“This is going to be entertaining,” Bren says. “I can’t wait to tell Liam about who the worst cooks are. He would definitely be with Keith on special ingredient duty. I miss him . . .”
“I know you do.” I grab Bren’s hand and squeeze it firmly. “What if we FaceTime him later while the guys are cooking?”
She gives a weary sigh. “I’m sure he’s busy, but we can try. Let’s get back to the applications.”
“Right,” Libby picks up where she left off. “So this girl I am on the fence about.” She hands me the application.
“Hold on, isn’t this the girl you were all about before we left? We talked about her. No hockey ties but amazing charity event experience?”
“Yeah, Raven,” Libby attests. “I’m not sure though. Something just seems off about her.”
“She looks familiar . . .” Bren tilts her head slightly.
I roll my eyes in response. “We already established that someone looking familiar to you means nothing! What are you on the fence about?”
“Something just feels weird, I’m not sure,” Libby tries to clarify.
“But her experience?” I flip through her application again.
“Is what we need,” Bren declares, “or whatyouwill need. This year is going to be really important to try to do some type of new charity fundraiser.”
“Exactly. She has that expertise.”
“If you’re sure . . .” Libby’s eyes dart back and forth between Bren and me.
My stomach knots at her apprehensiveness over selecting this girl to interview.
“If something is off with her, we’ll find out when she interviews,” I justify, trying to calm my new nerves. “But we need this type of skill on our team, so fingers crossed she interviews well.”
“I think she will be an asset,” Bren affirms.
There is one last spot for our first-round interviews to fill. Delight replaces the worry in my gut knowing we are in the home stretch and one step closer to finalizing the group of newbies that will support the hockey team this year.
“Hey, can we interrupt?” Ryder interjects from the patio. “We need help with figuring out what the teams are.”
Bren rolls her eyes. “These boys, they can’t do anything without us.”
“We can play hockey!” Blaine retorts, while a few others mutter disapproval at Bren’s comment.
“But you won’t look as good to the outside world without us,” Libby scoffs.
“Touché! Now help us!” Blaine jokingly brings his hands together, pleading for help.
As I jot down the names of the eight guys that are going to participate, Libby instructs Blaine to give her his hat.
“Ew,” she scoffs. “It’s sweaty.” Blaine tuts his tongue at her as she puts the eight folded up pieces of paper in the hat. “Ryder, as the newest member of the hockey team you pick first.”
“Tyler,” Ryder reads off the name on the paper. “Wait, what if someone pulls my name? How does that work?” He furrows his brow in confusion.
“Easy,” Bren takes the hat from Ryder and goes through the names, removing one slip.
“See this is why you would be lost without us,” Libby giggles.
Blaine ends up picking Lucas’ name, which leaves Blake Hursh and Silas Harlan as the last team.
“Don’t forget to text Keith the secret ingredient!” Ryder calls to us as the boys scramble off to the store.
“I know we need to choose one last interviewee, but what should the ingredient be?” Libby whispers as if they are still in the house.
