Shelby, what have you done?
Chapter Fifteen
The taste of salty fries and a chocolate shake still fresh the next day, Shelby walked the block and a half from the diner she and Roger had met at to catch up to the Ice Knights arena with an extra spring in her step. As she got closer to the staff entrance, a man in head-to-toe Cajun Rage gear stubbed out a cigarette and walked toward her.
“I thought you gave those up, Bill,” she said, giving the Cajun Rage’s vice president of communications a quick hug.
“It was just so I had an excuse to hang outside in hopes of running into you.”
When she’d been starting The Biscuit, almost all the teams ignored her requests for interviews. Not Bill. He’d treated her like one of hockey’s own. It had been refreshing. A Bill who was also a friend of Bill W’s, they’d met at an AA meeting shortly after she’d gotten out of rehab. One evening later over coffee, deep dish pie, and “oohing” and “ahhhing” over the pictures of him and his husband on their wedding anniversary trip to Antarctica, they’d become friends.
“Congrats on the deal with the Ice Mites,” he said, using the Rage fan’s favorite nasty nickname for the Ice Knights. “Wish we would have thought of snagging you first.”
“Like I’d ever go work for the Cajun Lame?” She shook her head. “Forget about it.”
“I figured, but the door’s always open. We’re huge fans of The Biscuit,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Don’t be such a stranger, kid. We’re due for a dinner.”
“You got it.” Since her social calendar was pretty much as blank as it ever was, that wasn’t going to be a problem. “And thanks for the job offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Well, at least let me buy you a frozen lemonade after tonight’s game. We can talk about how much better the restaurants are in New Orleans than Harbor City.”
As if that was even possibly true. “You’re gonna have to buy me two pink lemonades to make up for such lies.”
“Deal,” he said with a chuckle and held open the door for her.
They walked in together but split up at the end of the hallway. He went toward the end with the visitors’ locker room and she went toward the Ice Knights’ side. Maybe she slowed down a little outside the locker room and slow rolled it in hopes of seeing Ian. Okay, she totally did that. There was just no denying the flutter of butterflies in her stomach whenever she thought of him or the spark of desire or the curiosity about what he was thinking or the…well, everything.
As if the universe was smiling down on her, the locker room door opened and Ian walked out. He wasn’t in uniform yet, but he had on his game face—an unshaven square jaw tense with determination, a sense of barely controlled power and aggression. It shouldn’t turn her on, but it did.
“Hey there,” she said, trying to sound somewhat normal and not like she was about to go up in flames.
He didn’t say anything, at least not with words. The intensity in his stare, though, said a lot.
“Shelby, is that you?” asked a man from behind her, whose voice was so familiar despite not having talked to him for years.
She turned and there he was. Jasper Dawson stood with Lucy near the VIP entrance to the arena. No more than five eight, he always managed to seem bigger than he was, even when he was standing next to the very tall Lucy.
“I cannot believe it is Shelby Blanton right in front of my eyes.” He came over, his walk as fast as ever. “How are you and why didn’t you tell anyone that I’m your stepdad? Lucy just told me she had no idea about our connection.”
Emotion clogging her throat, she blinked away the wetness gathering in her eyes. This man was going to make her cry. She had no idea that he’d remember her and yet, here he was calling himself her dad. “Well, you’ll always be my favorite stepdad, but I wanted to earn a spot here on my own, of course.”
“You sure did that,” he said, grinning at her as if he really was her proud papa. “Give me a hug.”
She had absolutely no intention of saying no. The hug was solid, comforting, and just what she didn’t realize she needed.
“You know,” he said after the hug. “The hardest part of divorcing your mother was not getting to hang out with you anymore.”
“Yeah, we moved to Florida as soon as the papers were signed.” Not an exaggeration. She and her mom had driven a U-Haul to the lawyer’s office and had left straight after.
“I’m glad to have you back here like old times.” He turned to Lucy and Ian. “We used to watch the games right behind the bench, and she’d always manage to beat me when it came to Ice Knights trivia and I’d have to buy her one of those deep-fried-Oreo monstrosities.”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“We were friends,” he said. “I hope we can be again. Your mom’s doing okay, I hope.”
Oh Lord. Whatever it was with her mom and the men she married, she never left a single one mad. They all came back around. “Yeah, she’s in the ’burbs just north of Harbor City.”
Jasper got a faraway look in his eye that left him with a big smile on his face. “I’ll have to look her up.”
“Watch out—she’s still herself,” Shelby warned.
“That’s what I always loved about her.” He glanced over at Ian. “I’m looking forward to seeing you out on the ice tonight. We have your dad in the owner’s suite. I’m sure he’d love to see both of his boys score.”
Ian tensed
