Page 89 of Pucking the Team

“What’d you want?” Theo asked.

“That carrot cake.” I pointed at a great slab. “That and an iced tea, please.”

“Coming right up.”

“Excuse me, can I have your autograph, please?”

We both turned. A small boy wearing a Vipers cap was staring up at Theo with wide eyes.

“Sure thing, kid.” Theo squatted and took the offered pen. “What’s your name?”

“Jerry, and you and Theo Evans are my favorite players in all the league.” He nodded earnestly, his cap bobbing.

Theo chuckled. “Well, IamTheo Evans, but I’m guessing you like my brother Ben, too?”

The young boy glanced at a table where a woman in a flowery dress sat with a coffee. She smiled and nodded at him.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got your poster on my wall but sometimes I get you mixed up when you haven’t got number eight and two on your jerseys.”

“That’s okay, our mom gets us mixed up, too.” Theo smiled and scribbled on the pad. He then dug into his pocket. “Here, you can have this if you want.” He opened his palm and revealed a Viper’s Pride badge—a scarlet snake with a protruding tongue.

“Can I?” The boy jigged on the spot and peered at it.

“Sure, take it.”

He took it and held it tight in his fist. “Thank you, Theo Evans, I really, really hope you win all of your games this season.”

Theo stood tall again. “Thanks, kid, you make sure you shout loud for us when you’re watching, yeah, that always helps us get those goals.”

“I will. I really will.” He nodded earnestly. “Every time I come and see you and even if I watch on TV.”

“Perfect.” Theo ruffled his hair. “And I’ll watch out for you at games, so be sure to wave.”

“I will.” He turned suddenly, clutching his pen, paper, and new badge and rushed back to his mom.

“That was nice of you,” I said.

“I always have a few of those badges in my pocket, they come in handy for moments like that.”

We took our drinks and cake to a bench under a fig tree set away from the other customers. The cake was moist and full of flavor, and I devoured it.

“So when did you decide to become a model?” Theo asked.

“I didn’t really, I was spotted when I was fifteen. I was out shopping on Oxford Street. I got offered a contract that quickly led to another. Trevor was my agent from the beginning and became a trusted family friend. I wouldn’t have the career I have if it wasn’t for him, not that he doesn’t benefit from commissions, he does, but I do adore him.”

“That’s good.”

“But looks fade.” I wiped my fingertip over my lips to check for crumbs. “Which is why I went to university.” I paused, thinking back to what was undoubtedly the hardest time of my life. “I’d lost my parents months before I was due to go but I still went.”

“Brave of you.”

“My Aunt Mary and I discussed it at length. I knew it would be hard emotionally, I was a mess as it was, but it is what my parents would have wanted.”

“They didn’t agree with your modelling?”

“No, it’s not that, they were happy if I was, and I was—life was fun, glamorous, I was seeing the world and meeting interesting people, but they wanted me to have a plan B.”

“Sensible.”