“I’m finishing,” I state.
“I’m sorry, but how is this not weird for you two?” Nalani asks.
“Oh my God,” Sofie snorts. “When did you become the brash one?”
“I can answer that,” Anna laughs. “We have never had those kinds of feelings for one another, and until Hildy, neither of us ever thought we would.” She looks at me. “I am so glad he met you, otherwise my so-called marriage would have been exactly as my parents is. Now, I’m free.”
“Aunt Anna, come say hi to Savannah,” Lucy calls.
She tips back the rest of her glass of wine and sets the empty on the bar, “On my way.”
As soon as she is far enough away, Nalani looks at me. “Are you okay with all of this?”
“With Anna, yes. When she was sick, and her fever spiked, she told me more than I needed to know.”
“And Faulker?” Sofie asks.
I feel my eyes heat up, “He’s wonderful with Lucy. Says all the right things to me, and it isn’t just words. I wish I didn’t doubt his intentions, yet ...”
Noelle laughs, “Fuck hot boys coming at you that hard feels like a romance novel. You wanna run.” She shakes her head. “But then you remember they’re professional athletes, and the last time you actually had time or the desire to go to the gym, you were in high school. My advice? Get caught, and enjoy the hell out of it. Life is too short.”
“Aleks has known him longer than anyone else aside from Anna, and he says he’s never seen him like this. The odds are good that neither of his two oldest friends is wrong. That man is in love.” Sofie states.
I glance at Claudia.
“Anytime you want to talk through things, I’m here to listen. But I also need to step out of the professional box and tell you,as a friend, I think my situation could be causing some of those questions, and I do not think for one minute he would ever do that to you.” Claudia assures me.
“And as a one-day lawyer, no judge would let a man take his children out of this country without serious cause.” She takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “You have a friend who works in the system. The rest of us, we’re girls. You automatically get our loyalty.”
The lights dim, and Lucy gasps.
“Here we go,” Paul chuckles, and I look over and see Savannah on one knee and Lucy on the other. “You two little ladies ready to watch the Bears kick —”
“Watch it, old man,” Sofie laughs.
Claudia nods to the glass overlooking the arena, “You got him, too. Now let’s go watch our men kick Chicago’s A-S-S.”
Lucy’s little hand is on the glass, face practically pressed to it as well, when I crouch down next to her. “They look shiny.”
Then the lights cut completely.
“Uh oh, did they forget to pay the bill?” she asks.
As sad as that is, I can’t help but laugh as the announcer says, “And now… your Brooklyn Bears!”
Red lights light up the entire place, and she gasps again when they storm the ice.
And there he is, number nine. “I point to him, you see him?”
Lucy screams. Savannah startles, then giggles. Anna laughs, and so does the rest of the box.
And when Lenzin looks up toward the box, just once, he finds us.
Lucy waving, “I’m here. I’m here.”
He waves back and then skates off.
“Alright, Lucy Lu,” Paul says. “You listen to me, and by the end of the third period, you’ll know everything about this game.”
