“Yeah. Okay.” I nod. “Thanks.”
I feel really good as I leave the office. I think about what’s happening with Dixie right now. My urge is to track her down and make her talk to me again, but my instincts are telling me to give her a little space and give myself some too, since the shrink told me not to rely on her. I’ll go on the road trip and maybe talk to her when I get back. She’ll still be here. And I’ll still be falling in love with her. And hopefully she’s falling in love with me.
So I go home, pack and am waiting outside the hotel when Levi picks me up half an hour later for the drive to the airport. He’s in an upbeat mood for him, I can tell. Even though it would look like his goldfish died to the outside world.
“So when are you going to bring your car here?” he asks me.
My car is still in Sacramento. “I haven’t thought about it.”
“What about a place of your own?”
I shrug. “They haven’t said I’m staying.”
He looks at me like I just spoke a foreign language he doesn’t understand. “Come on, Elijah, that’s just a formality. You’re staying for the rest of the season. Eddie’s contract is up this summer, and I’m sure we’ll let him go and keep you.”
“Your brotherly love is blinding you, Levi,” I tell him and smile. “I appreciate the support, but seriously, I’ve had one good game. Actually only one good period. I’m sure they haven’t decided if they’ll send me back down when Noah gets healthy or keep me here.”
He waves a hand like he’s dismissing my words. “You’re staying. I know it. Get an apartment already.”
“Remember, even if they keep me the rest of this year, my entry-level contract expires in June. I’ll start looking when I know if they’re going to give me a new one,” I say, mostly just to get off the topic. “So I got a call from someone named Trish.”
“Yeah. Trish works with Dixie in PR,” Levi explains as he merges onto the freeway. “What’d she want?”
“She said that the winner of some contest the Thunder was doing picked me.” I explain about the message that was on my phone when I woke up from my nap. “She said there would be a PR person coming on the road trip and they’d explain more, but that tonight I’m having dinner with this winner. Apparently his nine-year-old son is a goalie. A reporter will be there too. Have you done this type of thing before?”
“Yeah, all the time,” he replies easily, taking the exit for the airport. “It can be tedious, but you’re way more outgoing than me. You’ll be fine. Especially if you score Dixie.”
“What?” He wants me to score Dixie? What the hell…
“If you score her as the PR person on the trip, you’re golden. She’s the best at making things comfortable,” Levi replies easily. “I once had to give a rink tour to this girl who had my face tattooed on her chest and kept calling me Big Daddy. Dixie made sure to stand between us, because the girl was a little handsy, and kept the conversation light.”
Would it be Dixie on this road trip? That itself is both a blessing and a curse. I have no idea what to expect. Will she talk to me? Is she still upset? Should I talk to her? It was easy to think I could beat the temptation of wanting to talk to her because I would be miles away, but now she’s going to be on the same plane and in the same hotel. And we’re going to have to have dinner together. Shit. I just hope I don’t make this worse somehow.
When we get to the airport and clear security we make our way through the concourse to the private terminal where the team plane is located. A lot of guys hate the travel part of this job, but I definitely love it. A private plane sure beats a bus, which is how the Storm travels.
My eyes are darting around the terminal, but I don’t see her. I do see a reporter I recognize from the post-game scrums. He sees us too and smiles and waves, walking over. Fan-fucking-tastic. I’ll have to keep my guard up if he’s around. Levi gives him an easy smile. “Hey, Tom. You hitching a ride?”
Tom smiles. “Yeah. Covering the game and doing a piece on the fan contest too.”
“Eli is the player they picked,” Levi tells him, and I want to kick him.
Tom looks over at me. “That’s flattering, considering you’re the newest addition and haven’t played hardly a full game.”
He means that as a genuine compliment, I think, but it comes across backhanded. Still, I smile and nod. “Yeah. I guess this guy is sick of Thor over here and wanted a younger, handsomer version. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.”
“This contest is a brilliant way of connecting with fans outside of SF,” Tom adds.
“Dixie came up with the idea,” Levi replies. Man, when did he become Captain Chats-a-Lot? What happened to the king of one-word responses? I miss him.
Tom’s smile widens. “A brilliant idea from a brilliant woman.”
I study his face and the way it lights up over Dixie, and I swear to God it’s much more than professional admiration. He likes her. Asshole. I see Duncan standing by the door that leads out to the plane and I wave at him. “I’ve got to talk to Darby.”
I march over there like a man on a mission. The mission is not to punch the reporter. Duncan smiles at me. “What’s up, Kid Casco?”
“Don’t nickname me that,” I mutter.
“Did Thor have a brother?”
