Page 83 of Offside

Paige held my stare. "Home."

"When?"

"Ten minutes ago." She picked up her drink. "You were talking to Griffin."

I hadn't seen her leave. Hadn't seen her say goodbye to anyone, hadn't seen her at the door. She'd just left.

I stared at the door.

"She went home," I repeated.

"She did."

"Because of what she saw."

"Because of what she thought she saw." Paige set her glass down. "She knows you didn't invite it. She's not irrational. She also sat there watching a woman put her hands all over you and had to smile and make jokes and pretend she didn't have any feelings about it. That's awful on its own, even when you know it isn't your fault."

At the bar, Dee was wiping down the counter in long, even strokes. The music had dropped to a lower register.

"It is my fault," I said. "Not Tiffany. The situation."

Paige looked at me clearly waiting for elaboration.

"The risk will always be there that she’ll keep seeing things like that. Because of what I do, where I go, what comes with it." I turned my glass on the table. "She needs to know that's not—that I'm not that person."

Paige was quiet for a moment.

“Okay,” she said. Not dismissively. She held my eyes a beat and nodded once, slowly.

"I tried to end it fast," I said. "I moved her hands. I told her I wasn't interested⁠—"

"I watched you." Paige nodded. "She knows that too. Up here." She tapped her temple. "The knowing part and the feeling part don't always run at the same speed." She pushed the empty glass aside. "Text her. Don't wait until you're home."

I pulled out my phone immediately.

Ryan: I'm sorry about tonight. There was nothing to see—I need you to know that.

I sent it. Paige watched me do it, nodded once, and stood up to find her jacket.

Paige got up to leave and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “She’ll be okay.” Then she headed out, leaving me there alone at the table.

Griffin nudged my shoulder. "You good? You've been quiet."

"Long week," I said.

"You should've let Tiffany fix that." Griffin grinned at his own beer. "Blow off some steam. She was into you."

I shook my head. "Go for it if you want. She's all yours."

"She wanted you."

"She wanted a hockey player with a nice apartment." I turned my glass. "Didn’t matter who it was. I've been there. It gets old." I nodded in the direction of Tiffany who was now talking to Kasperi.

Griffin looked at me sidelong, somewhere between amused and caught off guard. "Since when?"

I shrugged. "Go have fun, Griff."

Griffin studied me for another second, then laughed and shook his head and pushed back from the table before making his way toward the dart board. I watched him go.