I’ve just started putting on makeup when my phone rings, a picture of Blair with both boys kissing her on the cheek pops up on my phone screen. I slide my finger over the screen to answer.
“Hey, how’s Coop?”
“Much better. He’s getting toast crumbs all over my bed and watching a show. Puke-free since yesterday at three p.m.”
“Good. Tell him I said hi.”
I hear him in the background, asking me to send pictures from Vancouver.
“Tell him I’m just at a hotel, but I’ll send pictures from the game later.”
She relays the message, then says, “So how’s it going?”
“Am I on speaker?”
“No.”
“Noel flirted with me last night.”
She sucks in a breath. “The coach?”
“Yes.”
She squeals softly. “I’m adding him to my spreadsheet.”
“Fuck your spreadsheet, I have no interest in anyone but him.”
“So I’ll put him on top of the spreadsheet.”
“He belongs on top of me, Blair.” I lean closer to the mirror to make sure I’ve blended my makeup in fully.
“Right. So make it happen.”
I exhale deeply. “He won’t make a move. He called me a workplace hazard.”
“Oh wow. I’m moving into the bathroom to continue this.” She seems to be running, slightly out of breath when she says, “Okay, tell me everything.”
“Okay, so first of all, he knew about Coop’s stomach bug. I was specifically careful not to mention to anyone from the team that it’s a stomach thing, because I thought they might be icked out and worry about getting it. I just said he’s sick. But he saidstomach bug, and I don’t know how he knew that.”
She squeals louder. “Maybe he’s stalking you! I know it’s not actually hot, but romance books make it sound hot. And how bad can a rich, hot stalker daddy be?”
I scoff. “He’s not stalking me, B. He doesn’t have that kind of time.”
“Okay, then we need to figure out how he knows. What else?”
“He told me about his daughter, Audra, Talia’s sister. She’s having marriage issues, and he was in the hotel bar last night because he’s worried about her. That’s where all this happened.”
“Cares about his daughter. Green flag. How old is she?”
“I don’t know ... twenties?”
Blair snort-laughs. “So, your age.”
“Who cares? Have you seen him?”
“Hey, I’d be thrilled if he’d stalk me. I’m just saying—that might be why he doesn’t want to start anything with you.”
I run a dry wand over my lashes to separate them. “There are lots of reasons he doesn’t want to. He mentioned last night that he’s been divorced twice and he tried to tell me he’s not a nice guy sometimes.”
