Chapter 5 #3
“That’s not good,” Nora says. “We need him.”
Fuck, I like having Nora on my side. Even if it’s just because of hockey, I like the idea that she’s choosing having me here over…not. Or leaving me in a dark, critter-infested cabin. I shudder.
“The people in town are mad at him, but there’s a lot of potential for him to pull in hockey fans from a much bigger radius,” Nora says.
Astrid waves her hand. “I know. And I knew about the town’s feelings toward you before today. If I was going to fire you, I would have done it before you got on a plane.”
I’m relieved to hear that she’s already thought about and discarded the idea of me leaving.
“So, should we let everyone know he’s only here temporarily?” she asks Nora. “Would that help?”
But Nora shakes her head quickly. “No. Finding out that he’s not fully committed won’t be good.”
“I am fully committed. While I’m here,” I say firmly.
She looks at me. “Good. I believe you. But this town is very…loyal. We have deep roots. We commit long term, here. They’ll see that as another mark against you, trust me.”
I sigh. It’s a full season. That’s not short-term. Not in my mind. But in a town that elects mayors for twenty-two years straight, I guess they don’t think quite the same way.
“This is exactly why we need Nora’s help,” Astrid says with a huge smile at Nora. “She knows this town and everyone in Rebel loves Nora.” She glances at me. “Once people get over not liking him, they’ll realize he’s a great guy. We just need to give them a reason to give him a second chance.”
Nora nods. “Exactly. A way to get them over their preconceived notion.”
“Right,” Astrid agrees.
“So…how do we do that?” Nora asks.
“I was hoping you’d have an idea,” Astrid says. “Since you know them all so well.”
Nora and Astrid both turn to look at me. To study me. As if trying to figure out a complicated equation.
“Maybe we can play up the idea of coming to games to cheer against him,” Nora suggests. “They’ll at least buy tickets then?”
Astrid laughs. “Okay, that’s one idea.”
“No,” I say firmly. “I don’t want to play in front of a crowd that’s rooting for me to lose.”
“You play in front of crowds like that all the time,” Nora points out. “The opposing teams always want you to lose.”
“They want my team to lose. They want their team to win. But it’s not personal. Not really. And at least some of the crowd is on my side any given night.” I shift on my seat uncomfortably. “I can’t have the whole town where I live hating me. I can’t do that for seven months.”
What can I say? I’m used to being adored. That’s not a bad thing. Why would someone not want that? I like being admired and being someone people want to be around.
“Okay,” Nora says. “I wasn’t serious about that. I don’t want people coming out for the wrong reasons either. I want this to be fun, positive, and uplifting. I don’t want it to be about retribution.”
“So what can we do?” Astrid asks. “Public apology? You two having breakfast together? Alex going to gardening club? We need ticket sales now. Yesterday, actually. I want over half of those seats sold in the pre-season.
That’s not enough. It needs to be something that will work faster.
I sit forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “We need something bigger. Something that will make people quickly and easily believe I’m a great guy and that they should like me right now.”
“Agreed,” Nora says.
“Should I donate money to something?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “They’ll see through that.”
“Breakfast with Harley?” I ask.
“That would help,” she says. “But again, it’s not big enough. Harley will forgive you. He’s a total sweetheart. He’s not the problem.”
“Breakfast with the three musketeers?” I ask. “Leo, Wilson, and Brewser?”
Nora’s eyes go wide. “No. We can’t risk that. Not yet.”
Good. I was nervous about that one. “You could come along,” I suggest. “Have your hip waders ready to go.”
She laughs.
“I don’t know, going on an airboat ride with you sounds fun,” I say, stupidly.
She grins. “We can arrange that without the kidnapping in the middle.”
I chuckle.
“I’ve got it,” Astrid says.
We both look at her.
My sister looks triumphant. “I have the perfect solution.”
“Awesome,” I say. “What?”
“You’re going to date.”
There’s a beat of silence. Nora and I look at each other. My heart kicks hard against my ribs. Then I look back at my sister. “What?”
Astrid nods. “You’re going to be Nora’s boyfriend.”
Nora’s mouth drops open. But she doesn’t make a sound.
That…makes sense.
I like it. A lot.
I look at Nora again. She looks shocked. But her cheeks are pink.
“That’s crazy,” she says.
“No, it’s perfect,” Astrid says. “If you like him enough to date him, they’ll all realize that not only do you forgive him, but he must be a great guy.”
Nora starts shaking her head. “That’s…”
“The perfect way to make this hockey team work,” I interject. “It’s the fastest, easiest way to get the town to give me a chance. You know it’s true. You’re everybody’s favorite girl next door. If you love me, everyone will love me,” I say, repeating my sister’s words.
Nora shakes her head more emphatically. “You can’t say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“The…lo—love part,” she says, stumbling over the L word.
She takes a deep breath. “If you want to pretend that we’re dating…
” She takes a breath, then blows it out.
Then nods. “Okay, fine. That does make some sense. You’re probably right—” She grimaces slightly when she says that.
“If I like you, they’ll all give you a second chance. ”
“And if I’m romancing you, being sweet to you, treating you like a princess, they’ll love me,” I say, this idea suddenly seeming like the most brilliant thing I’ve ever heard.
“What does that entail exactly?” she asks, looking like dating me might involve eating cockroaches or something.
“Dating me? It means hanging out with me a lot, and…”
Well…shit. What the hell does dating me entail?
Dammit. That’s a good question. In the past, it meant going to dinner, or clubs, maybe a concert, and sex. And yeah…that’s about it.
While I’ll happily take Nora anywhere she wants to go and will happily spend hours between the sheets with her—and my certainty there is strong considering I’ve only known her for a couple of hours—I also want to hold her hand while we walk down Main Street.
Or something. I frown. Why do I want to do that?
I’ve never walked down a Main Street, or any other street, holding anyone’s hand.
I’m clearly filling in shit I’ve seen on TV.
What do people in real small towns do on dates?
Otter club. I almost laugh. I don’t think otter club is designed as a date night activity, but…yeah, I’m going to find out what the hell otter club is. For sure.
“And?” she asks, now looking amused by how long it’s taking me to answer the question.
“And whatever you want,” I say. That’s got to be a good answer.
Her expression turns sly. “Whatever I want?”
That might sound playful or sexy from another woman. From Nora Delaune, in Rebel, Louisiana, it sounds a little ominous.
Still, I nod. “Sure. But,” I add. “It also involves holding hands.” I guess I just really want to hold this woman’s hand. “And kissing.” I definitely want to do more of that. “And…” Don’t say sex, I tell myself. “Sitting really close to me whenever we’re together.”
She laughs. Laughs. “Okay.”
Okay. That’s all she says. Just okay. Well, that was easy. Maybe I should have said sex.
She takes a breath. “But…”
I brace myself.
“When you leave, they’ll be upset. You need to know that. They’ll hate you again.”
I don’t like that. But I suppose it makes some sense. This woman is everyone’s favorite. If they’re pissed at me for ducking out of a meet-and-greet with Harley, they’ll definitely be mad if I “break up” with Nora.
I nod. “I get it.” I don’t like it, but there’s not really another option. I need them to like me now. Once I’m back in Portland, when I’m not walking into that coffee shop every damned morning, it won’t matter as much.
“They’ll be upset for me, and for themselves, once they really start liking you.
So, all along, we say this is a casual dating relationship.
We don’t let them get too invested. And we do not call it love.
” She shakes her head. “Especially with Ruth and Harley. They were huge fans before…everything. And they’ll be thrilled to have a reason to cheer for you again.
We can’t let them think this is serious and that you’re going to be sticking around and really becoming… ”
“A part of the family?” I supply.
She nods. “Yeah. I don’t want them to get their hopes up about this being something real.”
Something in me wants to reject the fact that this wouldn’t be real. But she’s right. It’s temporary, if nothing else.
“So in April, we’ll say I have to go back to Portland and—”
“That will be enough,” she interjects.
She’s not meeting my gaze now.
“Are you okay?” I take a step toward her.
She nods. “It’s just…they know I’m not leaving Rebel. When you get a chance to work for the Grays, everyone will know it means we have to break up.” She shrugs, looking at my chin instead of directly at me. “It’s happened before.”
This is the first time I’ve seen Nora look anything less than bright and shiny. I don’t like it.
“We could tell them—” I start.
“You’ll leave, we’ll break up,” she interrupts. “That’s just how it will be. We don’t have to tell them anything.”
Well, that seems simple enough. I get to hang out with and kiss Nora Delaune a bunch for the next seven months, then leave to work for the Grays, with everyone here disappointed but understanding.
“Great. So this is casual,” I say.
She nods. “Yep. When people ask us, we say we’re just having fun.”
“People won’t mind me just messing around with their favorite girl?”
Now she looks at me. Her pupils dilate, and I hope it’s because she’s thinking of all the ways she wants me to mess around with her. I certainly am.
“If I’m happy, they’ll be happy,” she says simply.
“Then I guess I’ll have to try hard to make you happy.”
Something flickers in her eyes, but she reiterates, “In public. When other people are watching. But we know it’s fake. And I really think that as you get involved with the team and show the town how much fun all of this is going to be, they will like you for that. For hockey.”
That jabs me in the chest. I have spent my life being liked because of hockey. I’m used to that. It’s my comfort zone. I should want that. It’s far easier than dating everyone’s favorite person. There are a million ways I could screw this up. I don’t screw up hockey.
Still, I say, “Oh, Nora, I’m going to date the hell out of you.”