She turned to him. “Next time, it’s my turn to take you to a hockey game.”
Thenext weekend, they sat bundled in coats just behind the protective glass at Madison Square Garden’s ice rink. Phoenix swigged beer from a plastic cup.
“This place is packed,” Rina noted, swiveling her head to take in the crowd of thousands in the arena.
“Did you know the Knicks play basketball here?”
“On ice?”
“That’d be a sight, but no. Stadiums have some high-tech floor that they disassemble between sports. Sometimes they get a double header and have to change right from one to the other.”
“That’s inventive.”
After a particularly vicious goal and a loud shout of approval from Rina, Phoenix turned to her. “This is fun.”
“Yup, Canadian actuaries are a laugh a minute.”
He downed the rest of the beer and put his hand up for another one, then turned to her. “You know, it’s only fair to let you know that it’s not just my arm that was injured—I’m a double-amputee.” Despite the alcohol-induced buzz, Phoenix was gripped by a sudden reluctance to see her reaction.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“You mean you already knew?”
“Yeah. Your mom filled me in pretty good. Why?”
“Well, doesn’t it matter to you?”
“Nope.” She stood to shout at the referee then sat and turned to Phoenix. “Did you see how unfair that call was?”
“Yeah, totally unfair.”
“You’re not even watching the game.”
“And you don’t even care about my leg.”
“Um, you know, actuaries don’t make great therapists. Are you having a PTSD moment or something?”
He nearly choked laughing, floored by her lack of compunction over the thing he thought would be deal-breaking for any woman.
“This game is totally wasted on you,” Rina said.
They shared an uber home that night. He told her about his new account. “So, the VP says that he’s choosing between us and one of the Big Four ad agencies. And I tell him that going boutique gives you individualized service, fresh thinking and breakthrough creativity.”
Rina nodded.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her.
“I cannot believe we lost. That was brutal.”
“Yea, brutal,” he echoed. “So, we find out next week if we won the pitch.”
“Who wouldn’t hire you?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
She stared out the window. “Did you want to talk about your leg or something?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m fine.”
