“I’m game to come until D-Low has a ball and chain that won’t let him out of the house.” Even not being super into the scene this year, it’s better than sitting around waiting to see if either of my parents remember they have a son and it’s his birthday. Spoiler alert: They never do.
“Nah, I meant, where do you see yourself in the next ten years? Marriage? Kids?” Shep asks. He’s a quiet, shy dude, but when he gets in conversation with people he’s comfortable with, he has this ability to ask a simple question that ends in us questioning life and purpose.
“I don’t think marriage is in the cards for me,” I say and then immediately wish I hadn’t. It feels like too vulnerable of a thing to admit while being this sober. So, I do what I always do, paste on a smile and add, “At least not until I’mreallyold like thirty-five.”
“And kids?” D-Low asks.
“Kids are cool.” I love spending time with Nick’s son, Aidan, but being responsible for another human sounds terrifying. Unfortunately, I know how much parents can fuck up a kid.
“For sure.” Shep nods. “I want a dozen of them.”
“Really?” D-Low and I ask in unison.
Our buddy’s cheeks take on a slight blush under the dim bar lighting. “Yeah. My best friend growing up had this big family with five siblings and I loved going over and being in the chaos.”
He’s an only child like me, so I get that. Maybe if I had a brother or sister, I wouldn’t have been so lonely before I found hockey. Or, damn, maybe I wouldn’t have found hockey at all. It’s wild to think about how one decision impacts so many others.
If my parents had taken any interest in me at all, maybe I wouldn’t have found hockey. And then I wouldn’t have this career or life, or these friends.
“And you?” I turn the question back to D-Low. “Will you and the wife be having a whole brood of children too?”
He pauses with his glass up to his mouth and his lips curl with mischief. “Nah, maybe just a couple dogs. That way we can travel. In fact, I amend my earlier comment. We don’t need to stop coming after I’m married. I’ll tell the wife I’m going to Vegas with the guys. Friends are important at any age.”
I nod my agreement.
“Actually, that won’t work,” he says.
“No?”
I’m amused by his picturing our future so vividly.
“I mean, we can still come after I find a wife, but she’ll insist on coming with me because she won’t want to keep her hands off me for that long.”
“Well that definitely tracks for you.” I let out another soft laugh. D-Low loves an audience—on the ice and everywhere else.
“You and your wife are going to get arrested for public indecency,” Shep tells him.
“Probably,” he agrees, but he’s still smiling.
After another round of drinks, we decide to hit up a different hotel with a bar downstairs and a rooftop nightclub that’s our final destination.
At the bar, D-Low immediately finds a woman that catches his eye. She’s beautiful. Dark hair and eyes that are highlighted by a gold dress and big, matching earrings. She has that confident, hot girl vibe about her that Danny loves (probably because he’s imagining making out with her in front of everyone later). She has two equally attractive friends—a curvy blond with a friendly smile and a brunette with huge eyes that appears more timid but is every bit as pretty as the other two. It’s basically every trio of guys’ dream scenario.
I can tell by the way Shep is avoiding the petite brunette that she’s the one he’s interested in, so I take the blond. Her name is Lola and within thirty seconds I already know I won’t be asking her to come back with me later.
But I assume it’s whatever weird mood I’m in and try to get to know her anyway. It’s too loud for a big group conversation so we’re paired off. Shep and his girl are mostly glancing around instead of at each other, but it’s hard to be a good wingman in this environment.
Lola is nice and fun. She has a great smile and lights up when she tells me about her work as an equine therapist. When she finds out we’re in town to celebrate my birthday, she insists on buying me a drink. We toast and toss back a couple shots before D-Low and Shep and Lola’s friends join us.
I’m not disappointed in the least when, not long after, the girls announce that they have tickets for a different nightclub and we part ways.
Five seconds later, D-Low has found another group of women and wants to approach.
“Eh…I’m not feeling it.” I hold back a sigh. Old age is hitting me harder than I expected.
“All right, what about that group over there?” He motions with a tip of his head to a larger group that looks to be celebrating a birthday too.
When I don’t enthusiastically agree, he looks downright forlorn. “What the hell is wrong with you? You haven’t seemed interested in talking to any of the very beautiful women here. You didn’t even take the hot server’s number at dinner.”
