Working. Can’t talk.
He texts back immediately.
Aren’t you going to the hospital?
I ignore him and go back to work. Forty minutes later, I’ve booked the restaurant for the winner of our contest and a hotel room for myself and proofed Trish’s press release for her, which she posts to the team’s Instagram and I post to our Facebook and website. The entire time I’m working I regret even coming up with the idea of the contest. We were asked to brainstorm ways to engage fans who weren’t local. My idea was to have an Instagram contest where they post photos in Thunder jerseys at landmarks where they live, and the winner would get tickets to a game next time we played near them and get to have dinner with the player of their choice. Management went with it, and it was wildly successful. But right now I don’t feel any pride in that. I just want to get to the hospital.
I text Sadie as I grab my stuff to leave, and she says no one has come out to tell them what’s going on and she and Winnie are about to storm the nurses’ station in search of answers. I’m hoping to beat Trish out the door and have the elevator to myself, but she’s right behind me and gets in with me.
“I’m applying for Ann’s job,” she announces as the elevator descends.
Because this day can’t get any worse. “Okay.”
“I assume you are too.” I nod and she does what she does best—frowns. “I suppose you’ll get Jude to put in a word for you.”
“Of course not!”
“Whatever,” she completely dismisses me. “Just know I won’t let you steal this.”
The elevator opens and she storms off. I head outside and purposely walk in the opposite direction, fumbling with my phone to pull up my Lyft app since I carpooled in with Jude. As I make my way across the parking lot there’s a loud horn honk directly behind me, and I jump a foot off the ground. If it’s Trish, I swear I will kick her car so hard. But it’s not. It’s Jude’s Tesla—and Eli is behind the wheel.
“What the hell…”
He leans his head out the window. “He left his keys in his locker. Levi asked me to drive it over to Jude’s house for him. I figured I would wait and take you to the hospital first.”
I don’t even think twice. I don’t care how it looks or what people will say or anything. I just run around the car and jump in the passenger seat.
20
Dixie
The way Eli drives is turning me on. That’s never happened to me before, and I have no idea why it’s happening now. People have always said Jude had a sexy car, and I have to agree now that someone hot is driving it. Eli’s pushing the speed limit, zipping in and out of lanes and handling the hills with this wild gracefulness. He looks over at me and winks. “I think I need to get one of these cars.”
“You should offer to buy his,” I reply. “Once he’s a dad, he should have a minivan. At least that’s what I keep telling him. If I had the money, I’d buy him one just to see his reaction.”
Eli laughs. “You and Jude are exactly like me and Levi.”
I nod absently and text Sadie to tell her I’m on my way. Then I realize a calendar alert has popped up. I was supposed to meet the ALS chapter director in forty-five minutes to talk about my social media campaign idea. Shit. I totally flaked. “This day can’t get any more stressful.”
I quickly dial her number. When she answers I take a deep breath and try to sound professional. “Hi, Kelsey, this is Dixie Braddock. I know it’s short notice, but is there any possible way we can move our meeting? A family emergency came up.”
“Of course! I hope everything is all right,” she says sincerely.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not a life-or-death thing.” I pause and Eli snorts at that. “I mean, it’s a life thing. My sister-in-law is in labor at the hospital, and I’d just really like to be there. I know that’s not exactly an emergency.”
“It’s a new family member! That’s important,” Kelsey replies, and I can hear her smiling through the phone. “I mean, if we can’t be with our family for events like this, what’s the point? No worries at all about the meeting. Call me later this week when things settle down and we’ll reschedule.”
“Thank you so much.” I am so relieved I could cry. Eli must see it on my face, because he reaches over and squeezes my knee gently. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. All of it. Everything.”
“The reaction at the ALS Foundation was a pleasant surprise compared to how the Thunder reacted to me wanting to leave,” I mutter.
“It sucks they wouldn’t let you leave.”
“Oh, that’s not the half of it,” I reply and explain to him how mean Trish was acting.
He’s smiling when I finish my story, which is weird, but at the same time it’s soothing. “That’s why I love hockey so much. If someone pisses you off, you get to beat the shit out of them, and the only punishment is sitting in a box for five minutes.”
I laugh. “If only life were like hockey.”
