“Why was it a hard day?” Austin asked, leading the way down the corridor.
“Oh…” She hesitated, quickly checking her phone, but Penny hadn’t answered yet. She could tell Austin about Gareth, his words, and her contract, but that would lead to a whole host of questions, none of which she wanted to answer, so she simply said, “Too many appointments, too little time.”
“Well, that’s nothing new,” he muttered, stepping through the door. Moreau stood at the stove, roughly stirring some sauce, but greeted Hazel with a jerky nod — affectionate as he was.
“Hey, sunshine,” she said with a smile. “Where’s Melody?”
“Anna’s out getting ice cream with her. She said they’d better do it alone because I spoil the mood with my anti-sugar attitude.”
Hazel grinned. “You’ve got a smart girlfriend there.”
“Yeah, yeah. Can we get started now? I’m hungry.” With this last, he raised his hand in frustration, nearly knocking over the spices and the single figurine that were resting on the edge of the exhaust hood.
“Fuck, Moreau, watch it!” Fox shouted, crossing the kitchen and hastily steadying the wobbling sculpture. “It’s glass.”
“Sorry,” the goalie mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the miniature work of art. It was a dolphin, composed of delicate strands of light blue glass. “Where did you get that thing anyway? I’ve seen it in every apartment and house you own, but I have no idea.”
Austin waved a hand. “From someone.”
“Okay,” Hazel said. “And why do you still have it?”
“It’s pretty. And a reminder that wrong things can feel good, but we shouldn’t do them anyway.”
Moreau raised an eyebrow. “Who told you that?”
“I did,” he replied angrily. “Now sit down. I thought you were starving.”
Smiling, Hazel sank into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. Austin had a dining room – this house was far too big for one man alone – but used it less often than the poolroom. And Austin wasn’t even particularly fond of pool; he’d had it set up just for his team, who came and went from the house like they did the arena. Fox was the dad of the group, and he’d made the mistake of mentioning that his door was always open, so he should have expected the consequences.
She let Fox serve her noodles and Moreau pour her water, and she began to relax. She realized that they were sitting there mostly because of her. Hazel hated eating alone; she’d had to do it too often. Her mother had always worked, and at every school, she’d been the poor outsider people pitied. At Harvard, most people had found her not only too poor, but also too ambitious.Too focused on her goal, too intense...too much. Until she met Gareth. She’d never been too much for him.
“…heard the coach is thinking about benching him completely and not letting him play at all.”
She blinked and looked up. “What? Bench who?”
“Ford,” Moreau murmured.
“Blake? Your favorite backup goalie?”
“He’s an arrogant idiot,” Moreau informed her. “I don’t know why you signed him.”
She snorted. “You only say that because he scares you. Because he’s young and fast and could become brilliant if you took him under your wing.”
“He doesn’t want to learn anything from me!”
She rolled her eyes. “He adores you, Moreau!” Blake wouldn’t be happy with her telling him that, but he needed to hear it. “And why the hell don’t they want to let him play at all? You need a few days off too.”
“Because he’s playing like shit,” Fox said matter-of-factly. “Abysmally, Hazel.”
“He just broke up with his girlfriend! That’s why he’s out of sorts. All he needs is someone to listen to him and a week to calm down, and then he’ll be back to normal.”
Moreau frowned. “He didn’t say anything about a breakup.”
“Oh, because you hockey players are always so open about your loneliness and hard feelings, right? Tell the coach he just needs to get over the breakup. That’s no reason to bench him.”
“Hmm,” Fox said. “Fine. I’ll mention it and ask Ford if he needs a good cry. But first, more important things: Did you put in the contract that I’m supposed to sign on Wednesday that Clark has to put Snickers back in the vending machine in the break room?”
She sighed. “No. I have to take this seriously now, Austin. No more candy clauses.” It was noted in their code of conduct.
