“You are officially making me feel weird,” she laughs.
“Orange,” Tess confirms. She finds a linen blouse almost immediately.
“That one,” I say.“Try it.”
She does. It’s perfect.
“Wear it like this and Zane will lose his mind,” Tess jokes. I glare at her automatically.
“I am refusing my brain to go there,” I say.“But yes. It looks amazing.”
By the time Tess triumphantly finds a purple bra hanging exactly where it shouldn’t logically be, I’m convinced today counts as productive.
We carry our bags toward the smoothie bar.
“This side of the mall has changed a lot,” I sigh.“The smoothie place used to be over there.”
“I’m sure it still tastes great,” Tess says.
We sit. I take a long sip and finally relax into the chair.
“I needed this,” I admit.
“It sure has been a day,” Gwen says.
“Is the ice hockey life always this dramatic?” Tess asks me.
“You think hockey is dramatic?” I laugh.“Try figure skating.”
“You were a figure skater?” Gwen asks.
“Yep. Silver at nationals.”
They both stare at me.
“That’s incredible,” Gwen says.
“Zane and I both loved the ice,” I shrug.“Still do, I guess.”
“What made you stop?” Tess asks. I hesitate because the real answer isn’t pretty.
“I couldn’t handle the pressure anymore,” I admit.“The culture in my hometown was brutal. It’s one of the reasons I moved West. I still get triggered when I’m near the ice sometimes.”
“I’m sorry,” Tess says softly.
“Well,” I smile,“like everything in life, there’s a good side and a bad side.”
And sometimes life brings you a hockey player from your past who shows up years later and refuses to let you pretend you disappeared.
“Should we have dinner together tonight?” Gwen asks quickly, changing the subject.“Maybe pizza at my place?”
“I’m definitely down,” I say immediately.
I just know I cannot sit alone tonight thinking about Blake picking me up at seven tomorrow.
“Me too,” Tess says.
Perfect. Distraction. Exactly what I need. Except unfortunately, no amount of smoothies, shopping bags, or pizza plans is going to stop me from thinking about the way he looked at me when I said yes. Or the fact that in only a few hours…
