Page 11 of Hard to Get

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But we have a day off tomorrow so let’s have one night of fun.”

I could have had one night of fun with Stella.

I sigh. I don’t know that. Maybe I’m once again imagining too much.

“What cat bit you?” LG asks as he pulls out a huge bag of tortilla chips.

“What?” I scowl at him. “Cat?”

“Why are you so grouchy?” he says patiently. “Quel chat t’a mordu?”

LG is Québécois, from Saint-Jérôme. He speaks English really well with only a slight accent but every once in a while, he comes up with something odd, and he curses in French when he’s super pissed.

“Nobody bit me.” I shake my head and take the container of guacamole to put it in the fridge. “Is it Mexican night?”

“Yeah.” He grins. “I like to coordinate things.” He also unpacks a jar of salsa and a bag of limes.

The rest of the guys show up: Bish, Cammy, Sammy, Dolly, Rocky, Gus, and Moose. Those are all nicknames, naturally. These are the guys I’m closest to on the team. Notably, we’re all single.

They’re the guys on the team who mostly get along. Tensions over the last few seasons have kind of divided us and it sucks. And I say mostly, because I get the feeling Bish and Sammy don’t like each other. But I wanted to invite Sammy because he just got traded to the team last year and I feel like we should try to include him. He seems like a good guy. Also, he’s a great player and we had big hopes for how he’d help the team. That didn’t happen, though.

“Well, training camp’s done,” Cammy says, taking a beer from me. “Ready for another exciting season.” He rolls his eyes.

Cam Lacroix. Also a new team member last season. He seems like a good guy, but he’s got a chip on his shoulder about being traded to a crap team. He’s also bitter because his ex-wife ditched him after the trade.

I hold another one out to Dolly, AKA Leif Dahlgren. He’s from Sweden and his English is almost as good as LG’s. We used to tell him he sounded like the Swedish chef from The Muppets but he really doesn’t.

He holds up a bottle of Absolut vodka.

“No aquavit tonight?”

He grins. “Not tonight.”

“That stuff is horrible.” I grimace. “Like a bottle of gin and a loaf of rye bread had a baby.”

He laughs. “It’s an acquired taste.”

I get some bowls out of a cupboard and slam them on the counter, then rip open bags of chips and dump them in.

The guys give me a wary look.

“He’s grouchy,” LG explains.

“Why?” Dolly picks up a chip.

“I met a girl,” I tell them. “She turned me down.”

“No!”

They all make fake shocked noises. I lift my middle finger at them as I find the remote control for the TV.

“How vill you survive?” Dolly asks.

“I saw her again tonight, and I think she was interested.” I turn on the TV. “But I’m busy with you assholes.”

“She was probably just being nice to you after busting your balls,” LG says. “Felt sorry for you.”

That’s not out of the question and it pisses me off. Now for sure I’m not going to tell them who she is.