Page 63 of Faking the Shot

Because for all she might be good at putting on a public face and acting with more confidence than she felt, anxiety still roamed through her stomach at tonight’s pretense. She might be acting like one of his girlfriends from the past, kitted out in a new jersey and sitting with the WAGs in the family section, but she wasn’t really his girlfriend. Not really. This was all pretense. So she needed to make sure she didn’t put a foot wrong.

Benson parked, and they were soon joining the long lines. In addition to her jersey she had a baseball cap pulled low over her face, and a thick scarf covering half her face. She wore a thick black overcoat too, jeans and her Converse. She hoped she didn’t look much like the Ainsley Beckett people came to expect of her, and Benson was certainly not the kind of person people would expect to see her with. She clutched his arm. He was good to hold onto, there were so many people about.

“Don’t worry, Ains, your disguise is set.”

She smiled, smiled at how Zac had started calling her that name, too. It was like he already fit in with her family, despite not meeting any of them. Although that would change tonight.

Zac’s instructions meant they were taken to a different door. After she’d gone through security, and was recognized, and had to pose for photos, she and Benson were escorted to the suite level. Once there she had to meet more people, smile, do her best to recall names. But the noise was starting to overwhelm her.

“Ainsley?”

She turned, met a brunette woman in her early thirties whom some might call plain.

“I’m Diana Thomas. Chris’s wife. Zac asked me to meet you.”

Ainsley’s smile slipped into genuine. “Thank you. It’s all a little overwhelming.”

“Says the woman who crushes red carpets all the time.”

“Not all the time.” She introduced Benson, then Diana introduced her to several other wives and girlfriends of the players.

“I don’t come as much as some do,” Diana admitted. “Chris and I have three children who keep us on our toes. Well, they keepmeon my toes as he’s away so much.”

Poor thing. “How old are they?”

“Tanner is seven, Jack is six, and Faith is four.”

“I hope I can meet them one day.”

Diana nodded. “Well, help yourself to what you would like to eat and drink. We have seats down this way.”

Ainsley eyed the food and beverage offerings, took a small chicken salad and mineral water, then followed Diana to the seats. This view was impressive, and she could see the warm-ups were already happening, the men skating as they shot pucks and stretched as lights danced and music blared. Oh, this was exciting!

She glanced across at where Benson beamed. He looked like a kid at a candy store.

“He’s excited that you’re here,” Diana said.

“Benson? Oh, he’s come to games before, but has never sat up in a suite like this.”

“No, I meant Zac.”

“Oh!” How sweet to think someone who others considered such a great player was excited to have her here. “It’s great to finally come.”

“And be seen by the fans, huh?”

She glanced at Diana. How much did she know?

Diana wore a troubled look. “I know about you and him.”

“Oh.” That’s right. Zac had mentioned that before.

“He’s a good guy, Ainsley.”

“I know.”

“You need to be careful with his heart.”

“He knows what this is,” she murmured.