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My cheeks are beginning to hurt from my forced smile. “You guys will love it. Just the two of you should go! You know, make a date of it! I can have dinner with you another evening, I’m flexible.” I’m trying to stay calm, but my voice sounds squeaky.

“No way, we need you there to explain the game to us.” Odette winks. “And maybe one of those hockey players will catch your eye.”

I feel the blood come rushing back to my face, I’ve probably gone from Edward the vampire to Mr. Crabs from SpongeBob in 0.5 seconds. “Sure, ha.”

“So we’ll leave straight from the office Friday and grab pizza first before heading to the game.” Madden opens his mouth to say something else but his phone rings and he pulls it out of his suit pocket. “I better get this.” He gives his wife a quick kiss then ducks into his office to answer his phone.

I glance down at my schedule before turning my attention back to Odette. “It’s really no big deal if you’d like to go to the game with just Madden.”

“That’s sweet of you, but I’ve been hanging out with him all week!” She glances at Madden’s closed door. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair, I know you’re busy. I’ll text Madden that I headed out.”

“Alright,” I force a smile on my face, then pull my Bluetooth headset out of my top drawer and turn it on. “Text me if you change your mind.”

“Sure thing. See you Friday!” She waves.

I wave back, but once she’s out of sight, I allow my shoulders to drop. My stomach is in knots at the thought of not only going to an ice rink, but one of West’s games? Ugh. I’m sure if I told them about my accident as a kid, they’d understand. But I’ve worked so hard to maintain my image of independence and professionalism. I don’t want either of them to see me as a weakling.

* * *

Late that evening, I arrive home at my apartment. I can tell my roommate, Noel, is already home from work because her shoes and handbag are strewn haphazardly in front of the entryway. With a sigh, I place her shoes on the shoe rack and hang her bag on the hook before doing the same with my own.

“Mel? Is that you?” Noel calls.

“Honey, I’m home!” I yell back in a deep baritone voice, or at least as deep as my voice will go.

She meets me in the hallway with her hand to her chest and bats her long black eyelashes at me. “Oh my, is that you, Walter? How I’ve missed you today.” She backs up against the wall and raises one leg in a sexy pose.

“You’re taking the joke too far.” I shake my head but laugh.

She laughs with me and pushes herself off the wall to give me a hug. “How was your day, roomie?”

“It was… interesting.” I pull out of her embrace and continue down the hallway and into the kitchen.

She follows me, pulls some Chinese takeout leftovers out of the fridge, and pops them into the microwave.

Our kitchen is like the rest of our apartment: cute upon first glance, but once you look closer, you can see everything is a little old and worn. The countertop looks like a wooden chopping block, but it’s just contact paper with a wooden pattern. The cabinets are white but the paint is chipping. And there’s just enough room for us both to stand in here; as long as we don’t make any sudden movements, we won’t crash into each other.

Her eyebrows raise in curiosity. “Okay, this kitchen is now the Boston Harbor and it’s 1773. So spill the tea.”

I cock my head to the side to look at her with a pained expression. “Your history nerd is showing, you might want to tuck that back in.”

“I’m a history professor; you know I can’t help myself.” She shrugs. “Quit stalling and tell me what’s up.”

I hesitate, considering if I want to give her all the details. Finally, I sigh and slump down on our tiny sofa. “You remember I’m from Minnesota, right?”

She nods. “Yes, the arctic tundra. I remember.”

“Well, what I haven’t told you is that our next-door neighbor’s had three kids. Their youngest was the same age as my brother. And the three of us were really close… like we hung out all the time. I went to every single one of their hockey games and practices growing up.”

“Keep talking,” she urges as she shoves a large bite of orange chicken into her mouth.

“Well, I had a huge crush on the neighbor boy, West, and on my 18th birthday I had to have my appendix removed and was all loopy on pain meds.”

She scrunches up her nose and swallows her bite. “Okay, you lost me with the appendicitis.”

Grabbing a fork from a drawer and one of the Chinese containers, I begin to stir the fried rice around before continuing. “While I was drugged-up, I sent West a video of myself expressing my love for him.”

Noel’s jaw drops. “You didn’t!”