Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 52975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
I pull back, grinning sheepishly. “I didn’t have time for lunch.”
“C’mon.”
He takes my hand and leads me toward a side room of the restaurant. Carter and Suki rented out the entire place for this dinner. They invited every player, coach, staffer and their families. I’m a little bit early and there are already more than fifty people here.
There’s a long row of tables set up along one wall of the side room, and it’s filled with appetizers. Bash releases my hand and grabs a plate. I follow his lead.
“Hey, Lainey,” Leo says from nearby. “You haven’t been able to get rid of this asshole yet?”
Bash flips him off. I’m too busy loading up my little plate with as much food as I can fit on it. Shrimp cocktail, caprese skewers and stuffed mushrooms. Yes, yes, and hell yes. I’m not risking the bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers Bash took four of, but they look amazing.
“How’s your day going?” I ask as I join Bash at a little standing table.
“Ugh. Better now. I spent seven hours on the ice today.”
“Wow, why?”
“Double practices, plus some extra drills. Which we need, but it still takes a lot out of us.”
“You can eat double dessert tonight with no guilt, though.”
He barks a single note of laughter. “If I want to feel like I ate an elephant tomorrow at five thirty a.m. when I wake up to do it all over again.”
“Aw, poor Bash,” I tease. “All work and no play.”
He’s about to respond when Hallie and Charlotte approach us. Charlotte is wearing a simple, pretty blue dress with a simple white headband in her short pink pixie cut. Hallie’s dress is purple with a full skirt, her curls loose.
“Look at you two,” I say, stepping back from our table to admire them. “Beautiful!”
Hallie does a little curtsy. Charlotte gives me a half smile and I sense that she didn’t choose her outfit herself.
“We snuck out of the kids’ room to ask you how many stars there are in the sky,” Hallie says.
“The kids’ room?”
Charlotte shrugs. “Dex and Mara are helping us do a craft. Mara said motherfucker when she cut her finger on a staple gun.”
I arch my brows, amused. “And you left that to come here?”
“It’s a million, isn’t it?” Hallie blurts. “I told her it’s a million, but she doesn’t believe me.”
“I think it’s infinity,” Charlotte explains. “No one’s ever counted all of them because there are so many.”
“Those are both excellent guesses.”
“Yeah, but who’s right?” Hallie presses.
“Well, you know how we can look up at the sky at night and see stars? In the entire sky, if it’s completely clear, there are around nine thousand visible stars.”
“That’s close to a million,” Hallie says.
“No, it’s not!” Charlotte gapes at her.
I exchange a smile with Bash.
“You know how we live in a galaxy?” I say.
Both girls nod.
“Well, scientists estimate there are about two trillion galaxies in our universe. That’s a number so big we can’t really even comprehend it. And in every one of those galaxies, there are billions to trillions of stars. We don’t have a total number, but it would be very, very large if we did.”
“I want to be a star scientist,” Hallie says.
“An astronomer? You should.”
“An astromoner.”
“It’s astronomer, Hals,” Charlotte says.
Mara comes into the room, a white bandage wrapped around one of her index fingers.
“Girls, what are you doing in here? You’re supposed to be working on your posters.” She smiles at me and puts an arm around my shoulders. “Hey. I’m helping the kids make posters for the locker room.”
“Do you guys get to eat?”
“Yeah, Harry fed us before everyone else got here. I’m sure I’ll also have some of the mac and cheese they’re making for the kids.” She looks from Bash to me. “I hear we’re going out after this.”
I pinch my brows together in surprise. “We are?”
“Mara, why don’t you take the girls back to the other room?” Bash says, looking aggravated.
“Oh. Was I not supposed to say anything?”
My cheeks warm as Mara puts an arm around each of the girls and walks away.
“It’s completely okay if it’s a team thing and I’m not invited,” I say. “I’m wiped out and I want to go right home after this, anyway.”
He shakes his head. “No, you have to come.”
“We’ll see. Maybe for one drink.”
“That’s not gonna work, Lane.”
I laugh. “Oh really?”
“You’ll see why. We’re going out after this, and you’ll have a blast.”
“Even though I’m a tired introvert?”
“It’ll be fun. I promise.”
Okay, so it’s fun. A bunch of players and their plus ones are at The Factory for karaoke night. It’s crowded, and so far, we’ve been treated slash subjected to “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.
Bash has his arm around my shoulders, and I don’t mind at all. He had his arm around my waist when we joined the entire bar in belting out “Sweet Caroline.”