“Eleven. She wouldn’t stop talking about how jealous she was and that I’d only need a nose job when I was old enough.”
“Your nose is perfect!”
The declaration has me giggling. “It’s just a nose, Zach.”
“It isn’t. Fuck, Mel has no filter sometimes.”
“No, she doesn’t.” I run my fingertip along the bridge of said ‘perfect’ nose. “She has a habit of making me self-conscious about stuff, but it’s because she cares.”
That raised brow screeches dubiousness. “Really?”
“Yeah. Honestly.” I shoot him a guilty look. “When we were together over the break, I never said anything because I knew you’d give me crap about trying out for the Stepford wives’ crew, but she had this whole breakdown. It was more than a couple tears. Still, it helped me see things from her point of view.”
“What things?”
“Dad put a lot of pressure on her to be perfect, but what he wanted was for her to get younger and last I checked, that’s impossible. He was never in it for the long haul. I think she figured that out when he married Franella. I felt bad for her.”
He snorts at the butchering of my stepmom’s name. “Even though she pushed some of her insecurities onto you?”
“Yeah, because they never stuck. It wasn’t like she rammed them home. They were always on the periphery—how she’d make me eattwo bunches of celery a week and wanted me to use face masks to get me past that zit phase.
“Celery and face masks aside, I wasn’t ever going to be like her. She’s a girly girl and I hung around with you dipshits. I didn’t want boobs and I hated that Dad wouldn’t let me play hockey. Said it was wasted money when my brothers had more of a chance of taking it to the next level and that women’s sports were going nowhere.”
“I never knew any of this!”
“I didn’t tell you.”
“Well, the PWHL has the last laugh with him, huh?”
Hell, if Ihaveto be a sports agent then… “Damn straight.”
“You should specialize in that.” I love that we’re on the same wavelength. “When you get your degree and go work for him.”
“PWHL contracts? Maybe.”
“But you’ll be mine and Peeks’ agent too, right? When you’re ready?”
Thinking about my earlier convo with Callan, I smirk. “Double damn straight.”
“Denny?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you do me a favor?”
“Three to five percent is the NHL standard?—”
He chuckles but then it fades. “Alec’s been giving me a hard time.”
“That’s because he’s envious you have more talent in your little toe than he does in his whole body.”
“You don’t even know what he’s giving me a hard time about.”
“Sure I do. Your third goal. When you didn’t pass to him, but shot it to Pecan instead.” I chortle.
It wasn’t exactly uncommon to rely on the goalie more than the D-men, but Zach had already proven that he trusted very few players on the team outside of Peeks.
“I’m surprised you noticed.”
