‘We’ll see. An occasional jump down the rabbit hole can be relaxing as hell,’ she shrugged, nonplussed. ‘Anyway, congrats for going live on socials. Big move for you.’ She smiled. ‘That picture in the restaurant you posted. It was good.’
‘I don’t get how you even know this stuff. And I didn’t post anything,’ Ward said, going into his pantry to get Pretzel her breakfast. ‘That was Hannah.’
His thoughts drifted to the weekend and as much as he wanted to throw some snarky comment out at Shelley about the whole situation, he realized he couldn’t. The fact was, he’d had fun on Saturday – Hannah had a knack of making everything more appealing and, despite the pitfalls, he had to admit he was impressed by how fast his newfound digital fame had grown. Course, he would never admit that out loud – not to anyone.
Shelley duly finished setting up the mat and some other equipment on the floor of his living room. ‘I threw you a follow too, just so you know.’
‘So did, like, ten thousand other people it seems,’ he replied. ‘Social media is peak stupid. I seriously don’t know why anyone cares about what I have to say.’
The trainer rolled her eyes. ‘You don’t have to love it or spend your life on it. Just use it to your advantage.’
‘So should I follow you back or something?’
‘Your call. But since you’re now a blue ticker, you probably should maintain some level of exclusivity. You know, follow your teammates, coaches, other players, the team’s account and all that. Ward McKenzie’s not going to interact with just any Joe Blow.’
He made a face and handed Shelley his phone. ‘I’m also not an elitist jerk. Pull up your profile or handle or whatever the hell your corner of that crazy world is.’
She did and handed the device back to him.
‘Nice picture,’ he complimented, studying her profile and hitting the follow button. Then he frowned. ‘You have a kid?’
‘Yep, five years old. What, I don’t seem the maternal type to you?’
He looked flustered. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just surprised, that’s all, Johnny didn’t say.’
‘Why would he? But for the record, Zeke is why I do this stuff for guys like you. My baby’s my world.’
‘Sounds like you’re a great mom.’
God knows his own mother had never uttered those words about him, and somehow this added information gave him a whole new level of respect for Shelley. There was no guy in any of the photos so he could only assume she was a single mom.
He didn’t want to let her down. In much the same way he didn’t want to let Hannah down now either.
Ward shook his head and handed Shelley back the phone. Who the heck was this shiny touchy-feely version of himself all these new females in his life were turning him into?
‘Wow. So I’m Instagram official with WildCat McKenzie,’ sheteased, throwing her dark ponytail playfully over one shoulder. ‘Though you really should take the time to make some more relevant connections too – like I said, with teammates and fellow professionals. Don’t think people won’t analyze who you’re following and why. Especially women. And judging by the number of message alerts you have, I’m willing to bet some puck bunnies have already slid into your DMs.’
Ward scoffed, then realizing she was being serious, looked back at the phone, clicking on the message icon.
‘Seriously?’ He briefly started scrolling and his eyes widened. ‘This is nuts. I don’t even know what to do with this. Why would girls put themselves out there like that to a total stranger – and before you say anything, Iama total stranger to these women. No matter how much they think they know me because they saw me on the ice.’ He quickly glanced at a photo of a blonde bombshell. ‘Although,’ he mumbled, flashing her a mischievous grin, ‘maybe this thing’s not so bad after all.’
‘Well, I’m no PR expert, but I can guarantee Hannah isnotgoing to like it if you start responding to those messages – or even looking at the photos. They can tell if you’ve opened it, you know. Don’t go getting too click-happy.’
Ward grimaced and dropped the phone like it was a ticking time bomb. This was a whole new world for him and he still didn’t know how to feel about it. ‘OK. Will you just delete them for me or whatever without clicking on them? Or show me how to do it? When we’re done training.’
They both got down on the floor to start their session.
‘So have you decided what you’re going to post about?’ Shelley asked conversationally. ‘Some cat pics maybe?’ She was relishing having fun at his expense.
‘I amnotposting about Pretzel.’ He glanced over to where she was now greedily gulping down her breakfast.
‘People love cat content though,’ she continued as he started a set of crunches. ‘Or actually, maybe sharing your training progress would be good? We could shoot something right now. I’ll stay off-camera and record some footage while you stretch and whatever. People would love to see that your head is back in the game. And that you’re working hard to get better – get back on the ice. Panthers fans especially.’
And maybe management too.
Grunting a final crunch, he considered her suggestion. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t done on camera before. And yeah, it would be good for his employers and teammates at least to know that he truly was taking all of this rehabilitation stuff, physical and otherwise, seriously.
‘I like it. Sounds “on brand”, as Hannah might say,’ Ward said with a wink, figuring she would surely approve.
