“Nice job, Rookie.” Jack taps my helmet as I step off the ice. “Glad to see you’ve got your sparkle back.”
“Me too,” I answer as I hand my stick and gloves to the equipment manager.
I haven’t had a game like that in months. An assist and two points—one of which was the game-winning goal.
I FaceTime Everly as soon as we get on the plane to head home.
“Congratulations,” she says, smiling.
“Thanks. How’s everything there?”
“Boring. River had to work tonight. Piper and I are getting ready to watch some reality TV.” She sets the phone down so she can get the popcorn and start the microwave. While she does all this, I get a view of her outfit that makes me want to grind my molars.
“Ev, did you wear that to school today?”
“Yes.” She tugs on the hem of her T-shirt.
“Do you have a single shirt that fits the dress code?”
She rolls her eyes. “No, actually. Maybe if you let me get a job, I could afford to buy myself some clothes. River said he could get me a job at the record store in the afternoons and weekends.”
“You need to focus on school.”
“School sucks.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. What else is new?”
“Nothing. You’ve been gone for like a day.”
I chuckle softly under my breath. “Good to know you missed me too. Is Piper around?”
“Yeah.” Everly nods.
“Right here,” Piper says from somewhere off-camera.
Ev picks up the phone and hands it to her, and I’m treated with a close-up view of Piper’s flushed face.
“Hi.” She repositions the phone farther away and tucks a strand of hair behind one ear. “Congrats on the game.”
“Thanks. All good there? Everly giving you any trouble?”
“I can still hear you, you know,” Everly yells.
Piper’s gaze lifts over the phone and she smiles before answering me. “We’re getting along just fine. You don’t need to worry.”
The thing is, I really haven’t. Not like I used to when I was gone on trips. I trust Piper.
“We’re headed home now, but it’ll be pretty late by the time I’m there.”
“Okay.” Piper nods like I’m giving her official orders.
“My buddy Frank is coming by in the morning to get my car. Can you set my keys on the seat for him? He has the garage code, so you won’t need to let him in or anything.”
“This the same Frank that fixed the mystery rattle on my car? Don’t think I didn’t notice you did more than clean it and change the tires.”
I bite back a smile. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure,” she says dryly.
“If your uncle knew you were driving around in that thing, he’d kick my ass.”
The blush of her cheeks tells me that she has specifically avoided reaching out to him for help. Stubborn Piper wanting to do it all on her own.
She sighs. “Yes, I will set your keys on the front seat for him. Something wrong with your car?”
“Nah, he’s adding the option seat in back. I had it removed because it was so small but seems like it might come in handy now. You and Everly won’t have to share the passenger seat.”
“A real family wagon,” she teases. “Anything else?”
Oh, so many more things, but I just shake my head. “That’s it for now.”
The next afternoon I pick Everly up from school. I got in later than expected last night and she was already asleep. Then, this morning I had a rare opportunity to sleep in and missed her before she went to school.
I texted Piper earlier to let her know I was picking up Ev and taking her to get new clothes and then to dinner. I invited Piper, too, but she told me to have fun with Everly.
They come out of the school together. Everly with her backpack hanging on one shoulder and Piper with a tote, purse, and lunch bag she juggles in one hand while trying to balance a coffee cup in the other.
It’s really something seeing her like this, all grown up. I mean, I realize we both grew up but I’m still doing basically the same thing. Piper’s got a new wardrobe that matches her professional job, and I just dig it so much that she did the thing. She followed through on her dreams and is making them happen.
“What?” she asks, and I realize I’m still staring at her.
“Nothing. I got this.” I move in and take the bags from her.
“Thank you.”
She unlocks her car, and I set it all on the passenger seat.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“She can’t.” Ev’s smile is big as she looks at Piper. “She has a date with her boyfriend.”
The words detonate like bombs. Date. Pow. Boyfriend. Pow.
Excuse-fucking-me?
Piper has her back to me and I blank my expression before she turns. I try for a smile, but it feels more like a grimace.
“I guess we’ll see you later,” I say, voice tight.
“Yeah.” She smiles. “Have fun.”
“Okay dokey.” I throw myself into my car.
“Okay dokey?” I mutter. I send Piper a text. Boyfriend?
As soon as Everly climbs in, I take off for the mall.
I can’t remember the last time I went into a mall, but it has not changed, and I still hate it. Being able to afford shit has not made me like shopping, but Everly doesn’t ask for a lot of stuff, and it hadn’t occurred to me until last night that if she needed things like clothes, she probably wouldn’t ask.
My phone vibrates and I pull it out of my pocket to see a reply from Piper. Yes, I told you about him. Problem?
Hell, yes there’s a problem, but I just shoot back a quick, See you at the house later.
Everly and I reach the food court. I tip my head in that direction. “Do you want me to wait out here?”
She does a not-so-subtle and disapproving once-over of my clothes. “You don’t want to shop for yourself?”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?”
“Too many things,” she says.
Well, fuck me.
I follow Everly around racks of shirts and dresses, keeping my head down and my hands shoved in my pockets. She hums lightly under her breath as she slides hangers around the rack, occasionally pulling something off to get a better look and then shoving it back.
After she’s done that through most of the store, I say, “What was wrong with that one?”
Her brows lift and my gaze slides over to the plain black shirt she just put back on the rack.
“It’s forty dollars.” She moves along, this time to a clearance section.
“So?” I grab the shirt and carry it with us.
“So that’s crazy. It’s a basic T-shirt.”
“Isn’t that mostly what you wear?” I use the hand holding the shirt to wave it in front of her to a plain shirt, this one a dark red.
“This shirt cost me five bucks.”
“Do you like the shirt?” I ask, shaking the hanger to indicate the black one.
“Yeah.” She lifts one shoulder in a small shrug.
“Okay, then. What else?”
“This one is only thirty.” She holds up a cropped sweatshirt with the words Good Vibes Only, in big block letters that are neon colors—orange, pink, yellow. It’s so not Ev’s style, but I grab it and add it to the pile.
Pretty soon both of us have our arms full of clothes. Some of it ridiculous, some stuff she actually likes. I take a seat in a chair outside the fitting room.
A woman with a daughter that looks a few years younger than Everly, smiles at me as her daughter carries a dress. The daughter smiles too, though in a less obvious way. Have I mentioned that shopping is torture?
I smile back and then drop my gaze to my lap.
“Oh my gosh. You have to see this one.” Everly comes out of the room in the white sweatshirt. Ignoring how much of her stomach is showing, I can admit it somehow isn’t awful.
“What do you think?” She makes a pose and then bursts into laughter.
“Sold,” I say. “It’ll be worth it just to make fun of you every time you wear it.”
She shakes her head and disappears back into the dressing room.
“Daughter?” the woman asks me.
“Nah.” I shake my head.
“Girlfriend?”
Coughing, I manage to get out. “Sister.”
Her head tilts to one side and her eyes soften. “Oh, how nice.”
I have no idea what to say to that, so I just smile and wait for Ev to come out again.
She does, a dozen more times until she’s tried on every single item. We have more in the get pile than the put back pile, and my sister hasn’t stopped smiling.
More women come and go, and it feels like I might die in this chair waiting for Everly to choose what she wants and doesn’t. She tries to put back several of the more expensive items, don’t think I don’t notice, but I add every item except the definite nos to the stack and pay for it while she bites on her thumbnail.
“All right. Please tell me we can go now?” I ask, handing her the bag.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
“Any time. Now, food?”
She shakes her head. “No, now we go to the men’s department.”
I groan.
“Just let me pick out one outfit for you?” She sticks out her bottom lip. “I’ll put one of mine back.”
“No, that’s not…” I sigh. “Okay, you can pick out one outfit for me. But I’m not trying it on in the store and nothing pink. I can’t pull it off.”
She squeals with excitement as she rushes off to the men’s section. My daily attire is all about function. I wear workout clothes or suits, there really isn’t any in-between. I own two pairs of jeans that I rotate for anything that I can’t wear my suit or sweats for, but that basically consists of hanging around the house.
I follow behind her, offering up answers to questions like jeans and shirt size, but otherwise she doesn’t ask for my input.
“Okay,” she says finally. She lifts an off-white sweater in one hand and a pair of black jeans with holes in the knees in the other.
“I think I’d rather wear your white crop top sweater,” I say.
“You’re funny.” She spins on her heel. “Hurry up. I’m starving.”
After shopping, we grab something to eat from the food court.
“This was fun,” I say as I toss a chip in my mouth. I have to stick at least somewhat to a decent diet during the season so it’s a sub and chips for me. Everly is scarfing down pizza that makes me wish I’d become something else, like a banker or realtor, or anything that doesn’t mean giving up pizza for a large portion of the year.
“Stop staring at my food.” Ev sits back, laughing. “Go get your own.”
“Can’t. I’ve put on like ten pounds of lean muscle since I joined the team.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Talked to Mom lately?”
“A little. She called to make sure I was still in school and that you haven’t left me to fend for myself.”
I clamp my mouth shut. I have a lot of feelings about my mom backing off from Everly when she clearly needs guidance and support more than ever, but I’m trying really hard not to jade Ev with my shit.
“Oh, this is so good.” Everly takes another bite and lets her eyes fall closed.
“You’re mocking me, right?”
“Maybe.” She grins. “Thank God for Piper. We finally have something to eat around the house that isn’t chicken, fish, and protein drinks.”
“How was it while I was gone?”
“I like Piper. She’s great. If I have to have a babysitter, then I’m glad it’s her. I see why you were so crazy in love with her. Plus, she’s really hot. Way too hot for you.”
I choke around my food. I take a drink, and then say, “You’re the second person to say that to me. Thanks a lot, sis.”
A slow smile spreads across her lips. “Seriously, though. I understand now.”
“Understand what?”
“Why you are still so hung up on her and haven’t dated anyone else.”
“Who says I haven’t dated anyone else?”
“Ash,” she says smugly.
“He has such a big mouth.”
“He really does,” she agrees. “So, is asking her to look out for me just a way to get her back?”
“No.” I shake my head adamantly, then concede. “Fine. Yes. I am glad to have a reason to interact with her, but I wouldn’t have hired her if I didn’t think she would be good for you too. I could have pursued her without putting you in the middle.”
“Yeah?” She hits me with that smirk again. “How was that working for you the last four years?”
I wipe my hands on a napkin, ball it up, and toss it at her.
“Eat your pizza. No, you know what?” I grab her wrist and lean forward, taking a bite out of the cheesy slice.
Oh, damn that’s good. I should have been a realtor.
