Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) - Amy Aislin Page 0,64
you the interview questions? Isn’t that sort of like cheating?”
“They didn’t.” Rotating in his seat to talk to him, Casey added, “I found examples online.”
“So, they’re not even the actual questions you’ll be asked?”
“No.” But he could make his best guess, and he wanted to practice his answers beforehand. Plus, Professor Wainwright was on the selection and interview committee, and now that Casey had met him, he wanted to make a good impression.
“You could wing it,” Ethan suggested.
Casey’s mouth dropped open. “It’s like you don’t even know me.” He was rewarded with a laugh.
In the seat behind Ethan, Theo tugged out his earbuds. “What are we talking about?”
“Over-preparedness,” Brant muttered.
Theo made a face. “Is there such a thing?”
“Thank you!” Casey held out a hand for Theo to fist bump.
The GPS on Ethan’s phone had them turning into a subdivision in Burlington near Lake Champlain full of family homes with wide front yards and tall trees, branches creeping over the road.
“I think this is it,” Ethan said, parking on the street in front of an unassuming two-story with red siding, white trim, and large windows with black shutters.
Casey got out of the car. “Not exactly what I expected.”
“Guess not all NHL players have mansions,” Brant said, joining him on the curb.
They trudged up the front walkway and onto the porch, backpacks with their overnight gear in hand. Theo held a tray of perfectly lovely devilled eggs. Brant had a plastic container of chocolate chip cookies he claimed were homemade but that Casey suspected came from prepackaged grocery store dough, which was not at all the same thing as homemade in his opinion. Ethan had made a potato salad this morning, and Casey held a grocery bag filled with several varieties of chips.
“I still can’t believe you brought chips to a potluck,” Brant murmured as Ethan knocked on the front door.
“What’s wrong with chips?” Casey said. “Everyone likes chips.”
“I mean, if you want to put in minimal effort . . .”
Ignoring him, Casey leaned his shoulder against Ethan’s.
Conversation and laughter drifted out to them from inside. It sounded like the entire team and their significant others were here, possibly even several kids, and the longer they stood waiting for their hosts to let them in, the tighter Ethan’s shoulders got.
“Why are we here again?”
“Because you felt it was inappropriate to turn Roman down when he invited you,” Casey pointed out helpfully.
“And you brought us as backup,” Brant added.
“Because stranger danger,” Theo finished.
“I have a few regrets,” Ethan mumbled, seemingly to no one.
Casey grinned, utterly delighted with him, and kissed his cheek.
And it wasn’t stranger danger that got Ethan worked up exactly. He simply wasn’t comfortable in large crowds, never mind large crowds made up of people he didn’t know.
Hence the backup.
“Should we just go in?” Theo asked.
Casey tried the doorknob, and when the door swung open, he led the way inside only to find one of their hosts coming down the curving staircase.
“Hey!” Cody grinned at them. “You made it.”
“Yeah,” Casey said. “We knocked, but—”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have heard it anyway. I should’ve texted you to come right in. Everyone else does.”
As suspected, everyone else did appear to be the entire team and their families, judging by the noise.
“Come in. Leave your bags by the door and I’ll show you where to put your goodies. What’d you bring me?”
Cody made sounds of appreciation as he led them down the hall, bypassing a large living room filled with members of the Vermont Trailblazers hockey team.
Casey tried not to let his eagerness show and nearly bit his tongue to swallow a laugh when Ethan elbowed him in the side in excitement.
In the kitchen, a long table was loaded with meatballs, seven-layer dip, sliders, pasta salads, veggie platters, and a steaming plate of roast beef. And that was only what he could see on this half of the table. It looked partly devoured already, but they were late to the party, having had to wait until Theo finished classes for the day before they could make the hour-plus drive to Burlington.
Casey’s stomach growled.
Outside the sliding kitchen doors, several people stood on a polished deck, nursing drinks while standing or sitting around the circular stone fire pit. Steps led from the deck down to the edge of Lake Champlain, and on the other side of the lake stood the mountains of eastern New York state.
“And what did you bring?” Cody asked, turning to him.