taken the escalators that wended their way at an alarming speed up through the Garden. More than once I had felt nauseous riding those escalators. I had never had great seats, so my escalator rides had always ended in the nosebleed section. But tonight would be different, from what Jack told me, because he worked in the public relations office for the team and had access to second-row, center-ice seats, right behind the home team’s bench. For a French Canadian like me, it was about as close to heaven as you could get.
We arrived at our seats just as the pregame practice was ending. We really hadn’t spoken on our way to the seats, so when Jack sat down next to me, I realized that it was “showtime.” He asked me if I wanted anything to eat.
“No, thanks,” I said. I had never met this man before. I wasn’t going to display my chowing prowess in the first half hour of our time together. Nobody likes a woman who can inhale a foot-long hot dog in three bites. Except maybe Crawford. The guy I like, I thought, as I admired Jack’s chiseled jaw.
“A glass of wine? A beer? Soda?” he asked.
I gazed into his blue eyes for probably longer than was socially acceptable. “Wine would be nice,” I said.
Jack told me that he would be back in a few minutes, so I settled into my seat. When I was sure that he was out of sight, I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Max. I wanted her to watch the game to see if she could get a peek at me; with seats right behind the bench, I was confident that I would be on television at least once or twice. I needed input on my hair. I had been going for a Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl look and wanted confirmation that I had succeeded. She answered on the first ring, as she normally does.
“Max here.”
“Hi, it’s me,” I shouted over the crowd noise. “Listen, are you watching anything on television tonight?”
“No,” she said, chewing loudly in my ear. She mentioned that her favorite reality show wasn’t on so she wasn’t watching anything. Max loves reality television more than life itself and watches every single reality show with a devotion and solemnity normally reserved for religious ceremonies.
“Great.” I smoothed my hair down. “Put on the Rangers. I’m out with Jack McManus and I want you to see how I’ve done my hair.”
She gasped. “Cheating on your married boyfriend already?” she cried, with mock alarm. She knew about this date but wouldn’t miss an opportunity to rib me about it. “Well, I never!”
“Max, seriously. I need help. I haven’t been on a date in this millennium. Help me.”
She turned on the television and we chitchatted while she waited to get a shot of me. She continued eating what sounded like an entire bag of tortilla chips.
“Wait,” she said, “there’s the bench…and there you are.” She paused for longer than I would have liked. I started to get nervous. “You look like Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.”
“Great! That’s what I was going for!” I said.
“But not in a good way,” she added. “Take that piece that you’ve artfully arranged behind your ear and pull it forward.”
“Like this?” I pushed some hair around.
“Got it.”
“Oh, and Max, I went to Ray’s apartment yesterday and guess what I found?”
I took the massive crunching in my ear for her response.
“A sex tape.”
“Is it good?”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not the point, Max. There’s a woman on there. Do you think she might be a suspect? She’s awfully big. I could see her being able to overpower someone.”
“Bigger than you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
A hand on my shoulder interrupted our conversation; Jack was back. I pretended to be on an important phone call. “I appreciate your concern about your grade, Anne Marie, and will reassess the points you made tomorrow. Have a good night.” I snapped my phone shut.
Jack sat down next to me and handed me a crystal goblet filled with red wine. “Here you go.”
We had already covered all of the basics of our lives on our “predate interview” as I liked to call it, over the phone: we were both single, professionals, but whereas I lived in Westchester County, Jack had stayed close to his and Kevin’s Queens roots and had a condo in Long Island City, which was fast becoming the hot new area in New York. I