Her friend walked beside her as they entered the arena. Em hadn’t planned on inviting her after she’d not-so subtly played matchmaker at the school, but Frida had begged until Em said yes.
They wore matching O’Brien jerseys, just as they had the week before. Miriam was already there when they got to their seats, typing wildly on her phone. When she was done, she looked up at Em, eyes wide. “Thank goodness you’re here.”
Em raised her brows. “I didn’t realize my attendance was so important.”
“It’s not. I mean, it is.” Miriam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I have this really fun halftime show planned for tonight’s game, but I absolutely cannot use one of the people Greg chose to participate.”
It wasn’t uncommon for the Storm office staff to put together halftime shows that involved fans. Sometimes it was a shooting contest to win free tickets, or a trivia question for a gift card from a corporate sponsor. One time, they sold ping-pong balls to fans for a chance to win a brand-new car. They pulled the vehicle onto the field, opened the sunroof, and let everyone throw their balls from the stands. If they got a ball in, they won the car.
But Em couldn’t think of any reason to bar someone from participating in any of those events. What did Miriam have cooking this time?
“Uh…”
“Did you see the sign-up online?”
Em shook her head. “No. Why?” Other than a quick peek at Grant’s Instagram, she had been swamped at work with much less time than usual for time scrolling through social media this week. Good for convincing herself her crush was under control, bad for keeping up to date on Storm news.
“So, Greg and I thought it would be fun to host a The Dating Game spoof during halftime featuring one of the players.”
Frida laughed.
Em tried to, but the laugh got stuck in her throat. The words “dating” and “players” gave her a bad feeling about the direction this was headed.
“We had a sign-up where anyone who wanted to play could sign up online. The only requirements were agreeing to be at the game in case your name was chosen and to be willing to go down on the field during halftime. There were a ton of entries, and Greg picked three names. Two of them seem fine, but the third…” Miriam’s eyes darted up into the stands.
“What’s wrong with the third?” Frida asked, lowering her voice and leaning forward in her seat.
“The third is a woman named McKensie. She’s the fan who used to stalk Silas.”
Em remembered Miriam pointing her out at another game. “Silas agreed to be the bachelor for The Dating Game?” Em asked incredulously.
Miriam shook her head. “Oh, no. We’re not using any of the uniformed players. They’ll be in the locker room with Coach. But I don’t want to subject any of our players to this chick. She’s legit crazy.”
A sense of dread pooled in Em’s stomach. “Who’s the player?”
“No one is supposed to know before the halftime show—definitely not the bachelorettes. And please know that I’m not asking because—”
“It’s Grant, isn’t it?” Frida squealed. “This is so perfect.”
Miriam bit her bottom lip. “I know we’ve teased you about having a crush on Grant, and I swear this wasn’t some elaborate plan.”
Memories of the school visit came to Em’s mind. “You mean like having Grant show up during Frida’s break.”
Miriam looked down at her fingernails while Frida sniggered.
Em folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “I knew you two were in cahoots.”
“But this is different.” Miriam put her hands out. “Originally, I had planned on having Barros do it, but then Grant got injured and Greg picked McKensie, of all people. Since I don’t have the list of names of everyone who entered, I’ve got to improvise.”
“Why not Frida?”
Her traitorous friend shook her head. “I’m not going down there. I get nervous in the spotlight.”
Em snorted. That was a lie if she’d ever heard one.
“Please, Em?” Miriam asked, raising her hands and putting on massive puppy dog eyes. “I’d owe you big time.”
Em bit her lip. The Dating Game wasn’t technically dating, and she liked to help Miriam with Storm events when she could. “What would I have to do?”
Miriam’s face lit up. “It’s super simple. At halftime, Grant will walk out to midfield. We’re going to put a partition up and then introduce all three contestants. You’ll be on the other side where he can’t see you. He’s going to ask everyone three questions, and you just need to answer them. When he’s done, he’ll choose one lucky lady to spend the rest of the game with in the VIP section.”
“I already have great seats,” Em said.
“Well, for most people it’s an upgrade. Besides, it’ll be over there.” Miriam pointed to one of the corners of the arena. Behind the plexiglass near the goal was a small table with roses in the center.
Em groaned. “So, it’s like a date, date.”
“Well, you’ll be watched by tons of people, including your brother, plus Greg wouldn’t let me serve champagne since one of the contestants is twenty, so you’ll have to settle for sparkling grape juice.” She shrugged. “But yeah, it’s a date.”
Em had completely forgotten about Finn. Nothing like your brother watching you talk to the guy you liked. That added an extra element of uncomfortableness to the entire situation. “I don’t know.”
Miriam sighed loudly and threw up her hands. “Okay, let me go tell McKensie she’ll be doing it. How do you think Grant feels about random girls tattooing his name on their chest?”
A sudden blaze of jealousy shot through Em. Sure, it was just a teeny crush, and Miriam was most likely exaggerating, but that didn’t mean she liked the thought of Grant being forced to spend the whole second half with a super-hot, super fan. She closed her eyes and blurted, “Fine, I’ll
