As we walk inside, everyone else is already pulling together tables like they own the place. At this point, they basically do. This place has become a Riders staple ever since Hayes joined the team. He met Olivia singing here one night, and the owners, Walt and Johnny, have become like family to us all. Even to me, who really doesn’t have a connection to the team like everyone else. Until now.While I know I’ll always be a part of the Walt’s family, this connection with Jordan, being a WAG, is only temporary. Just through the playoffs. Why am I feeling so much excitement for them moving onto another round when their season being done means I could end this whole thing? Ishake the thought from my mind, remembering these really are my friends and I truly do want them to succeed.
Yep. That has to be it.
“Bougie! Kenni!” Johnny shouts as soon as we walk in. “Good to see you two! Kenni, you want the usual?”
“You know it, Johnny!”
“And what are you drinking tonight, Bougie?”
“I’ll just have a water.”
Johnny’s eyes dart between us for a couple of seconds, something unspoken about his order, but he nods and goes back to making drinks. “You got it. One water and one gin and tonic for the happy couple.”
“Go grab a seat,” Jordan says, leaning toward me. The unexpected feel of his breath along my neck sends goosebumps flying across my skin. “I’ll grab our drinks.”
I pull away and immediately head over to my friends and plop down in the old wooden bar chair, focusing my attention on one person in particular.
“Thankssomuch, Maggie, for suggesting that wonderfully awkward car ride.”
She snorts. “Kenni, you’reliterallydating him. Like it or not, you can’t just avoid him in public. You also can’t sit here and talk to us all night either—you have to hang out with him,” she whispers as she rests her head against my shoulder. “There are other people here, so you have to actually do girlfriend stuff tonight.”
“I wouldn’t have to if my dear sweetfriendshadn’t forced me to come out,” I shoot back with enough sickening sweet sarcasm to drown the entire bar.
“Kennedy.” Kara jumps into the conversation, reaching across and grabbing my wrist. “It’s one night. You haven’t been seen together since you movie kissed him in the rain; people need to see celebrity couples out in public.”
“What about you? You and Zack hardly ever go out!”
“First of all, we have been married for over ten years, so there’s no need to convince everyone we’re together. Second, we have four children at home, and that’s not really conducive to going out on the regular. Third, you’re ‘dating’,” —she holds up air quotes as she speaks— “a young, hot hockey player. You shoulddo fun stuff together. A night like tonight? A good WAG would support her man after a big series-clinching game,” she says, taking a sip of her martini with a matter-of-fact look on her face.
“Kennedy,” Olivia turns in her chair to face me, “what’s so bad about Jordan anyway? Would it be the worst thing in the world if you were dating him for real? He is so damn sweet. Did you ever think maybe he’s awkward because he’s smitten with you?”
I scoff. “Olivia, I know you live in la la land with your perfect relationship. I mean, that man worships the literal ground your highness walks upon, but there’s no way in hell Jordan Boucher is smittenwith me. He’s a twenty-three-year-old who could literally walk into a modeling agency and pick a wife out of a line-up if he wanted to. He has no interest in some thirty-four-year-old who wears a short-sleeved dress shirt with epaulets.”
“What the fuck is an epaulet?” Maggie asks, looking at me like I just told her I was from another planet.
I shake my head and roll my eyes. “The striped patches on my shoulders? I’ve told you this before.”
She takes a sip of her drink, blowing bubbles with her straw. “I can’t keep up with your pilot fashion. All I know is you wear a scarf because you said you don’t like the tie. Which, I happen to agree with, but that’s not the point. Olivia is right! Have youseenthe way he looks at you? Didn’t you catch him looking for you in the stands? What if Jordan just thinks you’re hot and getsall tongue-tied because of it? Or maybe he’s just a sucker for a woman in uniform? I mean…Even I would consider that.”
I let out a loud sigh as the rest of my friends cackle. They are well-meaning, but they also suck right now.Goddamit.I do think he’s hot and want to, maybe, do some fun stuff with him. No way they are right about him feeling the same way. I need Ginny here to give me some wisdom.Where the hell is my drink?
32
jordan
“You gonna tell me what’s up with the water tonight?” Johnny asks while I wait for our drinks. I cringe, already knowing this is going to turn into an interrogation. “Youalwaysorder a scotch and Splenda after a win.”
My stomach twists.Nailed it. “Goddammit, Johnny; you don’t miss anything.”
He smirks, knowing he is well-versed on all things Riders, both on and off the ice. “Well, you haven’t stopped by lately. I know ya’ll are busy with the playoffs, but don’t think I don’t keep up with all my Jordan Boucher love life news on social media. And if you think I’m gonna chalk that up to a random coincidence, you got another thing coming. Now…you gonna fill me in on what’s going on with you two or should I go grill Maggie?”
“We’re dating now, okay?” I let out a defeated sigh. There’s no use avoiding him. He always knowseverything.“We’re dating, and I’m…beyondhappy to have the woman of my dreams by my side.”
He glances up as he long pours the gin, and my stomach twists once more. “You know I don’t put up with bullshit at my bar. I saw you two swapping spit on every news site a few weeksback, looking the happiest you’ve ever been, and now you’re acting like you have to wait for your drinks, like I wouldn’t just bring them over to ya, and sulking like you didn’t just make it to the second round of the playoffs.” He jerks his chin across the bar. “And she’s sitting over there not looking any better.”
I run my hand through my hair fighting to not pull out every strand. “Johnny…Fuck! You know I like her, okay? And now I’m scared shitless to say the wrong thing and get caught up in someone who isn’t into me…I’ve been fooled before, and I really don’t want to go down that road again.” I drag my hand down my face, leaning heavily against the bar. “Every time I find the tiniest bit of confidence, thoughts of my former life pop back up, and…goddammit! I don’t know what to do. I was so confident with her earlier tonight, and now? Now I am terrified to go over and talk to her in front of our friends.”
“Let me tell you something, Jordan, if some part of her didn’t like you to some extent, she wouldn’t be doing this in the first place. Kennedy Kramer is not going to fool you. I know you’re a great performer, but that kiss? That was all her. I saw the shock in your eyes.” The corner of his mouth lifts, his eyes finding Walt in the dark. “There’s something there.”
