She turns fully from the window.“I’ll come with you.”
“No, stay here.I’ll only be a few minutes.”I exit the suite and take the elevator down to the main concourse.There are shops and…bingo…a jewelry store.I don’t know Phoebe’s ring size or style preference, so I’m not buying anything now, but I wanted an idea of what’s out there.I’ve never seen an engagement ring without a stone, but maybe a band would be something she could wear while working without getting dough in the nooks and crannies.My plan was to take things slowly, but I feel like that horse may have bolted, so I want her to wear my engagement ring at least, even if I never get to put a wedding ring on her finger.
18
PHOEBE
I watchOllie leave the suite and look around.There are seals on the beach near the pier where the hockey rink is.They make me smile.I love seals and volunteer at the local marine mammal stranding center to help rehabilitate and release seals and other marine mammals who’ve been helped.My phone rings as I enter the bedroom—Andie.I sit in the armchair near the window and answer.
“Hi, Andie, how are you?”
“Phoebe!You’re really engaged?We made the show!”
“OMG!Really?”
Her Texas drawl is evident when she says, “Really.But let’s talk about you being engaged first.And how’s your wrist?”
All righty.“I’m fine.My wrist is healing fine.The team trainer looked at it and said it was good.Yes, we’re engaged.”
“No, you’re not!If you were engaged, you would have told me!You bake wedding cakes—you planning a wedding would have come up.Especially once he was traded here.Especially when you were going on dates with guys on the team.”
“We got engaged after the Sasquatch game.”
“And you didn’t say anything to me at work?”She sounds hurt.
“We were planning on keeping it to ourselves for a little while before going public.Someone in the ER must have overheard something and run with it.”
“Um…” Andie hums.“You know there’s this thing called dating, right?Where people who are attracted to each other attend events together and get to know each other better to help them decide if the relationship should progress.They don’t skip all of that and get engaged.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of that.Never really worked for me.”It’s the truth.I never really dated someone; it was more having semi-regular sex with someone I knew.Until we were done.There was no transitioning to a deeper relationship.At least, not with me.Maybe with the next girl.I was the fuck buddy, not the girlfriend.Of course I didn’t always know that at the time, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.
“Maybe it could this time,” Andie says.“You don’t have to completely leapfrog over it and go right to being engaged.Is this for real?Are you planning on actually getting married?”
Andie is my best friend.Other than Ollie, of course.I don’t want to lie to her.
“I don’t know.It’s been a couple days, and between my wrist and the storm, we haven’t talked about it.Ollie needs to focus on hockey.He wants to fit in with the Devil Birds, and he wants to do well.If us being engaged for the rest of the season makes it possible, then it’s worth it.”
“But what are you getting out of it?”Andie asks.
Time with a sexy man I have feelings for.The opportunity to pretend for at least a little while that I have the life I want.
“A diversion.All I’ve done since coming back from Paris is work and hang out with my sister or you.I want some cuddles and stuff.”
Ollie walks by.Shit.I didn’t hear him come back into the suite.Did he hear me call him a diversion?I don’t mean it, but I can’t explain everything right now.Especially because I don’t know myself.
“All right,” Andie says.“But be careful, Phoebe.I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry.Now tell me about the show!We really made it?”
Ollie walks into the room to hang up the garment bag holding his suit and my dress for our dinner date tonight.He turns and mouths,You’re on the show?
I nod.“Andie, Ollie just walked in, I’m going to put you on speaker so we can both hear about the show, okay?”
“Colby is here with me, so I’ll go on speaker so he can hear too.Okay, yeah, the show.They called and love that you’re engaged to a professional hockey player.We’re team Hockey Honeys.”
I hear how she emphasizes that one word and close my eyes so I don’t roll them.I can’t hide my cringe though.“Did they pick us because of who we’re romantically involved with or because of our talent?”
“Who cares?”Andie exclaims.“The point is we’re on the show, and once they see what we can do, we’ll win.”
