Chapter 7

Paige and I walked into our coffee shop the following Wednesday afternoon. I’d had a quiet and uneventful few days at school so far this week and I liked that. We got in line and ordered our drinks idly chatting about our day. When they arrived we found a table and sat down.

“Have you talked to Patrick lately?” she asked after taking a sip of her drink. I rolled my eyes at her. Lately every conversation with her turned to Patrick at some point.

“I talked to him on Sunday actually,” I told her. Her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face.

“What about?” I thought back to the phone call and smiled.

“I thanked him for offering Nathan and I tickets, he told me about his game from the night before, and that’s about it,” I explained. Paige looked disappointed.

“That’s it?” I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. “Really?”

“Sorry that I don’t have anything juicier for you,” I apologized sarcastically.

She changed the subject after that and we continued to sit and talk for a while about other things. Even though we weren’t discussing Patrick anymore, he was still on my mind. It had only been a few days since I’d talked to him but I found that I wanted to talk to him again. Paige and I went our separate ways and I headed home with Patrick on the brain.

On one hand I didn’t like that he was having this kind of effect on me, and yet I did. It was a strange predicament I’d never found myself in before. I absentmindedly greeted Loxley when I got home. I decided to go for a run to clear my head and took Loxley with me. By the time I was home I wasn’t anywhere close to getting Patrick off my mind.

I spotted my cell sitting on the coffee table and narrowed my eyes at it. Did I dare? What would I say? I couldn't just call Patrick to talk, could I? I needed an excuse. I sat down on the couch and thought. Finally something popped into my head and I picked up my phone. I highlighted Patrick’s name in my contacts list and hesitated. Do it now before you chicken out, I told myself.

“Hi, this is Patrick. Sorry I missed you. Leave a name and a number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” his voicemail picked up.

I panicked and hung up. As soon as I did I smacked myself in the head. He was going to be able to see that my number was the missed call. You idiot, Gabrielle. Now what? Without thinking about it, I called his number again. This time I didn’t hang up.

“Hi, Patrick, it’s Gabrielle. Sorry about the last call. I got disconnected somehow. I was actually just calling about the tickets for Nathan and I. I realized that I hadn’t explained the schedule of games we could attend to you. Just give me a call back when you can to discuss it. Thanks.”

It was a lame excuse to make the call, but I did it. I tried to make myself sound as professional as possible in the message. I went over what I’d said in my head a few times before chiding myself. You’re not in high school, you’re an adult. Get a grip. I pushed Patrick out of my mind and hopped into the shower.

After taking a long hot shower I searched through my cupboards to see what I could do for dinner. I decided on something easy and grabbed out the ingredients for a shrimp stir-fry. I put on some music and made dinner. When I finished eating I fed Loxley and then walked into my studio. I studied the painting I’d started on Sunday.

Just as I was about to sit and continue, I heard my phone ring. I sprinted out of the studio and into the living room to my phone. I practically dove at it, hoping to see Patrick’s name on the screen. I saw that it was and took a moment to compose myself before answering.

“Hello?” I answered casually.

“Hey, Gabby, it’s Patrick. I got your message.” I felt my stomach do a little flip at him calling me Gabby. He’d never done that before. You only used nicknames with people you liked being around, right?

“Oh, good. I realized we hadn’t talked about it and I didn’t want you leaving tickets for games we wouldn’t be attending.”

“I have Friday free. Why don’t we get together for dinner and discuss it then?” Wait, hold on, what? I’d figured we were just going to talk about it now on the phone, not over dinner. Even so, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Friday sounds great.”

We figured out a time and a location before hanging up. I fell back onto the couch in a kind of daze. Patrick and I were going to be having dinner in two days. Sensing something was up, Loxley made his way over to me and began to nudge my hand. I gave him a pat on the head and laughed.

“Don’t worry, buddy, Mama’s okay,” I assured him.

The next day flew by in a blur for me. Before I knew it I was sitting at home after school was out on Friday. I was playing tug of war with Loxley when a sudden panic hit me. What was I going to wear? I jumped up and stared into my closet and groaned. I didn’t exactly own date-worthy clothes. I picked up my phone and called Paige.

“I’m having dinner with Patrick tonight and I don’t know what to wear,” I told her.

“I’ll be right over,” came her reply. She hung up the phone and I sat down on the couch, fidgeting nervously until there was a knock on my door.

“You’re better at this stuff than I am,” I said as she walked through the door. I noticed then that she was carrying a bunch of stuff with her.

“I’m going to move right past the fact that you neglected to tell me about your date with him and get right to work,” she quipped.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one said date,” I said defensively. She put her stuff down and gave me a disbelieving look.

“Where are you going?” she asked. I relayed the information to her and she put it into a search on my computer. The restaurant’s website popped up and we looked at it. A knot started to form in my stomach. “How did dinner come up?”

“I called him and told him we should talk about the games Nathan and I would go to so he knew ahead of time. He suggested talking about it over dinner,” I explained. She lifted her eyebrows and a smile formed on her face.

“Couldn’t you have talked about it on the phone right then?” she asked.

“Sure,” I responded slowly.

“Keep that in mind while you look at the website for the restaurant you’re going to and tell me it’s not a date.”

I looked back at the computer screen. While the restaurant wasn’t black tie, it was hardly a chain place. There were linens on the tables with candles and mood lighting. Oh no. I, Gabrielle Tunney, was going on a date. A date?! I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been on a date. No way, this wasn’t happening.

“I can’t be going on a date. I don’t know how to date! I’m not good at it!” I exclaimed in exasperation.

“No one’s good at dating, Gabby. You’ll be fine,” Paige reassured me. It didn’t help.

“What if it’s a disaster? What if we don’t have anything to talk about?” I was in full on panic mode.

“Hello, you two have already had a dinner and talked long after the food was gone. You’ll be fine. Now sit down and let me get you ready,” she demanded.

I did as she said and sat down, allowing her to do my hair and makeup. When she was done with that she went to work picking out something for me to wear. She grabbed a black halter dress and a black cardigan to go over it, nothing too fancy, telling me I should look classic. I changed and she gave me a nod of approval.

We walked out of the building together. She gave me a few more words of encouragement before I got into a cab and headed to the restaurant. I nervously fidgeted around the entire drive and stumbled as I got out. Thankfully it didn’t seem like anyone saw and I tried to pull myself together before walking in.

“Gabby,” I heard Patrick say my name just after I walked in the door. I turned to see him standing up from a seat. I panicked once again thinking I was late. I was never late.

“Oh no, am I late?” I asked him. He smiled and shook his head.

“No, I was just early. I didn’t want to sit until you got here.”

I relaxed and smiled back at him. I took a moment to look him over. He looked amazing in his dark wash jeans and fitted shirt. We followed the hostess to a table and sat down. I took a silent deep breath before picking up the menu to distract myself a bit. I needed the distraction, because otherwise I was going to be thinking about how nervous I was.

“Do you want to get a bottle of wine?” Patrick asked.

“Unless you plan on drinking most of it, it might be a waste. I never have more than a glass,” I told him. He smiled over at me.

“Just a glass each then it is.”

We put in our drink orders and then continued to look over the menu in silence. I was practically hiding behind mine. Our waiter arrived with our drinks and we gave him our orders. Now that the menu was gone I didn’t have anything but the wine to distract me. I forced myself to only take a small sip and take my time drinking it.

“So you wanted to talk to me about the games you and Nathan could attend,” Patrick said. My nerves relaxed a little bit and I nodded. This was why we were here afterall.

“Yeah, I did. We’ll only need tickets for weekend games. I just wouldn’t feel right bringing Nathan to a game on a weekday with school the next morning. So basically Friday nights, Saturday, and if there are any Sunday afternoons,” I explained.

“Sounds good. I won’t worry about the rest of the nights then. I’ll just automatically have the tickets at will call waiting for you guys each game,” he told me.

“Thanks again for doing this for him.”

“You need to stop thanking me. I’ve told you it’s not a problem at all.” I blushed a little and nodded before taking another small sip of my wine. Now that the issue with Nathan was sorted out I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully Patrick spoke up. “I know that we probably could have said that over the phone, but thanks for meeting me for dinner. It gets lonely eating alone all the time.”

“I know what you mean,” I told him truthfully. Very very rarely did I ever have a meal with anyone else.

“It doesn’t help that I can’t cook either. No one wants to come over when your specialty is pressing the speed dial for pizza,” he joked. I laughed, unable to help myself.

“You can’t be that bad,” I insisted. He rolled his eyes.

“I’ve been known to royally screw up spaghetti.” I laughed again and he joined in. “How about you? Do you cook?”

“Yeah, I do actually. I enjoy it. I mean I’m not a culinary master, but I get the job done,” I explained.

“Did someone teach you, or were you just naturally good at it?” he asked.

“I’m self taught.”

“Impressive. My mother spent years trying to teach me how to cook knowing I’d be on my own someday. She’s very disappointed to have an offspring who is useless in the kitchen.” I laughed again.

“I’m sure she’s not that disappointed. You must have other talents. Like hockey.” Patrick shrugged.

“Trust me, that’s hardly consolation to her. Now my brother, he can cook a mean roast. Makes her proud. Every year when I come home she keeps trying to teach me. My father just rolls his eyes at her determination.”

“Well, she’s obviously worried about what you’re eating. If pizza on speed dial is the specialty, I’d say she has good reason.” He laughed and agreed.

“So how about your family? What are they like?” It was an innocent enough question, but my smile faded. It was the first time my family had been brought up between us. I took a deep breath before responding.

“It’s just me,” I told him quietly, casting my eyes down to the table. I didn’t like talking about my family.

“Oh, Gabrielle, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,” he apologized. I looked back up at him and gave him a small smile.

“Don’t apologize. It’s been 9 years,” I told him trying to shrug it off.

Our dinner came just at that moment and I was thankful. We both looked down at our food after the waiter had moved off, but neither of us made a move to start eating. Desperate to get the pall out of dinner I brought up the only thing I could think of.

“So how did you get started with hockey?” I asked. He looked up at me and smiled, obviously relieve at the topic change.

“Now that’s a long story,” he began.

“You’re Canadian?” I joked. He laughed.

“I guess it’s not that long,” he replied while still laughing.

The rest of the dinner went off without a hitch. We had more than enough to talk about the rest of the time, avoiding the topic of my family of course. He tried to insist on taking a cab with me back to my place to make sure I got home okay, but I refused because he had to head in the opposite direction.

Before I got in the cab he took my hand and pulled me close to him, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I felt butterflies in my stomach flutter at the touch and I’m sure I was blushing. He said he’d call me before we went our separate ways. I got into bed that night with a smile, floating on cloud 9.

Chapter 6

I sat in front of a blank canvas and closed my eyes. Painting, along with running, was a kind of therapy for me. Right now, I didn’t need any therapy. I just wanted to paint. More often than not I didn’t have anything in mind when I got into this type of mood. Usually I just sat down for a while in front of the canvas and let my mind wander.

That’s what I was doing right now. I sat there with a clear mind for a moment before I thought of yellow. I wasn’t sure what to do with the color my brain gave me, but I picked up a brush and got to work. I began blending color trying to come up with the same yellow I had seen in my mind. The moment I got it right, I knew what I was going to paint.

I put the yellow I’d constructed off to the side and got to work blending the right colors for everything else. The yellow would be last. Loxley made his way into the room and curled up at my feet. I gave him a pat on the head before starting on the painting. I zoned out of everything and focused only on the canvas. I don’t know how long I sat there before a ringing broke me out of my concentration.

“Hello?” I answered my phone without glancing down to look at who was calling.

“Gabrielle, it’s Patrick,” the voice on the other end greeted. I felt myself smile as I put the current brush I was using down and got up from my seat.

“Hey, Patrick, how are you?” I asked. I noted that it was mid-afternoon and I’d been in my “studio” for a few hours.

“Pretty good. How about you?” he returned.

“Really good. So what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check in. I felt kind of weird about how things ended Friday night.” I thought back to our conversation with Nathan. Lying to him hadn’t settled right with me either.

“For the record, I hate that we lied to Nathan about meeting to talk about you giving us tickets for the rest of the year,” I told him.

“Same here. I could tell that you were uneasy about the direction the conversation had gone when we talked about getting coffee, and it was the first thing that came to mind. I’m sorry I put you in that position.” I smiled at the apology, even though it was a completely unnecessary one.

“You don’t have to apologize. I just have a rule that I don’t discuss my personal life with students, that’s all. It was my mistake for bringing it up in the first place,” I explained.

“Well, I’ll remember that for future reference.” Future reference? That meant he wanted to see me again, right?

“You really don’t have to give us those tickets, you know. I feel like this whole situation put you into a tough spot and I would feel awful taking them over a mistake I made.”

“Nonsense. Every guy on the team is automatically given two tickets for every home game. If I didn’t give them to the two of you, they’d go unused and it would just be two empty seats in the stands. Take them,” he told me.

“Are you sure?” I wanted to double check, because it still seemed like an inconvenience to him.

“I’m positive, and if you ask me again, the answer will stay the same.” I smiled on my end of the receiver.

“Well, thank you then. I can’t even believe the amount of things you’ve done for Nathan and I in the two weeks we’ve known you. You must be some kind of saint.” I heard him laugh at the other end.

“I’m not sure anyone’s ever referred to me as a saint before,” he joked and I joined in the laughter.

“So how did your game go last night?” I asked, remembering that they’d gone on the road after the game Friday for another game.

“It wasn’t great, but thankfully our goalie played out of his mind and bailed us out a lot. We ended up winning in a shootout,” he told me.

“Well, at least you won, right?” He let out a small laugh.

“And I managed to score a goal too,” he added.

“Well, congratulations,” I said with a grin.

Patrick and I talked for a few more minutes before we hung up. I made my way back into the studio and sat down in front of the canvas with a smile on my face. I got back to work, funneling my emotion into my work. To say that the painting was altered from my original idea at that point wouldn’t be doing it justice.

The next day I went into work just like any other day, except I knew that Gia was supposed to be coming in today. She’d skipped out on her last two appointments with me. At this point I didn’t care what we talked about, I just wanted her to show up. I said a silent prayer that she would come in before I got started on my day.

When 11:00 rolled around and the bell rang, signaling students should be in class I sat tensely at my desk. Please come in, please come in. On cue there was a knock on my door. I got up and pulled it open, revealing Gia standing on the other side. She didn’t look happy about being here, but she was here.

“Hello, Gia,” I greeted her with a smile.

She gave me a forced smile in return and I walked over to the chair I used during meetings with students. I didn’t like to sit behind my desk, feeling like it made me seem too formal. She collapsed down on the couch opposite me with a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

“So how are you today?” I asked. She rolled her eyes before responding.

“Fine.” I’d expected that response. It was the only response she ever gave me when I met with her.

“Good. So what’s going on in school?” I usually started off meetings with her like that. Talking about school at least gave us something to converse about before I tried to get her to open up.

“Not much. I have a math test coming up,” she offered. She looked none to pleased about that test either.

“Ooh, math. Math was never my strong point,” I admitted truthfully.

“It’s stupid. What’s the point?” she complained. I thought for a moment before answering, afraid of saying something to anger her.

“Well, I think it’s to prepare everyone. You never know what career you might fall into, so giving everyone all the basics in every subject helps when people make decisions about that. That way they have the building blocks to get started in their chosen specialty.” She made a face.

“And in what career would I need to know about obtuse and acute angles?” she questioned. I gave her a small smile, knowing my answer would only annoy her.

“Engineering. It’s pretty important to know the right angles when you build something, otherwise it wouldn’t work properly,” I responded.

“Well, I’m not going to be an engineer.”

“What do you want to be?” She remained silent at that question. Instead of responding she looked down at her feet and picked at her cuticles. I realized that I was getting as far as I would with that topic and decided to change it up. “Is anything else going on?”

“No,” she replied curtly. She was hiding something, and I could tell. She was fidgeting far too much not to be. Even so, I didn’t want to push.

“Well, we still have some time left. What would you like to talk about? Anything is fine. Your choice.” I always asked her that hoping that anything she gave me would help me understand her.

“I just want to go back to study hall.”

When she said that, she ran a hand through her hair. Her left sleeve was shoved down just enough in the process for me to see that there was a bandage on her arm. It wasn’t on her wrist which signaled to me that she hadn’t been trying to commit suicide, but was most likely cutting, and recently. My heart ached, but I knew better than to push her about it right now. If I pushed her before I’d gained her trust, I’d lose her forever.

“You can do that in a minute. We’re almost done. Why don’t you tell me about photography? I heard you’re taking that this year,” I prodded. Photography was an elective in school, and I knew that only students that cared about it took it. Most students would rather have a study hall over another class.

“It’s alright, I guess,” she replied, trying to be nonchalant about it. Even so, I could see the twinkle in her eyes for just a moment. It didn’t last long, but it was there long enough for me to see that there was something positive in her life.

“You know, I never did have the creative eye for photography. It amazes me sometimes to see the work some photographers can produce.” Gia shrugged.

“It’s not difficult really. You just have to look around you and find something that moves you. Sometimes it’s people, and sometimes it’s just the formation of rocks. You never know what will touch you,” she explained to me. It was the most she’d ever said to me before. I smiled over at her.

“I’ve heard a lot of photographers bring their cameras with them everywhere they go. Do you do that?” I asked. She shrugged again.

“Sometimes. I try to if I can, but I really need a better camera before I can take anything worthwhile.” I decided to press my luck with the newfound openness.

“You sound like you really love it. Have you ever thought about making photography your career?” I watched her shut down right in front of me. Her body language changed drastically and the look on her face turned to a scowl. She didn’t respond. Someday I wanted to find out why she refused to talk about her future.

“Can I go now?” she finally asked a minute later. I smiled over at her and nodded.

“Yeah, sure. Let me write you a pass.”

I filled out a pass for her to head back to her study hall and watched her walk out of my office. It was discouraging to know that a teenager outright refused to talk about her future. That was never a good sign, especially connected with one who cut themselves. Despite that, I felt like I’d won a small victory. I’d finally discovered something that she loved. When they still had something they cared about, there was always a chance to help them.

Chapter 5

I walked into work the next morning and headed straight for my office. I went through my normal routine of putting away everything I’d brought in with me before checking my schedule for the day. Not long after I got there I heard a knock on my door. I looked up and smiled when I saw Paige poking her head in.

“Good morning,” I greeted her cheerfully. Her jaw dropped as she walked into my office.

“What did you just say to me?” she asked. I furrowed my brow in confusion. What was so offensive about ‘good morning’?

“I said ‘good morning’,” I repeated. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me.

“Now why would you do that?”

“Because it’s the morning. What’s your deal?”

“You’re not yelling at me. Are you using some sort of weird psychological thing on me? You’re being nice to me to get back at me somehow?” she questioned. Then it hit me.

“Oh yeah, I’m mad at you,” I said. She grinned over at me.

“You don’t sound very angry.”

“Don’t mistake my good mood for forgiveness. What you did still wasn’t right,” I told her.

“I don’t care if it was right or not, I just care about how it went. Tell me!” she exclaimed sitting down in a chair across from me.

“We walked for a bit, talked, had dinner. Nothing big,” I explained. Her eyes opened wide and her smile grew.

“You went to dinner?!” she yelled.

I knew it was best to just answer her questions now rather than blow her off and face them later when she’d had time to mull over them. I prepared myself for the rapid fire exchange that was about to go down. It was how Paige worked, and honestly it was easier for me as well.

“Would you quiet down? And yes.”

“Where?”

“A tapas place a few blocks from the coffee shop.”

“You went someplace you had to share little plates of food?”

“It looked good.”

“Who picked the food?”

“Both of us.”

“You agreed on stuff?”

“Everything.”

“How long were you there?”

“Just over two hours.” She paused and that wasn’t good.

“You ate at a tapas place for more than two hours?” she asked slowly.

“We didn’t eat for two hours. The food was gone in the first hour, and we talked the rest of the time.”

I realized my mistake as soon as I finished talking. I’d said too much. Paige had thrown me off by slowing down causing me to divulge more. It was a tactic she knew worked well with me when she wanted to know more than I was giving up. Damn her.

“Hold on, you met someone that eats the same food you do and you managed to have a two hour conversation with him? Marry him, and marry him now,” she joked.

I glared at her, not appreciating the joke. I was known by others as a picky eater. I didn’t agree with that assessment, but everyone accused me of being one. I just wasn’t adventurous when it came to food. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t, that’s all. The bell signaling the start of homeroom rang and saved me from any further conversation with Paige. She shot me one last grin before leaving my office for the day.

The next evening I pulled into the school parking lot a couple hours after leaving. It was Friday and I was picking Nathan up to go to the Hawks game. I saw Nathan sitting out in front and smiled. It was Halloween and I’d half expected him not to show up. I was relieved when I saw him.

He chatted away during the car ride. I did more listening than talking but I didn’t mind. The more Nathan talked, the more comfortable he’d get with me, and the more he’d open up. I thought about what a victory it was just to have him with me and out of trouble on Halloween, notorious for hijinks. I knew that even after the game ended, there was still plenty of time for Nathan to go out, but he wasn’t out there right now.

The game was exciting and the Hawks won 5-2 over the Stars. Nathan was the same way he was the previous game. He cheered the whole game, and during stoppages he talked animatedly about anything and everything. We used the passes Patrick had left us and went downstairs and stood in practically the same place as the game before.

As we waited I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious to see Patrick again. I hadn’t talked to him since Paige’s set up. We’d seemed to get along well, and had a lot in common, but I wasn’t sure how he’d felt about it. I tried to tell myself he wouldn’t have stuck around as long as he did if he hated me, but it wasn’t sticking.

The more anxious I felt, the more frustrated with myself I got. What was I worrying so much about? Patrick and I weren’t dating. That hadn’t even been a date we’d gone on. At least not to me. We’d been thrown together by my conniving friend and tried to make the best of it. Get a grip, Gabrielle.

“Are you okay, Miss Tunney?” Nathan’s voice broke into my thoughts. Great, I’d been ignoring him since we’d gotten down here. Way to gain his trust.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just tired. What were you saying?” This time I listened as Nathan talked on.

“Hey, Patrick!” Nathan exclaimed a few minutes later. I turned around to see Patrick walking over to us, smiling, looking as amazing as before in his suit.

“Hi guys. How are you?”

“Really good. Great game tonight. And thanks for the tickets,” Nathan gushed.

“It’s not a problem. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Definitely. I hope you guys can keep this up. Miss Tunney promised me that she’d take me to games on the weekends if I do well in school,” Nathan told him. Patrick looked over at me and I thought I saw his smile grow.

“Is that so? That’s really nice of her.” I found myself starting to blush as I smiled back at Patrick. “Did you enjoy the game?” he asked turning to me.

“I did. I don’t know much about hockey, but I’m quickly growing to like it,” I said.

“Good. Then it won’t be torture to drag this kid here then,” he joked. Nathan and I both laughed.

“Sharpie, can I catch a ride with you tonight?” another guy in a suit asked walking over to us. I recognized him as the same guy that had come over the game before.

“No problem, Burs,” Patrick agreed. The other guy thanked him before walking away and talking to a few of the wives or girlfriends.

“Burs? Is that the guy who gave you the ringtone?” I asked remembering “Barbie Girl” playing on his phone the other day. Patrick laughed.

“Yeah, that was him. I still haven’t figured out how to get him back for that,” he said.

“Barbie Girl?” Nathan asked, snapping my attention back onto him. Shit, I’d forgotten he was there. What was wrong with me?

It was a cardinal rule in my book to not discuss anything from my personal life in front of students and I’d just done it. Maybe it hadn’t been much, but it definitely implied that Patrick and I had at least talked to each other away from Nathan. Patrick unfortunately didn’t know my cardinal rule and filled in the blanks.

“Yeah, Burish changed the ringtone on my phone to that God awful ‘Barbie Girl’ song the other day. Then when he knew I was out with Gabrielle he called hoping to embarrass me. It worked,” he explained. Nathan looked between Patrick and I in surprise and I felt myself blushing again.

“You two went out?” he questioned.

“Well, we didn’t exactly,” I started. I paused trying to think of something to say.

“She just wanted to talk to me about bringing you to the games. I told her I’d provide the tickets for any games you were going to come to.” His response caught me completely off guard. He glanced over at me quickly and smiled.

“Really?!” Nathan asked excitedly.

“Yeah, so we’ll have those seats all season,” I told him, going along with the lie. I didn’t like lying, but it seemed much easier than getting into the truth right now.

“That’s awesome! Thank you!” Nathan exclaimed to Patrick.

“They were going to go unused otherwise. It’s not like I have anyone else to give them to,” he said glancing at me again. I didn’t have to read into that comment.

“Sharpie, we gotta go!” the same guy from before, Burish, called.

“Yeah, sorry about this. We’re on the road tomorrow so we’re flying out tonight. I’ve gotta get going. It was really nice to see you again. I guess I’ll be seeing you at the next game,” Patrick said.

Nathan and I said our goodbyes before making our way out of the rink and to the car. He spent a great deal of the car ride talking about how cool Patrick was for giving us those tickets. After I dropped Nathan off I went home. I tried to get to bed early, but thoughts about the night were keeping me up.

Patrick basically saved my ass by covering for me and making up a story to tell Nathan. I never let my guard down like that in front of students, but I’d screwed up tonight. He’d rushed in and rescued me without even knowing why he was. That touched me, and what touched me more was the fact that he was offering us tickets for the rest of the season. I still couldn’t believe it. I never would have asked him for tickets. I thought about turning them down, but decided against it. Nathan would never forgive me if I did that.

The more I thought about Patrick the more I liked him, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On one hand I was scared and wanted to run away. Guys and I just didn’t mix. We never had. It had been years since I’d even allowed myself to get close to one, which just made this even more nerve-wracking.

On the other hand I was lonely. I hadn’t realized how lonely I was until the other night with Patrick. For years I’d told myself that I could live by myself and be happy. I thought I had been. I’d shunned every guy that had ever come along making myself believe that I would be happier on my own. Now Patrick had put a crack into that logic. I hardly knew him, which made it a very small crack, but it was a crack nonetheless.

Chapter 4

Patrick stood in front of a mirror in his house studying the outfit he had on. He had on jeans and a t-shirt with a zip-up hoodie to go over it. He rolled his eyes at himself. What the hell was he worried about? They were grabbing coffee, for fuck’s sake. He turned his back on his reflection deciding that the outfit would just have to do.

The problem was he didn’t quite know how to dress. Gabrielle had asked him to get coffee, but was it a date? He wasn’t quite sure, hence the problem with what he should wear. If it was just coffee, then he was dressed appropriately. If it was a date and it was so late in the day, there was a potential for getting dinner after and his outfit would definitely limit their options for food. Oh man, he sounded like a girl right now.

He grabbed his car keys and left his house before he could second guess himself any more. After entering the address into his GPS he followed the directions. He parked his car and walked in exactly at 4. At least his fuss with his clothes hadn’t made him late. He looked around for Gabrielle and spotted her in line.

“Hey, Gabrielle,” he greeted her, walking over. She spun around and her eyes went wide. Was that in surprise? It couldn’t be.

“Patrick!” she exclaimed. She definitely sounded surprised. He wasn’t sure what to do at this point, so he went with the first thing that came to mind.

“Sorry if I’m late. I wasn’t exactly sure where this place was,” he told her. Her eyebrows shot up and she cocked her head to the side.

“Late for what?” she asked. What the hell was going on?

“Coffee,” he replied dumbly.

“Coffee doesn’t like to be kept waiting?” Sarcasm was mixed in with her confusion.

“I’m sorry, I thought we were meeting for coffee today. Did I get the wrong day?” Now she was looking at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. He didn’t imagine that text, did he?

“We were meeting for coffee?” Okay, he’d had enough. He pulled out his phone and searched for the text, finding it a minute later.

“This is your number, right?” he asked, showing her the text.

Her eyes narrowed as she studied the screen before opening wide. Her jaw dropped and then something else besides surprise and confusion appeared in her face. Was that anger? Had he done something to upset her?

“Excuse me for a moment,” she said.

He just nodded as he watched her walk out of line and over to a table where a man and a woman sat. The words she was using weren’t audible, but he could feel the anger radiating off of her from the other side of the coffee shop. The man looked stunned at the exchange passing between the two women, but the woman Gabrielle was talking to just looked amused.

“I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you!” Gabrielle yelled over her shoulder to the woman as she made her way back over to him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked with worry.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning.”










I walked into the usual coffee shop with Paige after work on Wednesday of that week. She’d actually been really good the last two days. She hadn’t mentioned Patrick or the fact that I was going to my second hockey game on Friday once since we got coffee on Monday. To be honest, I was surprised, but I wasn’t complaining.

“He’s already got a table!” Paige called out when we walked in.

“He?” I asked. I watched her rush over to a table near the window and lean over to kiss the guy sitting there. Her boyfriend Harding was there with a coffee already sitting on the table for himself and Paige.

“Hello, Gabrielle. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything, but I didn’t know what you’d want,” he greeted me when I made my way over.

“Hi. I didn’t know you were coming today,” I replied.

“Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you. It’s okay, right? He has an early flight in the morning so he wanted to take me out for an early dinner but we already had plans to come here. I figured it wasn’t a problem,” Paige explained.

“It’s not, I don’t mind. This way I get to be the third wheel, which is super fun!” I joked. I really didn’t mind at all. I liked Harding a lot, and if he was there it would keep Paige’s nagging on me down to a minimum.

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that,” Paige said. I gave her a strange look not really sure what that meant. Instead of asking I walked over to the counter and got in line to get myself something to drink.

“Hey, Gabrielle,” a male voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Patrick standing there. My eyes widened in surprise. What were the odds?

“Patrick!”

“Sorry if I’m late. I wasn’t exactly sure where this place was,” he told her. What was he talking about?

“Late for what?” I asked.

“Coffee,” he replied.

“Coffee doesn’t like to be kept waiting?” Something wasn’t making sense here, right?

“I’m sorry, I thought we were meeting for coffee today. Did I get the wrong day?” What the hell was he talking about? Patrick looked genuinely confused and I was equally as confused.

“We were meeting for coffee?” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through it until he found what he was looking for.

“This is your number, right?”

I looked at the screen and saw that it was in fact my number accompanying a text that asked him to meet me for coffee at 4:00 today. The only problem was that I’d never sent that text. Suddenly I remembered the last thing Paige had said to me. Anger boiled up in me as I realized exactly why she hadn’t brought up Patrick the last two days.

“Excuse me for a moment,” I told Patrick and stalked over to the table where Paige and Harding were sitting. “You did this!” I yelled at her. Harding looked up at me in shock and Paige just laughed.

“Did what?” I glared down at her.

“Don’t play innocent with me, Paige. You sent that text to Patrick, didn’t you?!” I spat at her. She grinned.

“So what if I did? He wanted to come. Are you just going to blow him off now?” she questioned.

“No, I’m not, but it wasn’t your place to do this!” I hissed.

“Maybe not, but you never would have done it,” she argued.

“This isn’t about me. You never even thought about what you were going to put Patrick through by tricking him like that. You never take anyone else’s feelings into consideration. I’m so angry that right now you’re dead to me.” I turned and started to walk away.

“You’ll thank me tomorrow,” I heard Paige say.

“I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you!” I yelled over my shoulder. I’d said some pretty horrible things to Paige, but knowing her, she didn’t take any of it seriously.

“Is everything okay?” Patrick asked.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning.” I stood there for a moment in an awkward silence, not really sure what to do or say. Hoping he would get the hint I turned and walked out of the coffee shop.

“Don’t you want your coffee?” he asked, following me out.

“I just need to get out of here.” I started to walk down the street, not really sure where I was heading. I quickly realized Patrick was holding back a bit. “You coming?” I called back. I saw him smile and quickly move to catch up.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to.” I stopped walking and looked at him.

“I really need to apologize. My friend Paige back there sent you that text and didn’t tell me about it. I can’t even begin to explain her rationale because it only makes sense to her. I’m really sorry,” I explained. His smile didn’t falter.

“It’s okay. Really.” Just as he finished assuring me I heard music start.

“I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world,” rang out.

Patrick and I both stopped in confusion trying to figure out where it came from. It continued to play and we both started looking around. Then I saw Patrick’s eyes go wide and his face flush as he pulled out his cell. He hit a button and the music stopped. I fought to hold back a smile and a laugh as he turned and looked at me, completely embarrassed.

“I guess we both have friends messing with us,” he said. Before I could respond, the song started again. I couldn’t hold back the laugh this time. “Excuse me.” He answered the phone and I could only hear his side of the conversation. “Since when do we pull shit like this on guys that aren’t Tazer or Kane?...Come on Burs, seriously?...I owe you big time.”

“Everything okay?” I asked with a smirk.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning,” he joked using my line from earlier. I laughed and we continued to walk.

“I know it’s early, but I’m starving and going to grab something to eat. Do you want to join me?” I asked him.

“Sure, sounds good.”

Patrick and I walked into a tapas restaurant we saw as we walked. Despite any reservations I may have had towards Patrick, they all flew out the window as we talked. He was surprisingly easy to talk to. He told me a bit about his career and I told him a bit about mine. In fact, I think we both spent the entire dinner laughing.

I couldn’t believe it when I checked the time and saw that over two hours had gone by. We finally made our way out of the restaurant and went our separate ways. I didn’t even notice the smile I had on my face until I got home and saw it in the mirror. I hated to admit it, but maybe Paige had been right afterall.

Chapter 3

I walked into my office on Monday morning. I was purposefully avoiding Paige because I wasn’t exactly in the mood to discuss my non-date at the hockey game the previous Saturday. What was I going to say to her? I added another 2 seconds on to the amount of time I’d spent conversing with Patrick to up the total to 5 seconds? Ridiculous.

As I began to get situated for the day I kept thinking back to the game. I’d spent way too much time thinking about Patrick and the hockey game, and being invited to another one. I didn’t like how my mind was wandering there. I also knew that Paige seemed to be able to read my mind and she’d be all over me about that. Another reason to be avoiding her.

I’d also spent some time thinking about Nathan. I’d come up with a possible opportunity to help him get back on track. I’d have to clear it with Isaiah first and make sure Nathan was up for it, but I felt like it could work. Speaking of Nathan, he didn’t waste much time in coming into my office.

“Miss Tunney?” he asked, knocking lightly on my open door. I looked up and smiled at him while I waved him in.

“Come on in, Nathan. What can I do for you?” I asked. He sat down on the couch along one of the walls in my office.

“I was wondering if you’d thought any more about the game on Friday?” he questioned. I tried to hold back the smile that was threatening to break out.

“I have thought about it, but I think I want to do a little more thinking. Why don’t you come back at the end of the day and I’ll give you my final answer?” He nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer for now.

“Okay, I’ll see you after the last bell. Bye, Miss Tunney.”

Oh yeah, I think as long as Isaiah cleared it, my idea was going to work just fine. I’d wanted to tell Nathan I’d take him, but I wasn’t going to put my job into jeopardy, which was why I’d told him to come back after school. At the very least I’d intrigued Nathan enough to keep him in school for the whole day.

I called over to Isaiah’s secretary and made an appointment to see him around lunch time. I then spent most of the rest of the morning working on my sales pitch to him. I didn’t want Isaiah to turn me down. When it was time to meet him I walked down to his office and greeted his secretary.

“Come on in, Gabrielle,” he said to me, holding open his door. I walked in and he shut the door behind me. “Have a seat.” I sat down in a chair across from his desk and waited until he sat down in his seat.

“How’s your day going?” I asked him with a smile. He looked at me suspiciously.

“Don’t try to butter me up, Tunney. What do you want?” He’d caught me. Thankfully we got along well, and I could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.

“I have a proposal and I just want you to hear me out before giving me an answer,” I started. He narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll hear you out completely, only because I’m intrigued. Continue.” I took a deep breath before going on.

“I took Nathan Oliver to a hockey game on Saturday. There’s a whole story behind it. It wasn’t my idea. The thing is, Nathan loves hockey and had a great time. If you could have just seen the look in his eyes the entire time you’d see how much being there meant to him. While we were there I started to come up with an idea. Nathan would do just about anything to go to the Blackhawks games and – " Isaiah put a hand up to signal that I should stop talking.

“Get permission from his parents and you can take him to all the games you want.” My jaw dropped in disbelief. That hadn’t been nearly as difficult as I’d been expecting.

“Really?” He smiled across his desk at me.

“I know you, Gabrielle. You’re not doing this for the wrong reasons. If you are suggesting this, you have a good reason for it.” I smiled back at his trust in me.

“I do. I was thinking of giving him a kind of ultimatum. If he stays out of trouble and stays in school getting good grades I’ll take him to a game, weekends only of course. If he gets in any sort of trouble he loses a number of games based on how serious the trouble was. The thing is, it’ll open him up a bit to me. We won’t be in a school setting so it won’t seem like he’s talking to a counselor, but just to a friend. I’m hoping it’ll help get him back on track.” I finished my speech even though I already had Isaiah’s permission. I wanted him to know where I was coming from.

“I think you know more about psychology than me. If you think it will work, it probably will. Is there anything else?” I grinned and shook my head. “Good. I’ll see you later.”

I got up and walked back to my office, a smile on my face the entire time. Now I just had to call Nathan’s parents and get their permission to take him. When I walked over to my desk I found a note lying on top of everything. It was from Paige.

You were gone all lunch, but you’re not getting out of telling me about Saturday. Meet me at 4 at our place. –Paige

I sighed and rolled my eyes but knew there was no way around it. I tossed the note in the garbage and then looked up Nathan’s home number. I called and was surprised when his mother answered and sounded pretty lucid. I explained the situation to her and she grunted out her permission before hanging up on me. Oh well, she’d said yes at least.

The day finished and Nathan was in my office almost immediately. I sat him down and explained the deal. When I was done he eagerly agreed to it. We shook hands on it and he left my office with a grin and a yell. I finished up some work before heading out of school to meet Paige. Just as I stepped foot in the parking lot, my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered after not recognizing the number on the screen.

“Hi, is this Gabrielle?” a male voice asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“Hey, it’s Patrick Sharp,” the voice told me. I found myself smiling when I heard who it was.

“Oh, hi! How are you?” I asked.

“Good, thanks. How are you?” he returned.

“Good. I’m actually just on my out of work.”

“Sounds like I have great timing then,” he joked.

“Yes, you definitely do.”

“So I was calling about the game on Friday. I know it’s still real early in the week, but I thought I’d check to see if you’d made up your mind yet.”

“Actually, I have. Nathan and I would be happy to accept. Thanks again for the offer. It’s really sweet of you to do this for him,” I told him.

“It’s really not a problem at all. I’ll just do what I did last time so the tickets will be at will call for you,” he explained.

“Sounds good. Thanks again, Patrick.”

“Not a problem. I’ll talk to you later.” We hung up and I got into my car and drove to the coffee shop where I was meeting Paige.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked when I walked through the door. I looked at her like she was crazy.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I got in line and waited to order.

“I know you better than that. What’s going on?” I turned to her and sighed.

“I’ve actually worked something out with Nathan and Isaiah. If Nathan stays out of trouble, I’m going to take him to the Blackhawks games. He’s desperate to go, so hopefully it’ll work out,” I told her.

She made a face in disappointment, obviously expecting something more. She turned and walked over to claim a table while I waited in line. I ordered a latte and some food and made my way over to the table.

“So how did everything go on Saturday? Maybe you’re going to the games with Nathan so you can see Patrick more?” she questioned, lifting an eybrow.

“Everything went okay. The Blackhawks lost, but Nathan had a great time. We had passes for downstairs and Patrick gave Nathan a game used stick with autographs from the whole team. Then he invited us to go to the game this Friday.” She squealed way louder than necessary. “What is your problem?”

“He invited you back?!” She squealed again and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, he did. He actually just called me on my way over here to confirm it.” I immediately regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth. Thankfully, before Paige could say anything else my food came up. I got up from the table leaving Paige staring after me.










“Have you talked to that chick since Saturday?” Burish asked Patrick after practice on Monday. Patrick shook his head.

“No, I haven’t. I was going to call her today and see if she was going to come on Friday,” he replied.

“You like her, eh?” Brent Seabrook called over.

“I don’t know her,” Patrick denied.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t want to,” Duncan Keith joined in. Patrick just shrugged.

He couldn’t exactly deny that. There was definitely something about Gabrielle. He’d noticed it the first time he’d seen her. He couldn’t put his finger on it but it was that thing that had made him offer her the tickets the first time. It was that same thing that made him offer the tickets the second time.

He called out a goodbye to the guys left in the locker room and made his way to his car. He signed a few autographs and headed home. He thought about Gabrielle some more and wondered why she kept popping into his mind. Sure she was hot, that much he knew, but there were attractive girls everywhere and no one had stood out to him like she did.

He tried to shake her out of his mind and move on with his day. Then he realized that she’d told him to call her to check about the game on Friday night. He’d originally planned on calling her later in the week, but something told him to call her today. He put it off until he figured she was out of work before he did.

He hung up with a smile after. There was really no reason for him to be smiling. It wasn’t like the conversation had been great. He’d simply asked if she wanted the tickets and that was that. But he knew he was smiling because she’d accepted them. Sure, she was bringing that student of hers, Nathan, but she was coming. A little while later his phone went off, signaling he had a text.

Coffee at 4 on Wednesday?

It was from Gabrielle. He smiled at the simple text. She wanted to see him before the game. He texted back agreeing to meet up and she gave him the address of the coffee shop. He liked how ballsy it was of her to ask him out and he looked forward to Wednesday.

Chapter 2

Wow, I can't believe all the comments I received! I'll do my best to accommodate all the requests for appearances by players. Thanks everyone!










“I’m sorry, what?” my friend Paige said to me the following Monday morning before school started. I nodded and sat down at one of the desks in her classroom.

“I’m not even kidding. The poor guy looked like a deer in headlights when Nathan yelled over at him.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You do way too much for that kid,” she told me. She pulled out her lesson plans for the day and started rearranging things on her desk.

“He just needs someone to care about him.” She stopped what she was doing and gave me an annoyed look.

“Gabby, don’t play the savior card with me. I know you have some sort of soft spot for troubled kids, but Nathan is past the point of no return. He’s trouble and I can’t believe that you not only tried to keep him out of jail, but you’re doing something with him outside of school. Does Isaiah know about this?” she lectured. I groaned.

“I don’t know why I talk to you about anything,” I said to her as I stood up. She smiled and laughed.

“Okay, forget about Nathan. Tell me about the hockey player.” I shrugged.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Um, hello? Was he hot?” It was my turn to laugh.

“Patrick was the tall, dark, and handsome type. He has a bit of a rugged bad boy look to him until he smiles. Then he just looks like the sweet open doors for you kind of guy,” I explained. Paige gave a dramatic swooning sigh.

“The best of both worlds. Who doesn’t want a sweet bad boy?”

“Someone who’s not looking for a boy of any kind,” I replied.

I looked up at the clock and saw that students would be arriving any time now. I headed for the door to get to my office but Paige stepped in front of me. She was giving me her disapproving look. I knew what that look meant. I didn’t have time for that look this morning.

“Why do you always do that?” she questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why do I always do what?” I returned.

“Run away when the mere mention of a possible date comes up?”

“I don’t run away. And there’s no date. He was just trying to be nice and gave Nathan and I tickets to a game. It’s not like I’ll be able to talk to him. He’ll be on the ice, I’ll be in the stands. Not exactly date night material.”

“You’re getting defensive,” she accused. I threw up my hands in exasperation.

“I’m not defensive! I spent three seconds talking to the guy. Three seconds does not a relationship make,” I defended myself.

“You’re running.”

“I have to go,” I told her, desperate to get out of there right now. It was too early on a Monday morning to be having this conversation.

“Gabrielle!” she called to my back.

“Miss Carone?” a girl asked walking into the classroom, thankfully interuppting our conversation.

“Bye,” I said to Paige as I walked out of the room and to my office.

I sat down at my desk and thought about what she’d said. I didn’t run away, I just didn’t jump in either. Guys and relationships were just not high on my to-do list. At one point in my life guys had been priority #1 and that had only gotten me into a lot of trouble. I tried to avoid trouble these days.

I made it through a pretty uneventful day, thankfully without having to deal with any major issues. I went home, went for a run with Loxley and settled into the couch for a quiet and relaxing night at home. The next day I was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be.

“You’re insane!” Paige practically shouted as she burst through the door of my office. I gave her a strange look.

“Uh, pardon?”

“I looked up Patrick Sharp. I just had to see what he looked like. Your ‘tall, dark and handsome’ description doesn’t do him justice. How could you not want to date him?” I covered my face in my hands and groaned.

“This again?”

“Dammit, Gabrielle, he’s gorgeous!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, Paige, I noticed. Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s never asked me out,” I told her. She got a smile on her face.

“So if he asked you out, you’d go?” Yeah, I’d really set myself up for that one.

“I don’t know. I know nothing about the guy.”

“That’s what dates are for.” And now we’ve come full circle.

“Look, I’m going to the game on Saturday. If by some tiny chance I maybe have any semblance of a conversation with him, I’ll let you know and we can debate the possibility of whether I’d say yes to a date if he asked me.”

“That’s a lot of uncertainties.”

“You’re just now noticing that?”

Thankfully Paige did what I asked and let it go. The rest of the week went by like most others. Gia didn’t show up for another one of her appointments with me and I was at wits end with her. I just didn’t know what to do. Nathan ran into my office on Friday bubbling over with excitement for the following night. I was almost positive he’d never been to a game.

I met Nathan at the school Saturday evening. He hopped in with a big smile on his face and it was hard not to return the smile. I parked the car when we got there and went up to will call. I opened the envelope that was handed to me and pulled out two tickets, two passes, and a note.

Just thought you two might want to come down after the game for a few autographs. Find an usher and show them the pass. They’ll tell you where to go. Hope to see you after the game. –Patrick

“That’s awesome!” Nathan exclaimed, reading the note over my shoulder.

We made our way to our seats and to Nathan’s delight we were in the lower bowl at center ice. When the game started Nathan began to cheer and I found myself searching out Patrick. I spotted him wearing the number 10 and saw that he had an “A” on his jersey. I may not be a huge hockey fan, but I wasn’t dense. The guy was an alternate captain?

The game was exciting with goals being scored left and right. It was a 5-5 tie after regulation. It ended up having to go into a shootout. Patrick was one of the shooters, but he didn’t score, much to Nathan’s dismay. The Blackhawks ended up losing in the shootout and I wondered if going downstairs after a blown lead that ended in a loss was such a good idea.

“Can we go down now?” Nathan asked eagerly as fans began to file out of the arena.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. They just lost a tough game.”

He looked completely disappointed, but nodded before dropping his gaze to the floor and kicking an empty soda cup. I weighed my options and decided that I cared more about Nathan’s feelings than any of those players. His emotional state was probably more fragile and I was going to do whatever it took to help him out. If that meant annoying some professional athletes in the process, then so be it.

“Excuse me, could you tell me where we can go with these?” I asked the usher of our section.

She smiled and called over a security guard. The man that walked over took our passes and told us to follow him. He led us to an elevator that was off limits to the general public. He told us to get on the elevator, go to the bottom floor and then show the passes to the security guard down there.

There were a few other people waiting for the elevator when he walked away and I saw that it was a group of dressed up, attractive women. Must be the wives. They talked amongst themselves, hardly giving Nathan and I a glance. The elevator arrived and we all filed on. Once we’d reached our destination the women walked off and I stopped to show the passes to security.

“You can wait over there if you’d like. Feel free to go in the room and grab something to eat or drink if you’d like,” the man told me.

I looked over and saw the door the women had walked through. A few of them had stopped outside and were talking. There were kids in Blackhawk jerseys playing floor hockey a little further down the hallway. I decided not to go in the room, and instead found an open area for Nathan and I to stand and wait for Patrick to come out.

I started to see a few guys in suits start coming around a corner and walking out. Nathan explained that they were from Detroit’s team. I let him chat away about the game and the guys walking past us while we waited. An idea had started to form in my head about how to try to reach Nathan.

“Gabrielle?” I heard someone say. I turned to see Patrick walking over to us with a smile on his face. Yep, he was still hot, only now he was wearing a suit, and who didn’t look better in a suit?

“Hi! Thanks so much for the tickets and the passes. We’ve had a great time,” I thanked him.

“I’m glad. Sorry we couldn’t win for you, Nathan,” he said turning his attention to him and shaking his hand.

“Hey, I’m just glad I finally got to see a game. Really, thanks for the tickets.” I was almost surprised at Nathan’s gratitude. I’d never heard him thank anyone before.

“Was this your first?” Patrick asked him. Nathan nodded, the smile ever growing.

“Hey, Sharpie, here’s the stick you wanted,” another guy in a suit said walking over.

“Gabrielle, Nathan, this is Adam Burish,” Patrick introduced us. He shook both of our hands.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Adam greeted us.

“And this is for you. I used it tonight,” Patrick said, handing the stick to Nathan. Nathan’s eyes widened in shock as he took the stick out of Patrick’s hands. I noticed that there were signatures spanning the length of the stick.

“Thank you so much!” Nathan exclaimed.

“So, our next home game is next Friday. I know that it’s Halloween and all, but if you both wanted to come I’d be happy to give you tickets for it,” Patrick offered. Nathan looked at me eagerly.

“That’s a very generous offer. We’ll think it over. You have my number. Call me in a few days and I’ll let you know.” He smiled over at me and nodded.

“Sounds good.”

“Well, I have to get Nathan home. Thanks again for the tickets.” Patrick gave us both a smile and a small wave as we turned and walked out of the arena.

Chapter 1

I looked down at my organizer checking the entry for 11:00 am for probably the tenth time. Then I looked up at the clock and saw the minute hand had only moved one more minute to 11:17. I sighed and closed my organizer knowing that Gia wasn’t going to show. I wish I could say I was surprised but I wasn’t. Gia was a pretty deeply depressed and lost girl. I’d had a few sessions with her and was starting to think we were making some good progress but obviously not if she hadn’t shown up today.

I was the school therapist at a Chicago high school. It was a difficult and thankless job. I went home frustrated more often than not and it was a rare day when I left school with a smile. Nonetheless I loved my job. It was a job I had worked hard for. I hadn’t exactly taken the easy road to get there. I took a wrong turn somewhere down the road as a teenager and would have been lost forever if it hadn’t been for my school therapist when I was in high school. That was exactly what I was trying to be for these kids now.

I ran a hand through my hair wondering if Gia was even on school property right now. I considered calling the study hall monitor where Gia was supposed to be and decided against it knowing that there was no way she was just sitting in a classroom somewhere. I wrote a note in Gia’s file about her absence from the session and put it back into my file cabinet. That was when I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in!” I called hoping to see Gia poke her head around the door. Instead it was Isaiah Jackson, the school principle.

“Kristen told me that Gia was a no-show,” he said referring to the secretary and closing the door behind him. I shrugged and sighed.

“I really thought I was making progress with her. I know she came to school today, I checked. I guess she ducked out at some point.” Isaiah looked around my office before sitting down in one of the chairs.

“I know that you have infinite hope for some of these kids, but we can’t help all of them,” he told me. I refused to believe that. Everyone could be helped as long as you found their trigger. Each person had something, some button that could be pushed.

“I can help Gia, I know I can. I just need her to talk to me.” I started to rub my temples feeling a headache coming on. It hadn’t been an easy morning.

“Gabrielle, you can’t keep doing this. I’m glad that you care so much about all of these kids. Lord knows most of them don’t have anyone else that will care. That still doesn’t mean that you have to do it. Go ahead and leave early today if you want and get an early start on your weekend.” Without waiting for a response he got up and left my office.

He knew I would never leave early. I just couldn’t do that. There could be someone in the school who needed me. I had scheduled appointments and I also had students that would stop by on their own asking for advice or really just needing someone to talk to. Just this morning a student I never expected to meet with came into my office in tears telling me they just found out their mother had cancer and didn’t know what to do about it. I couldn’t risk leaving and not being there for a student that needed me like that.

The rest of the day went by like it usually does. I talked to a few more students, made some phone calls, and got some work done. I was relieved when I heard the bell signaling the end of the school day. I ignored the shake of the head and the look of concern Isaiah gave me when he saw me leaving an hour after school had let out.

“Where is my sweet boy?” I called out walking into my apartment.

My dog Loxley came running around the corner from the bedroom. I put my stuff down and knelt on the floor to pet him. He was wagging his tail so hard his whole backside was shaking. I gave him a kiss on the top of the head and he responded by licking my face.

I walked into my bedroom and changed out of my work clothes into my running gear. I put Loxley on his leash and we walked to the park a couple of blocks over. Once there Loxley and I broke out into a run like we did at least three times a week. Running was a nice release for me. Once we were both sufficiently tired we went home where we both had dinner and watched TV.

I spent the rest of the night watching movies and hanging out with Loxley. I may not lead the most exciting life ever, but after my teenage years that was completely fine with me. I’d had my share of excitement back then and I’d be fine with never having any of it again. I was still thinking about Gia and wondering where she was when I drifted off to sleep. I was awoken the next morning by the ringing of my phone.

“Hello?” I answered groggily.

“Gabby, it’s Officer Monahan. I have a Nathan Oliver here and he’s asking for you.”










It was an optional skate, and although he usually didn’t go to those, Patrick chose to go today. He hadn’t really planned on getting on the ice, just doing a bit of off-ice drills. Of course when he got there and saw that guys were really just kind of goofing off he decided to throw on the gear and join in.

At the end they decided to play a little game of “mustache boy.” Each player went down one-on-one with the goalie and the last person to score had to grow a mustache. There were only ten of them there so he knew he needed to step it up. All but Patrick Kane were stopped by Huet and it was on to round two. Again he was stopped and found himself with just six of them left for the third round. Luckily this time through, he scored and managed to escape the mustache. Cam Barker wasn’t so lucky and had to grow it out.

“Hey, Barks, I hope Alanna enjoys mustache rides!” Jonathan Toews called out across the locker room while they were all in there getting dressed.

“Alanna’s way too classy for mustaches,” Adam Burish responded.

“If Alanna’s so classy what the hell is she doing with Barker then?” Patrick asked getting laughs from all the guys.

“You can all go fuck yourselves,” Cam replied while laughing. “She’s going to dump my ass the minute I tell her.”

“You know you should never join in a voluntary game of ‘mustache boy.’ Breakaways are not your strong suit,” Andrew Ladd joked. “You brought it on yourself, man.”

After a few more jokes at Barker’s expense Patrick headed to get some lunch. As he was driving he noticed that his car was low on gas and pulled over into a convenience store to fill up. After filling the tank he decided to just go in and grab a pre-made sandwich for lunch since he was already stopped. It wasn’t until he was inside that he realized the police were there.

As he walked to where the sandwiches were he could hear an argument going on. He looked over to see an attractive woman with her hand on a teenage boy's shoulder arguing with one of the employees. The police were standing there listening to the argument and cutting in every now and then. He chose a buffalo chicken wrap and got some of the cream of broccoli soup and walked up to the register to pay.

He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on the argument but couldn’t help overhearing what was going on. Apparently the boy had stolen something and the employee had called the cops. Instead of arresting the boy the cops had called this woman and she was now offering to pay triple of what the boy had stolen to keep the owner from pressing charges. Patrick grabbed his food and started towards the door.

“Holy shit, you’re Patrick Sharp!” he heard someone call. He turned to see the teenage boy looking at him with a smile on his face and then realized all eyes were now on him. Great.










“Look, I know what Nathan did was wrong and I’m willing to pay you back for all that he tried to take,” I pleaded with the owner of the convenience store. So far he wasn’t having any of it. I looked over at Officer Monahan and his partner for support.

I’d gotten to know Quentin Monahan over the years. He’d arrested a number of students that went to my school. Since those students didn’t have anyone to fight for them I’d stepped up to be that person. Every time they got into trouble and Officer Monahan heard about it he gave me a call. I honestly think he has a bit of a thing for me because I couldn’t believe the stuff he let some of these kids get away with.

Nathan on the other hand was one of the troubled students at school that I was currently counseling. His father was a drug dealer and his mother was addicted to cocaine. Neither one gave a shit about their son or what he was doing. Years of no parenting and living on the street had turned Nathan into a juvenile delinquent. He was a nice kid that just had no guidance. He came into my office without a problem and talked the whole time but I think he did it more to get out of class than because he wanted help.

“I still can’t believe that instead of arresting this thief like you should be doing you called some kind of school counselor down here to bail him out of trouble,” the owner spat at Officer Monahan. This argument had been going on for about 20 minutes and didn’t seem anywhere near a resolution. Customers were in and out and I was becoming thoroughly embarrassed.

“I’ll pay you double the cost of what Nathan stole,” I offered. I was just met by an angry glare instead of an answer. I sighed and upped my offer. “Fine, triple it. That should be more than fair.”

“This is not how the justice system is supposed to work!” the owner yelled out in exasperation. I groaned feeling like I was running out of options. Officer Monahan gave me an apologetic look as he reached for his handcuffs.

“Holy shit, you’re Patrick Sharp!” Nathan suddenly called out. I turned from Officer Monahan to see who Nathan had just yelled at. A man had stopped halfway to the door with what appeared to be his lunch, looking at us in shock.

“Nathan, stop it. This is no time for anything like this!” I hissed at him. He was about to get arrested and he was excited to see…..well, I didn’t know who Patrick Sharp was. It was then that I noticed that the owner seemed to recognize this Patrick Sharp too.

“Yes, that’s me,” the man replied looking around at all of us, obviously a little uncomfortable.

“Dude, can I get an autograph?” Nathan asked rushing over to him.

“Nathan!” I yelled out at him. “You’re about to get arrested and this man probably wants to go home and have his lunch.” Nathan looked back at me sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sharp, I don’t usually have Blackhawks come into my store. I’m very embarrassed that it’s today of all days. Would you mind signing something for me?” the owner asked. What a schmuck. This Patrick Sharp guy obviously just wanted out of the store.

“Not a problem,” Patrick said taking a pen from the owner and signing a piece of paper that he was handed. He looked over at me then and he must have sensed how stressed out I was. “How about I give you a couple of tickets for Thursday’s game and you let this kid go.” I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I looked over at the owner who didn’t need much convincing.

“Really? That would be fantastic,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. Hell, I probably could have bought him half the tickets in the rink and he wouldn’t have obliged for me, but since there was a hockey player offering he was all over it. Patrick took the man’s name and promised to have tickets ready for him at will call. Without a word the owner turned away from us and walked back into his office.

“Does that mean I’m off the hook?” Nathan asked. I glared at him and he turned and looked down at the floor.

“I guess we can go now,” Officer Monahan said. I tried to smile at him but knew that it wasn’t much of one.

“Thank you for calling me. I’ll take care of him,” I said. He tipped his hat at me and he and his partner walked out of the store. I turned to Patrick. “Thank you so much for that. I’m so sorry that you got involved.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault,” he told me. The three of us walked out of the store at the same time.

“Dude, I am a huge fan. I can’t believe that I’m talking to you,” Nathan gushed as soon as we got outside.

“Well, thanks. We always appreciate fans,” Patrick said to him.

“Nathan, my car is over there. I suggest you get in it immediately,” I ordered handing him my keys. He turned and got into my car without an argument. I turned back to Patrick. “I am so sorry again and I don’t know how to thank you for what you did for him in there.”

“Well, you can start by telling me your name.”

“Gabrielle,” I told him holding my hand out to him.

“So you’re…..” he paused for a second trying to guess my relationship with Nathan. “You’re brother shoplifted?”

“I’m actually his school counselor and yes he did,” I said as if that made any sense. I could tell by the look on his face that he was confused. “He doesn’t have a family to help him out so I kind of take care of it.” I don’t know why I felt I had to explain it to him but I did.

“Well, you two should come to a game sometime.”

“Oh, that’s really nice of you, but I don’t want to inconvenience you any more than I already have.” He smiled and when he did that I suddenly realized how good looking Patrick was.

“It wouldn’t be an inconvenience at all. I’d give you tickets for Thursday but I’m guessing you don’t need to be there at the same time as that guy,” Patrick said pointing back at the store.

“No, I never need to be around that asshole ever again,” I muttered. He laughed then as my cheeks turned red. Way to make an impression, Gabrielle.

“We have a game on Saturday at home. I can get you tickets for that one if you’d like.”

“Yes! We can go to that one!” I heard Nathan call from the car. I turned back to him, glaring. He’d obviously rolled down the window and was listening to the conversation.

“I guess we accept. Thank you so much.”

“It’s really not a big deal. Here, just write down your name and phone number and I’ll have the tickets waiting for you.” I looked at him suspiciously.

“You didn’t ask the store owner for his phone number,” I accused narrowing my eyes at him a little. He laughed.

“You noticed that, huh?” I laughed at his response and wrote down my name and number for him.

“I wrote it down just in case something happens before Saturday,” I explained. He smiled at me and I walked back to my car thinking about what exactly I was going to do with Nathan.