probably would have gone with something more ivory-toned on the dress with that freckled complexion. Still, she managed to pull it off.” Another raw sugar packet was ripped to shreds. “As for Cal, I could’ve killed him, but a man like that—impossible! You know Cal?”
“Not that well. He’s a friend of my brother’s.”
She clutched her chest. “What a dreamboat! Those cheekbones are to die for. Your brother’s, not Cal’s. He has other qualities, if you know what I mean. Pity your brother’s not single but I’m guessing he’s happy?” Another packet of raw, a barely-drawn breath. “Is he?”
“Vadim? Oh, yeah. He and Isobel are made for each other. Back to their teens.”
Tara sighed. “Such an unlikely pair but then it takes all sorts, doesn’t it?”
So Isobel was more athletic than bombshell and Vadim was paid to model on runways—literally. It wasn’t the first time people had hinted at some disparity between them.
Feeling prickly, Mia spoke up. “I don’t know about unlikely. He’s crazy about her.” All true. Vadim would die for Isobel and had expressed this sentiment on more than one melodramatic occasion.
Tara’s big green eyes went round. “I didn’t mean to imply he wasn’t. In fact, it gives us all hope, doesn’t it? That we can make the leap and snag that guy we have our eye on.”
“I’m sorry about Cal. He behaved pretty awfully to you at the wedding.”
“Oh, I’m over it! Though I was mega mad at him after that “Am I the Dick” post laid it all out there, about how he was manipulating me into dumping him? Did you hear about that? Who’s so afraid of conflict that he’ll pull a stunt like that? Ridiculous!”
Mia agreed, though she understood not wanting to hurt people’s feelings or looking for the least painful route out of a situation. She had been there.
Drat! The last thing she needed was to feel a shred of empathy for Cal Foreman just because his ass looked good in jeans and he made a decent balsamic vinaigrette.
“Maybe he wants people to like him.”
“Probably. You know he’s on best terms with all his exes? None of them have a bad word to say about him. I checked!”
“You did?”
She stirred her coffee vigorously. “Oh yeah. I always do background checks on the guys I date and that includes figuring out how they exited their previous relationships. Says a lot about a guy, don’t you think?”
Mia didn’t have enough experience to comment.
“Anyway, life’s too short and Cal really is a lovely fella.” She threw away her stirrer. “Already have my eye on someone else. ABM!”
“ABM?”
“Always be making moves!” That was ABMM, but it didn’t exactly trip off the tongue either. “So what can you tell me about Reid Durand?”
Mia blinked at the whip-quick change, not just of topic but of romantic focus. “You’ve got your eye on Reid?”
“He wasn’t at the wedding, but I heard he’ll be at training camp. Do you know him?”
“Vaguely. People think he’s kind of a dick, but I don’t see it.” Reid Durand was a recent acquisition for the Rebels forward line. He had always been nice to her any time she ran across him despite his reputation for making trouble on the ice, usually with insults to a player’s mother. Classic. “I think maybe he’s just sick of the Canadian stereotype of niceness, so he plays against it.”
Tara looked dreamy. “He has great shoulders.”
That made Mia laugh. This girl was quite the tonic. “I can’t believe you’re so cool about Foreman. You seemed so upset at the wedding.” She realized now that she had included Tara in the prank without her permission and that might have hurt her. Badly done, Mia.
“Look, I’ll let you into a little secret.” Tara flicked a glance left, then right before moving in closer. “I really want to be a WAG.”
“A WAG?”
“A wife and/or girlfriend.”
“I know what it means. But … do you mean you’re not fussy about who you honor with your WAG blessing?”
“Exactly!” Tara laughed her head off as if this was perfectly normal. “Sure, Cal’s nice, but he does read a lot. Once, I woke up in the middle of the night and he had his nose buried in a book as thick as a toaster!”
Mia wasn’t sure which shocked her more: Tara’s unvarnished ambition to be married to any NHL star or the revelation that Cal Foreman liked to read doorstoppers.
“You would have married him if he asked you?”
“But he didn’t and now I’ll be a bit more careful about