don’t have. Hey, Blanche,” Josie says with a glint in her eye. “You should show Robert that picture in your phone. You know the one.”
Kane overhears her and I swear his rookie eyes are about to bug out of his head. He rubs his hands together like a mad scientist and whistles low. “Yeah, Blanche. Show Robert everything that’s in the cloud.”
“Yeah, the cloud.” Josie reaches over and high fives Kane until his rookie eyes about bug out of his head.
Then Kane teaches her how to fist bump and says, “Josie, you’re my jam!”
While all this is going on, Blanche reaches inside that giant bag, probably searching for the prom dress she wore the last time she and Robert were together. I cringe, waiting for the fallout. “Robert, I just wanted to show you…”
“No!” Cora shouts, almost spilling her beer.
I catch it with a smirk just as Blanche says, “A photo of all my gorgeous grandkids.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cora
Blaine playing three hundred straight games is a big deal in the NHL. And he’s even played injured. The road is hard on a professional athlete, but he’s always been dedicated to his team. And now he and Max are getting rewarded for it with a special ceremony inside Caribou arena prior to tonight’s match-up with the Redhawks.
Sue-Ann hasn’t been feeling well with her pregnancy and Julia’s still trying to manage her toddler and newborn, so I’m flying solo and tamping down the nerves swirling through my stomach. It’s hard to admit, but I still feel a little off when I’m sitting in Blaine’s seat even though we’re an official couple. I might still have a bit of imposter syndrome, but I’m working on it every day. I know soon I’ll be completely comfortable here and anywhere we’re together.
Without reinforcements, the rudest, most arrogant WAGs might eat me alive and question my presence here, not to mention the rabid fans who never seem to mind their manners. They love to harass anyone who doesn’t look like a Caribou automaton, dripping ice blue and brown from head to toe with a beer in one hand and a pennant in the other. I’ve only got one of Blaine’s game jerseys on and it almost goes to my knees.
I stutter to a stop as soon as I get about four rows above Blaine’s seats. Two girls with big hair and #24 Caribou jerseys are already sitting in them, drinking beer and talking with their heads together. I’m not sure how they even got into the VIP section without credentials. Then again, I probably do. Flashing their fake tits and batting their fake eyelashes.
I stomp down the stairs until I’m within inches of her. Anger slithers up my spine and lands in blazing heat on my cheeks. After a few rounds of Blaine’s tantric breathing techniques, I fist my hands to keep from winding them in her over teased hair and yanking.
I point a finger that doesn’t even tremble. “That is my seat you’re in.”
She giggles. Giggles! “Not according to that handsome man over there.” She glances away to wave at the VIP security guard.
The huge man with the bulging biceps who has been the security guard for as long as I’ve been coming here walks over. But obviously, he’s been looking right through me instead of at me because he has no idea who I am.
“Is there a problem, miss?” he asks.
He isn’t asking the question of me, the woman who’s been sitting in this seat all season. No can do. He’s asking the picture-perfect Rachel. The interloper. The thorn in my side. The bee in my beer. The shit on my shoe. My anger turns into rage and my insides start quaking. What the actual fuck?
Rachel smiles sweetly, her overinflated lips stretching to the brink. “Yes, Officer. This woman is trying to eject me from my seat. My boyfriend’s being honored tonight. I think you should kick her out of here so she doesn’t ruin the evening for me.”
The moment the security guard grabs me by the upper arm, Mike Shermet’s wife, Jacklyn, jumps up from her seat and rushes over. Shit. Now I’m going to be even more embarrassed because that woman has never said anything to me outside of hello.
She puts a hand on her hip, her judgmental gaze landing on… Rachel. “What’s going on here, Bill?”
“This woman,” he jabs a thick thumb in my direction, “is trying to kick Blaine’s girlfriend out of that seat right there.”
Jacklyn’s eyes narrow into slits. “Bill, that