She was welcomed and treated like she was some long-lost friend who’d finally made an appearance at a holiday event. She was hugged by all sorts of wives, shook hands with other players, the owner, the coach, and the rest of the staff. Toby never mentioned how close everyone was – nor did she expect anything like this.
And as a fan of hockey, a fan of the Wolverines – filling in as the mascot was more than she could have ever imagined, but last night took the proverbial cake.
Marcus Shaw was attentive, so polite, and even walked her to her car at the end of the evening, saying ‘I’ll see you at home’ for anyone who might be in the parking lot listening – and then slipped her his phone number on a napkin.
So of course, she texted him.
Remember – not stupid…
Hey, guess we should touch base on things tomorrow when we can talk away fromeveryone – eh? Couldn’t really talk much at the party, could we?
The text message was read when she went to bed, but he hadn’t commented yet. This morning however, was another story. She rolled over, turned off the alarm on her phone, and saw the three unread text messages – each sent ten minutes apart, like he was thinking about things or trying to figure out what to say.
Sorry – just got home.
Yup – let’s say our ‘I dos’ tomorrow.
Call me when you get this.
I’m wondering if they are going to look in my file for my marriage certificate now. I really appreciate you bailing me out last night, and I promise - I’ll make this up to you.
“Make this up to me?” she chuckled, staring at her cell phone. “Dude, this isliterallylike my dream come true. For three hours last night at the party, I was your pretend wife… that was ‘mission accomplished’ in my head.”
Flicking up the photo of him that was her wallpaper on her cell phone, she couldn’t help but smile as she clicked dial and heard it ring. Maybe she was hallucinating, dreaming, or she’d lost her mind, because there was no way this was a legit phone number for her hockey crush, Marcus Shaw.
Things like this happened tootherpeople.
She didn’t buy lotto tickets because she couldn’t win a free T-shirt, much less anything of monetary value. She never won an extra spin, a free coffee, a second chance, whatever.
“Hello?” a man’s voice answered – and she jumped.
“Oh crap! You’re real?” she blurted out and then winced.Best phone etiquette ever, Harper. Way to be charming and flirty with your favorite hockey player.“Um, hi. Sorry about that. There was a… a spider.”
“Man, I hate spiders,” he chuckled easily in a husky morning voice that she would never forget. That was not the SportsCenter voice, it sure wasn’t a radio interviewer voice, or media commentary voice… oh no, that was a ‘I-just-woke-up-rolled-over-and-saw-you-there’ sort of sexy voice that could not be described.
So, of course, her brain which was only working haphazardly, decided to do a full shut-down and restart, which set her tongue loose in the worst way possible.
“Forget the spiders, say ‘Baby, get over here’…” she choked out.
“Huh?”
“Or ‘I dreamed about you last night’…” she continued, blabbing like a boulder rolling downhill on a Bugs Bunny cartoon, gathering debris and wiping the landscape clear of anything in its path. “Better yet, take that husky hoarse voice and say something kinky like ‘back that dump truck up and let’s cuddle’… or ‘What are you wearing?’ – yeah, in fact, do that one.”
“Oh my gosh,” he chuckled hoarsely as something in her brain suddenly fired and screamed in silent horror. She pulled the phone away as if she couldn’t believe that she’d actually said that aloud - only to hear the faintest version of her request.
He said it.
She missed it.
“Ohhhnoooo!” she wailed desperately in full-blown dismay. “Say it again! Say it again! I missed it!”
“I’m not sure I have it in me – I mean, I don’t say things like that… and having you call me this morning was to discuss thematter at hand, not to talk dirty to you. Although I’m gonna file those little nuggets away in case I need to use them someday.”
“On me?” she perked up instantly, sitting up in bed.
“On whatever female I’m dating or married to in the distant future,” he amended. “Got any other comments I should know that turn on women?”
“No,” she whispered in mortification and understanding. “Fresh out of ideas now…”especially if it’s not for me. Sheesh!
