Page 18 of Hockey Boy
War sits up straight and leans forward. “I actually think it’s pretty brilliant. And I know just the wedding you can actually plan in the meantime.”
“Okay,I have thirty minutes. Tell me everything,” Millie says as she rushes into my apartment, the baby monitor in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other.
“I like how you roll,” Sara says from beside me at the kitchen island, pointing to Millie’s road soda.
Millie grins and tilts the monitor back and forth. “Gav’s putting Vivi to bed, and then we’re having sexy times. This is just my lubricant.” There are hearts in her eyes as she gushes about what a turn-on it is when Gavin is in dad mode.
“I hate you all,” Ava whines, covering her face.
I push a glass of white wine toward her and give her a reassuring smile.
“Thanks,” she murmurs.
Hannah is in the corner, seated on a barstool against the wall, her knee up as she taps the screen of her phone. “Fucking Jasper Quinn.” She slams the phone down. “I need wine.”
“I’m so happy my boys are all being good tonight.” Sara grins as she rounds the counter with a glass held out to Hannah.
“Please, you’ve got all those rookies starting this season. Your life is gonna suck.”
When Hannah sticks her tongue out at Sara, she merely shrugs and rolls her eyes. “Then I’ll tell my big, bad fiancé to glare at them, and he’ll do my job for me.”
“That’s cheating.” Hannah takes a big gulp of wine. As she sets her glass down, her eyes brighten. “Actually, do you think you could get your big, scary fiancé to talk to my rookie? He would totally shit his pants and fall in line.”
I laugh. “Are we all talking about the same fiancé? The one known as Saint? Good Boy Brooks?”
Millie bites her lip to hide her laugh.
“Hey,” Sara hisses. “Only I get to call him good boy now.”
Ava chokes on a mouthful of wine and slaps a hand to her lips.
“Rein it in, girls. Rein. It. In.” I settle on my stool and sigh. “Let’s talk about me, because that’s what I like to do.”
Hannah’s laugh is so loud it echoes around the space. The sound makes me feel at least a little lighter. She’s tiny, but everything about her is loud. In different ways than I am, though. Where I’m bright, she’s aggressive and outspoken. Even her laugh has a bark to it. I kind of adore her.
“Jill didn’t show?—”
Sara slaps a hand down on the counter. “That witch.” She turns to Millie. “Seriously, she isn’t fit to be a Langfield girl. We need to get rid of her.”
Millie purses her lips. “I don’t love her either, but my days of meddling in other people’s relationships are over.”
Hannah eyes her, her cheeks going pink. “You ever meddle in your brother’s love life?”
“Stop trying to get her to set you up with Daniel.” Sara nudges her in the arm. “She’s talking about how she tried to torpedo her father’s relationship with his wife.”
Millie sticks her tongue out. “Feel free to take Daniel for a ride any day,” she muses. “But I’d make sure he wraps it up, because that boy is gross.”
“Millie,” Ava chides, her eyes wide with shock.
With a smirk, Millie lifts a shoulder. “My brother is a manwhore. My father slept with my other brother’s girlfriend. I seduced my dad’s best friend. We have no scruples.”
Hannah throws her head back and full-on belly laughs again.
Scanning the room, I grin. I love these girls.
“So you were saying,” Ava prods, holding her glass in my direction.
“Right. Me.” I shimmy my shoulders at Sara, and she sticks out her tongue at me now. “As I was saying, Jill didn’t show. At first, I freaked out, because holy hell, I need this job. But Aiden swore they weren’t firing me. That Jill just couldn’t make it. So he and I visited all the venues I’d lined up. It was totally fine.”