Page 13 of Against The Boards

“Calm down. The Masshole is coming out.”

“Bite me!”

“Admit that you want to have giant, hockey-playing babies with Roxanne Desjardins.”

“I don’t!” I huffed.

“Whatever you say!” she teased. “I gotta go; I have a client coming in.”

“Give my love to Nina and the kids.”

I hung up with my sister and started drafting up my grocery list for dinner. I’d hit up the local Mexican-owned grocer, so I could get the best ingredients to make my pozole as authentic as possible. Maybe if I fed Rox, she wouldn’t be as angry with me. A guy could dream.

Chapter Five

ROXANNE

I checked my lipstick in the mirror of my car for the fiftieth time and smoothed an invisible wrinkle from my skirt. To say I was nervous for my first day was an understatement. I had been a sales associate with the Niagara Tigers in the OHL for the past couple of years, so this sales manager position with the Bulldogs was a promotion. I would also be in charge of a team of people for the first time in my career. Naturally, I was terrified.

What if they figured out this was a mistake?

I wanted to call Tristan so he could talk me down like he always did, but I wasn’t sure if he had landed in Russia yet. Or if he had, what time it was there. I was excited to move to the same city as my other half, but now I felt abandoned with him on the other side of the world.

With a sigh, I got out of my car and headed into the office. I could do this. I was starting over here. I was starting a new life and leaving all that heartbreak back in St. Catharines. Philly would become my new home. Eventually.

I greeted Cindy, the office manager, at the front desk, and she walked me to Quinn’s office. She gave me a reassuring smile and walked off as Quinn looked up from her desk at my approach. “Oh, you’re early,” she said.

I gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry. I didn’t know how long it would take me to get here.”

“Rather early than late,” she said with a smile. “Come on, let me show you your office, and we’ll get you all set up.”

“Office?” I asked while I followed her down the hallway.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Since you’re a manager, you get your own office.”

I expected to sit in another cubicle, but it was a pleasant change of pace that I had an office. Even though anxiety was crawling up inside me that the Bulldogs would realize they made a mistake hiring me. What if I was bad at being a manager?

Quinn showed me my office and took me around to meet all my coworkers. I tried to remember their names, but it would take me some time. She left to run to a meeting, and I spent the rest of the morning filling out paperwork down at HR and double-checking that IT had loaded all my systems properly. I was glad the IT guys seemed to know what they were doing. With the Tigers, I had to figure everything out myself. It was a nice change.

Around lunchtime, Quinn popped back into my office. “Hey, since it’s your first day, I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch together?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah, definitely!”

“I’ll drive.”

I laughed when we ended up at Eileen’s Tavern. It was the local hockey bar in South Philly I had been to a couple of times when I visited Tristan. When Noah and Dinah broke up, that’s where I found a very heartbroken Noah. I was glad they had worked things out; I liked them together. Even if their height and personality differences were comical.

“Oh, have you been here before?” Quinn asked with a smirk.

“Yeah! This is where the boys always end up after games.”

“True. The owners are both ex-Bulldogs. I guess we like to keep the Bulldogs family together. You’re good with it?”

I nodded. “Definitely. I love pub food.”

“Same, girl!”

I had a feeling Quinn and I would get along great, and the anxiety that had been bubbling up inside me evaporated. We ordered and talked about the upcoming season while we waited for our food. When our food arrived, we both dug in for a bit until Quinn turned the conversation back to work.