Chapter 25
Lola
January…
I really do not want to be at this arena tonight.
But I’ve run out of excuses to give Landon and Grady about why Randie and I shouldn’t come to their games.
I used “she has the sniffles,” “she’s teething and in a horrible mood,” “it’s cold and flu season,” and “I have a sore throat.” I’ve used it all.
So here I am, walking down the corridor to the friends and family room, hoping I do not run into Theo Richard.
They got back from their road trip in December, and I fully expected to see him.
He acted like we were definitely going to hook up again the last time I saw him in San Francisco, and maybe that he even wanted to talk about our arrangement and change it.
Theo made it seem like he wanted to move this out of the situationship zone and into the relationship zone. Instead, he ghosted me.
I turn with the corridor, and Randie kicks her legs happily from her position strapped to my chest. Everyone who sees her smiles.
I’ve got her decked out in her custom Riptide jersey and a cute pair of toddler jeans with shiny red shoes and red bows in her hair, which is still downy, but there’s enough of it to do two Cindy Lou Who style pigtails on top of her head.
I put more effort into my appearance, too, in case I can’t avoid Theo.
My hair skims my shoulders now, and I styled it in loose waves and put on lipstick and mascara and all that crap.
For clothes, I have on jeans and a clingy cashmere sweater.
But it doesn’t matter because I’ll be wearing a baby all night anyway.
I pause outside the friends and family lounge to text Landon and Grady that I’m here because they sometimes like to come out and say hi to her. As I enter the room, someone turns and greets me with a huge smile. “Hey! Lola! Long time no see!”
It’s Melissa who is married to one of the defensemen. She’s standing at the bar with Declan Hawkins and a girl I don’t recognize in a Riptide jersey. I walk over, and Melissa instantly dips down to make cooing noises and goofy faces at Randie. “Hey, all. Go ‘Tide!”
Declan shoots me a sympathetic smile. “I get it. I don’t like coming either.”
Declan is the partner of the team captain, Abbott Barlow.
I have to say, I think it’s a gift from the universe that Landon and Grady got traded to a team with a queer captain—the first guy to come out in the league.
I think it made it easier for Landon to accept himself and for Grady to feel safe.
Declan waves at Randie, who lifts her hand and gives a very excited wave back.
“My God, she’s gonna make me want a kid. ”
“I thought you already wanted kids?”
“Yeah, but I’m trying to be patient. I want Abbott at home to help raise them, and I think he needs another Cup before he retires.” Declan leans in and whispers, “Not sure this is the season that will happen.”
The Riptide have had a rough patch since the road trip, and now, a few days from February, they’re clinging by a thread to the wildcard position. I give Declan a confident smile. “Good luck charm is here.” I point at Randie. “They’re winning tonight.”
Declan smiles. “I hope so. Abbott has been too grumpy for too long.”
“Lola, come and meet Candice? She’s a friend of mine from college.” Melissa points to the girl in the Riptide jersey standing beside her.
Candice smiles at me, and I smile back. Melissa says, “She’s a huge hockey fan. Used to go with me to all of Tanner’s games in college.”
“But didn’t land myself a player,” Candice says sadly.
“I am so not sticking around for this,” Declan whispers to me and slinks away to talk to other wives.
“Well, there’s a bunch of single players on the team, so maybe you’ll get lucky,” I say and think, please don’t want Callan. I hate it when women use me to get to my brother. It used to happen in college a lot.
“I’m hoping this manifests me what I want.” She turns, and I see there’s a name on her jersey. Richard. “I love a bad boy.”
“That one on your back is reformed,” I say for some stupid reason. What I can’t say is he’s taken, because he isn’t. At least not by me. I haven’t heard from him in over four weeks, so who knows now. The thought makes my chest ache, but I ignore it.
“There’s baby girl!” Grady’s voice booms in the room, and Randie goes stiff with excitement against me.
He’s standing in the doorway, taking up the whole thing with his ginormous frame, wearing his dark gray Under Armor.
Randie makes a weird noise and reaches for him.
He crosses the distance in two long strides and plucks her from the holder.
She curls into him as he holds her to his chest. “You gonna help your daddies win tonight, Randie?”
Candice makes a weird noise, and I look over and see her making googly eyes at the sight with her manicured hand to her chest. “This is like making me ovulate. So cute.”
“Yeah. It’s adorable,” I say and fight the shudder at her ovulation comment.
Landon shows up a second later, and Randie claps as he kisses her cheek.
God, I love my brother like this, all domesticated and happy.
I’m smiling as I watch and order a ginger ale from the bartender.
Declan walks back up. “Sometimes I feel like I’m looking at my future, which is weird because Abbott and I have been together longer. ”
“But neither of you had the foresight to knock up an ex,” I retort, and he makes a face.
“My ex is married to my brother so probably for the best there.”
“Wow. I had no idea. Sorry?”
“No, sorry. I’m super happy for them, and we’re all on great terms.” Declan flashes me a reassuring smile.
“Abbott and I are right where we need to be. We might have started messy and complicated, but eventually we found each other. That’s all the matters.
Giving each other enough chances to get it right. ”
He makes it sound so easy.
Landon walks back over with Randie just as someone pops their head in. A gorgeous, dark, brooding head. “Casco and Garrison, Coach is looking for you both.”
His eyes find mine immediately, and I do the mature thing and look away. Yeah. So mature. I take a step and reach for Randie. She fusses, seemingly knowing her daddies are leaving. “It’s okay, baby girl. They’ll be back after they win a widdle hockey game.”
Okay, he just spoke to Randie in a sweet, soft voice and used the term baby girl.
I can’t look at him now. He’s leaning on the door frame, and Landon and Grady take turns kissing Randie’s head between her red bows.
Theo isn’t looking at Randie though, he’s looking at me, like I’m his long-lost pet or something.
I grit my teeth and glare back while my heart melts. But I won’t let him win. He ghosted me.
Landon and Grady slip out the door, and Theo says, “Bye, baby girl.”
And I don’t think that was addressed to Randie. What the absolute fuck? But he’s gone before I can call him on it. I hear a whimper behind me and realize it’s Melissa’s friend, Candice. “I can’t believe he was just here, and I froze!”
“I would have helped you, but it was too funny.” Melissa laughs and then puts a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you meet him. I’ll get Tanner to have him come out with us after the game.”
Something starts to ache in my chest. I ignore it because I don’t have any right to worry about him hooking up with someone else. “He doesn’t really party.”
I don’t know why I say it. I don’t have a right to say anything or feel anything.
I need to grow up and move on. I feel like I’m borderline as inappropriate as Pete, who thankfully has finally taken no for an answer.
Or at least it seems that way. I haven’t heard from him since the phone call while I was in San Francisco.
“He’s sober,” Candice acknowledges with a soft smile. “I’ve done my research. And I’m very happy about that. I stopped drinking in college.”
“Oh. Perfect then,” I say and excuse myself, saying I want to get a spot in front of the glass for Randie to watch the warm-up. Not untrue, but I really just need to get away from Theo’s potential next hook-up.
After warm-up, I make my way to the seats, which is in a section where all the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) and other family members of players and staff sit.
Harlow, Theo’s sister, is a few rows up.
She’s next to a couple who I know have to be Theo’s parents.
He is a perfect mix of them both. His mom has dark eyes and darker hair, but his dad has rugged features and almost-olive skin.
I can see him in both of them. Harlow looks more like her mom, with more delicate features, like the petite upturned nose.
But she has her dad’s caramel-colored eyes and a bit of a lighter glint in her hair, too, which is her dad.
She notices me and waves. That gets her mom's attention, who points at Randie and smiles. Then stands. Shit. She waves me over. I walk up the remaining two rows to their seats. “Hi. I’m Rose Richard. You must be Lola Casco. I’m Grady’s aunt.
Sort of. I mean, my sisters are his aunts, and I’m honorary.
Sorry. Anyway, could I say hi to Randie? ”
“Of course.” I smile, and she steps across Harlow, bending at the waist and cooing at Randie, who seems to recognize her and gurgles welcomingly.
“I babysat her a few times this summer,” Rose tells me. “She’s a delight.”
“She is,” I agree.
Harlow laughs. “Mom is the baby freak in the family.”
“She’d have had forty if we could have,” Luc Richard adds.
“I’m happy with our two,” Rose says. “The other thirty-eight can be grandchildren.”
“Kill me now,” Harlow sighs, and I bite back a smile.
“Luckily, Landon has given my mom a taste of grandma-hood, and she’s still satisfied with that,” I tell Harlow. “And she better be for a long time.”
“No kids for you?” Rose asks. “It’s not for everyone.”
“I… no. Not for me,” I say simply, and it hits me that she wants grandkids. From Theo. Which isn’t something he could give her if he were serious with me.
Harlow catches my eye for a second but looks away. “I don’t want a baby. I want a Gold medal.”
“My brilliant daughter is gonna go to the Olympics!” Luc Richard announces, his voice much louder than it needs to be. Harlow shushes him, but he just smiles. “Didn’t even tell us she was skating again. But next year we’ll be in Italy watching her, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
“I still have to qualify,” Harlow says. “It’s not guaranteed.”
“Yeah, it is,” I say, even though I have no clue. “Theo says you’re incredible and he doesn’t lie.”
“You’re friends with Theo?” Rose asks as Randie wraps her chubby fingers around one of Rose’s.
“No. I mean… yeah… I think so.” Wow. I just gave the most awkward response ever to the most casual of questions. “He’s my twin brother’s d-partner. Callan loves him. And so I’ve met him. And we’ve talked. We were in a snowstorm together.”
Yeah, that makes it much better. Not.
Rose and Luc are looking at me cautiously, like I just spoke Morse code. Harlow is fighting a grin, which leads me to believe she knows some of the details that make up my Theo situation. I make sure not to make eye contact with her.
“I’m glad Callan is happy with Theo as his partner. They’ve played great together.”
I nod at Luc, grateful he’s trying to steer the conversation away from the awkward mess I’ve made of it.
“I should take my seat. Nice meeting you and seeing you again, Harlow.”
She winks at me as her parents nod and wave goodbye.
I make my way down the stairs to my seat as I hear Rose say, “You met her already? When? Where? With Theo? She was with Theo, wasn’t she?”
Rose Richard is some kind of witch. She’s picking up on the vibe I’m purposely trying not to throw down.
I pray Harlow doesn’t say too much as I settle into my seat.
A few minutes before the players come out to start the game, Melissa and Candice appear.
The rows are pretty full now, and they’re trying to slip into the seats just left of mine, in the row behind.
Melissa is holding a giant tub of popcorn she got from the free concession table in the Friends and Family lounge, and Candice is holding two beverage cups.
The arena no longer gives out lids, citing it as an environmental move.
But it’s a dangerous one because as Candice is trying to sneak by everyone already in their seats, she stumbles and one of the cups slips from her grasp.
I see it in slow motion, and thankfully, my brain is working in fast-forward, so I react.
I lift Randie off my lap, pushing her toward Declan, who is sitting right there, so she doesn’t get splashed with a single drop of liquid.
But the entire cup and all its contents, which is some kind of cola, rains down my back from my neck to my butt.
I let out a strangled cry of shock because it’s cold and sticky and gross. “Oh, my God! Lola! I am so sorry!”
I jump up. Declan is clutching Randie like the precious cargo she is, and I’m careful not to drip on them. Candice has tears swimming in her eyes, and her cheeks are flushed. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I’m fine.”
Melissa looks shocked and contrite. “No. You’re not. You can’t watch the whole game like that.”
“No. I’ll have to leave,” I say, and I don’t even know how I’m going to drive home and not ruin my car’s leather seat. Maybe I can find trash bags somewhere.
“No. I’ll fix this,” Candice vows. “Come with me.”
She slips out of her row as the lights dim and spotlights swirl on the ice below. The team will be out soon. I glance at Declan, and he gives me a confident smile. “Go. I’ve got her.”
“She loves the light show, so she should be good,” I promise. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I’ll get someone from the arena to clean this up,” Melissa says as Candice yanks me down the aisle to the doors that lead to the concourse.
And that’s the story of how I end up in a Theo Richard jersey for the rest of the game.
We managed to dry the back of my pants with the hand dryer in the bathroom, since they barely got wet, but my cashmere sweater is drenched and unsavable.
So Candice gives me the shirt right off her back.
She’s got a black long-sleeve T-shirt underneath, so she’s good.
I asked for the T-shirt instead, but she insists I take the jersey because it’s warmer.
And so when the game ends, and I’m waiting for Grady and Landon, of course, Theo sees me. Of course.