Page 24

Are we being catfished?

Remy

The team put together a Thanksgiving dinner for all the players who were single or lived too far away to join their families.

Some of the guys, like Lathan and Miller, stayed on the East Coast after the last away game to see their relations before flying back for our next game.

My parents were in Malaysia and this wasn’t our Canadian Thanksgiving, so I was one of the orphans.

Murdock, who was a team dad for a lot of the Aces, hosted it. His wife prepared the traditional meal, and he had a couple of rug rats running around. There was football on for those who were interested, and lots of food and drinks to keep us going before the official dinner.

I ended up sitting by Dante, from PR, once we got to the table. I was a little suspicious of her, since in general I liked to avoid publicity. She was smart though.

“I heard you have a dog. Something about the team finding a place for you that was dog friendly?”

I nodded, hoping we’d soon be interrupted by the toast I could see Murdock winding up for.

“What’s he or she like?”

I switched my attention to her. “Beast is a rescue. He’s small but mean for his size.”

She smiled. “Fear aggression, right?”

“He had a tough time before I found him.” And before I realized, I’d told the story of adopting him, bringing him here, and how he was improving. I could have stuck with one-word answers on practically any other topic than Beast.

“Sounds like you’re building a relationship with this shelter where you’re walking Beast with their rescue dogs.”

I nodded. A glance at the end of the table indicated I’d soon be off the hook because the speech was about to start.

“Maybe we could get the team involved. Animals are always a draw, and it sounds like they’re doing good work. Cian is involved with the Austin Animal Allies.”

I turned back to her. “That’s the same group. They’ve got a couple of shelters. I’m sure they’d appreciate any help they could get.”

She quickly made a note in her phone, and then it was speech time.

I listened with more focus than I normally would because Dante was going to push for something from me, I just knew.

But she let it go, turning to general topics.

I relaxed and enjoyed an excellent meal.

Maybe the team would throw them some money, but I’d done what I could.

After Thanksgiving the team had a three-game winning streak going before a loss in LA, but we were in good shape with the Christmas holidays coming up.

I’d had three starts, two wins and a loss.

Lappy had lost a couple lately, and I could see the pressure getting to him.

He was flying home to see his family in Quebec over Christmas, so I hoped that helped him.

He was getting obsessive over his pregame rituals.

And while kissing his medal or following a certain order to dress wouldn’t hurt him, if his routine got messed up and he mentally made a big deal about it, there could be some negative fallout.

After our talk, Sophie and I were doing the friends thing.

I’d often hang out at her shop in the afternoon, if I wasn’t helping at the shelter.

It was soothing to watch her work. Her movements were confident, and the smell of wood and oils was calming.

Goober and Beast continued their odd relationship, seeming to tolerate each other more all the time, though I wouldn’t want to leave them alone together.

On days when Sophie went to String Theory to build a guitar, I’d stop in to see how things were going after walking Beast with a shelter dog. It gave me time that wasn’t all centered around hockey, and the animals helped me control my impatience over how my playing time was going…or not.

Then one day in December when I returned from walking Beast and a shelter dog, Delores thanked me for what I was doing.

I was confused. “These walks have been helping Beast, so I’m getting more out of it than you are.” Unless the donation I’d made wasn’t as anonymous as I’d thought. The way I kept showing up had to prove that I enjoyed volunteering.

She laughed. “Not the dog walks, the auction.”

I blinked at her. What auction was she talking about and how was I involved with it?

Her laughter stopped. “The photo shoot?”

“The photo shoot?”

Now she looked worried. “They didn’t talk to you? Are we being catfished?”

I’d opened my mouth to agree with her when I remembered Thanksgiving dinner and talking with Dante about the team doing something for the Austin Animal Allies. She had probably set something up, and I had a bad habit of missing emails. “Give me a minute.”

Beast grumbled as I pulled out my phone and started to scroll through my inbox. There were a lot. Meetups with the team, which I sometimes ignored till Hanny dragged me along. Info about travel arrangements, which I skipped if I wasn’t traveling. In the middle of those I found one from Dante.

Fuck. She’d set up an auction item for the Christmas charity event coming up.

I’d hoped to skip that. But not now. She’d created a package where a team photographer would take pictures of me and the winner of the auction and shelter animals needing a home, for a social media campaign.

Cian, the young center who helped with the charity, was part of it as well.

So at least all the attention wouldn’t be on me.

No way did I want to pose for a series of pictures.

But the money raised by the package would go to the shelter.

And the pics would be on the Aces social media sites.

It would give the shelter needed money, find homes for animals, and boost their image.

I had to do it. And it required me to dress up and be at the Christmas event. Fuck.

I met her troubled gaze. “It’s not a hoax. I should have opened an email.”

A hopeful smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. “So we really will get exposure from this?”

I nodded. “And money.”

She sighed. “Thank you, Remy. You and Cian are lifesavers. Money is always tight here. No matter how much we get, there are always more animals needing a home.”

I’d started this, so I’d have to see it through. “It’s for a good cause,” I said, as much to convince myself as anyone else.

“Absolutely. We’ll cooperate in any way we can. Think they might want some pictures with Howie too?” she asked.

I laughed. As much as I was going to hate this, the idea of telling Howie he had to do it too made it suddenly fun.

I went back to String Theory, trying to figure out just how bad this whole thing was going to be.

Would the photo shoot be worse than the Christmas party?

I wasn’t good at social events. I normally did my best to hide in the background, unless we were trapped at tables where I made awkward conversation.

It didn’t help that I was a backup goalie, getting only a few starts.

Not the prize player people wanted to get to know.

I stopped the truck in front of the carriage house, having driven us back on autopilot.

“Everything okay, Remy?” Sophie asked.

I jerked, and Beast growled. “Why do you ask?”

“You didn’t answer me, and you’ve been frowning out the windshield for a full minute now.”

I rubbed my face. “Sorry. Something came up.”

“Obviously not something good. I don’t want to pry, but is it Ollie?”

I shook my head. Otts had been professional since that confrontation here a couple of months ago, acting as if it had never happened. No problem with Otts. Of course, he had no idea I was friends with his ex, so…

Sophie looked worried, so I told her. “It’s a charity thing.”

She bit back a grin. “Hockey player of the month calendar.”

I sat back, eyes wide. “Fuck no. They do that?”

She laughed. “Not that I’m aware of. What’s so bad?”

I explained about the photo shoot.

“Is taking pictures a problem for you? I mean, the team seems to do a lot of that already, for advertising and social media. And the shelter is obviously something you care about.”

I leaned back. “I’m not going to like it, but I’ll do it to help the animals. That’s a future me problem. But I can’t skip the Christmas cocktail party now, and somehow I’m supposed to make people want to bid on getting their photos taken with one of the forwards and me.”

She cocked her head. “Not your forte?”

I shifted in the seat. “I never know the right thing to say. I normally try to hide out by a plant and count down the time till I can leave, but for this I have to mingle.”

She bit her lip. “A fate worse than death, apparently. So, if it’s a charity thing, these are probably wealthy people, right?”

I nodded. “Not a social circle I’m familiar with.”

“I am,” she said flatly.

“You are? Do you go to parties like this one?”

She shrugged. “Not this one, but I’ve done rich people events a lot. Because of Dad. Cash and I were at parties from the time we were kids.”

“Really?”

“We just made an appearance, at first. But as we got older we were supposed to greet people, make sure they had something to drink, talk to them if no one else did. We were brought up to schmooze.”

“That sounds horrible.” Thank fuck my parents never wanted me to attend faculty parties.

“Well, better than what you guys call…suicide drills?”

I’d prefer the drills any day, but I got the point. “Fair.”

“Do you want me to give you tips?”

Tips were not going to do it. I’d had media training. I still was awkward as fuck.

“Will you go with me?”