Tending Tara (Alaska Blizzard #7) - Kat Mizera Page 0,11
right now, and your safest bet, if you really want to stay, is to get married.”
She sighed and took a sip of coffee. She’d already considered this, but it really wasn’t the direction she wanted to go. A marriage of convenience sounded…well, inconvenient as hell. She’d jokingly brought it up to Miikka’s teammate, Logan Pelletier, who was also her friend, and while he’d said he’d do it, she hadn’t thought he was serious. That, and she really didn’t want to marry him. He was a nice enough guy, but younger than her, a total man-whore on the team, and a wild child in general. It wouldn’t be good for either of them to be in a fake marriage that immigration officials might be checking on. What if they caught him with someone else?
“I can see this doesn’t sound like a good idea to you,” Gage said after holding the thermometer against Matthew’s forehead.
“Not exactly what I thought getting married would be like, but there’s the bigger problem of finding someone to marry me.”
He shrugged. “if it’s just a marriage of convenience, I’m sure I have any number of friends who’d be willing to do it for me, if nothing else.”
“I don’t know if I could marry a stranger,” she said slowly, “especially if I had to live with them.”
“What about Logan?” he asked.
“Yes, I could marry Logan. We’re friends, and he’s a good guy, but I think it would be complicated.”
“I’m sorry, Tara. I thought I could make this happen, but visas and green cards seem to be harder and harder to get.”
“I know. It’s not your fault. I appreciate everything you’ve done.”
“Look, think about it, okay? If you want, I can talk to Logan…”
She shook her head. “No, if I decide to do this, I’ll talk to him.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said gently, bouncing Matthew on his knee.
“I can’t imagine having to go back to Finland,” she said softly. “Especially since I haven’t even had time to do most of the things I wanted to do since moving here.”
“You’ve been working hard,” he agreed. “You should absolutely have a little fun because you haven’t had any since you’ve been here. You could have stayed in Finland if all you were going to do was work.”
“I have fun,” Tara protested. “I love being able to play hockey, and it’s the first time in years I can hang out with my brother regularly. I have friends and money and a wonderful place to live. What more could I ask for?”
“There’s more to life than hockey and family.”
“True, but in my case…what else is there?”
“Well, the holidays are coming, and those are usually a blast. You’ve probably never celebrated American Thanksgiving, right?”
“No.”
“What about Halloween? The team is in town, so I’ve started planning a huge party.”
“A Halloween party?”
“Yes.”
“Now that sounds like fun! We don’t really have Halloween in Finland. Some of the bigger cities do, especially on university campuses with international students, but in general, it’s not a thing, so I’m excited to experience it firsthand.”
“There’s a game that night, but I’ll stay home to take Matthew out for a little bit, and then I’ll get him to bed by the time the party starts. The guys on the team will come over when they get done. Luckily, it’s an early game, so they won’t miss much.”
“I’ll have to find a costume,” Tara said thoughtfully. “What should I be? And where should I go?”
“Laurel and I are going as Belle and Beast.”
“Oh, that’s fun. Where did you get the costume?”
“We ordered online a couple of weeks ago. But I’m sure we can find you something.”
“I think I want to go the Disney route, too. I’ve never been a princess before.”
“And maybe Cinderella will find her prince at the ball.” Gage’s eyes twinkled.
Tara rolled her eyes. “You had to ruin it.”
Gage laughed.
6
Donovan had forgotten all about the team Halloween party until two days before, and he got online to see if he could find something local that he could either pick up or pay extra for overnight delivery. There wasn’t much left, which was his own fault, and he scrolled through a few pages until he got to an adult pirate costume that looked pretty good. It probably wouldn’t be as good as some of the others, but it would do, so he paid for it and asked them to hold it for him until tomorrow.
There was a game tonight, so he was glad he’d found a costume and could relax. He