“I’m not showing you my confetti supplies!”
“It’s not confetti; it’s napkins, and it looks like you’re trying to make your junk look bigger.”
Benji huffed. “It’s future confetti, and my junk is perky, thank you very much!”
“This is ridiculous,” Jacks said, but I could hear the affection in his voice. “We’re backstage at an NHL arena because one of the players requested to meet us and you two are arguing about napkin confetti and paper cocks.”
“Maybe that’s why we’re here,” Benji said, his voice getting more animated. “Maybe Skyler heard about my confetti plan and wants to discuss proper celebration protocols. Maybe there are rules about fan-made confetti. Maybe—”
“Or maybe,” Mia interrupted, “he saw your ginormous paper cock and—”
“Mia!” The horror in Finn’s voice was priceless.
Silence.
“Fine,” Mia said. “Maybe it’s the jersey.”
“What about the jersey?” Finn asked.
Mia’s voice grew almost academic as she threw herself into mystery-solving mode.
“Think about it. Jacks shows up wearing Skyler’s jersey—which Skyler bought him, by the way, with a note and everything.
Then he sits in very good seats. Then during warmups, two different Lightning players acknowledged our section.
Shit, they didn’t acknowledge the section.
They acknowledged us. That’s not random. ”
“Tyler blew Jacks a kiss,” Benji added. “In front of thousands of people and TV cameras.”
“And Erik did his stick salute thing,” Mia continued.
“Then Skyler himself skated by and made direct eye contact. These are not coincidences,” Benji finished her thought.
“So what are you two saying?” Jacks’s voice was careful now.
“Maybe this meeting is about the fact that you’re dating the team captain and they want to make sure you’re not a crazy person before this goes any further. Maybe one or more of Skyler’s teammates are even more protective than you already thought.”
I nearly choked on my own tongue trying not to laugh.
“They think I’m crazy?” Jacks sounded concerned.
“Not crazy crazy,” Benji said. “Just, you know, normal-level crazy, like, ‘are you going to sell our secrets to the paparazzi’ crazy. Or ‘are you going to boil his pet rabbit’ crazy.”
“Skyler doesn’t have a pet rabbit,” Jacks said.
“Because you boiled it!” Benji countered, index finger raised like a bad French detective in a film noir.
“And how do you know?” Mia continued. “He could have a rabbit and he’s hiding it from you, keeping it safe from the boiling bandit.”
“Boiling bandit?” Jacks nearly shouted.
Mia and Benji were rolling now, and there was no stopping their momentum. “Hockey players have all kinds of pets. Exotic pets. Maybe he has a falcon.”
“A falcon?” Jacks asked.
“For hunting. It’s very Viking-esque. Erik definitely has a falcon.”
“Erik doesn’t have a falcon,” Jacks said.
“Erik absolutely has a falcon,” Benji insisted. “Look at him. He screams, ‘falcon owner.’”
I was shaking with silent laughter now, tears streaming down my face as I tried not to knock over the mop bucket.
“Okay,” Jacks said, “setting aside the theoretical falcon situation, do you really think they brought us back here to interrogate me about my intentions?”
“Maybe,” Mia said. “Or maybe Skyler wanted to thank you personally for coming. Maybe he couldn’t wait until later to see you.”
“That would be romantic.” Benji sighed. “Very romantic, the kind of romantic that might make me believe in love again.”
“When did you stop believing in love?” Finn asked.
“Tuesday, but I’m back on board now. This whole thing has restored my faith in the power of athletics-based romance.”
“Athletics-based romance?” Mia repeated. “Is that like jockstrap love?”
“OMG, YES! That’s now an official category! Like enemies-to-lovers or fake dating, but with more support and significantly better arms.”
That’s when I lost it.
The sound of my laughter burst through the closet door before I could stop it, and suddenly the conversation on the other side went dead silent.
“What was that?” Finn’s voice, sharp and alert.
I tried to muffle myself, but it was too late.
Another snort escaped.
“Is someone in here with us?” Jacks’s voice was cautious.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
The jockstrap love conversation had broken me.
I threw open the door and stepped out of the closet, still laughing so hard I could barely breathe. Four sets of eyes stared at me in complete shock.
“A falcon?” I gasped, wiping tears from my eyes. “You think Erik has a falcon?”
The room was frozen in stunned silence for several seconds.
Then Benji’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.
“OH MY GOD!” he shrieked, pointing at me with both hands. “HE LITERALLY CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR YOU!”
The entire room dissolved into uncontrollable laughter and tears.
Mia doubled over laughing so hard she snorted.
Finn was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall.
Benji was levitating with glee.
And Jacks was covering his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking, his ears as red as any rose I’d ever seen.
“This is the best metaphor ever!” Benji continued, now bouncing on his toes. “You were hiding in an actual closet and came out for love! I can’t! I just can’t! This is too perfect!”
“Oh my God, Benji,” Mia wheezed. “Stop!”
“NEVER! I’ll never stop! This is going in my wedding speech when they get married!”
“We’re not—” I started, but I was laughing too hard to finish.
“You came out of the closet,” Benji repeated, tears streaming down his face. “For him. Literally. Actually. Physically emerged from a closet because you couldn’t stay hidden from him anymore.”
“Benji,” Jacks managed, “you’re going to give yourself an aneurysm.”
“It’ll be so worth it! This is the most romantic thing that has ever happened in the history of romance. Shakespeare wishes he thought of this. Lifetime might discover a new plot so they can air this scene.”
I was still giggling as I moved toward Jacks. He was shaking his head in disbelief but smiling so wide my cheeks hurt for him.
“Were you honestly hiding in a closet?” he asked. “Listening to us speculate about why we’re here?”
“I was waiting for the right moment to make an entrance,” I said, getting my laughter under control. “But you guys were so entertaining I couldn’t interrupt. Especially the falcon theories.”
A moment passed with everyone sucking in breaths. Finally, when everyone had gained some semblance of control, Jacks lowered his voice and asked, “So why are we here?”
I stopped right in front of him, close enough to see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes and to smell his cologne mixed with the lingering scent of arena popcorn.
“Because I couldn’t wait until later to see you.
I couldn’t wait until tomorrow or the next day,” I said, my voice going rough with all the emotion I’d been carrying since the final buzzer.
“Not after that game and after seeing you in the stands wearing my jersey and cheering when I scored.” My hands found his shoulders.
“I needed to see you right now. I needed to tell you what it meant to have you here.”
The room went quiet except for Benji’s occasional giggle about closets.
“You have no idea what it was like,” I continued, the words tumbling out now that I’d started.
“Looking up and seeing you there, seeing how happy you were when we won and knowing that you were watching me play for the first time, and that you were—” I shook my head.
“I couldn’t go sit through twenty minutes of press questions about power play systems without telling you first.”
“Telling me what?”
“That having you here made me play better. That every time I glimpsed you in the stands, I felt like I could take on the entire league.” I cupped his face. “That seeing you wear my name was the best feeling I’ve ever had in all my years of playing hockey.”
From somewhere behind us, I heard Mia make a soft, strangled sound.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
“He came out of the closet for love,” Benji added with a sigh. “Literally and figuratively. I’m never getting over this.”
I glanced over at Finn, expecting to see his usual protective skepticism or perpetual amusement at Benji’s antics; but instead, his arms hung loose at his sides and he was smiling—actually smiling—as he watched Jacks and me.
“That’s . . .” Finn shook his head, his voice warm. “That’s something, Skyler.”
“Is that Finn approval?” I asked.