“March first. I’ll be by the office to drop off tickets and stuff soon.”

“Great, Shea will be on a break,” Elli said with a grin. She still got that dreamy look to her when she talked about her husband. It was expected though; they had only been married for 10 months.

“I know, that’s why I planned it like this. I need all the players. I need everything to tie together. Hockey and wine will work.”

“Isn’t it beer and hockey?” Elli asked with a grin.

“Not no more, we are gonna sophisticate this damn sport.”

“Good luck with that,” Elli said with a laugh before a pair of arms came around her. They both looked up to see Elli’s gorgeous husband smiling down at them.

“Hey Fallon,” Shea said before placing a kiss on Elli’s cheek.

“Hey Shea,” Fallon sang as she smiled up at him, “heard ya knocked her up again.”

“Sure did,” he said with a bold grin. “Gotta keep the baby train going. We’re knocking on 30’s door.”

“Oh Lord! Not 30!” Fallon said in mock horror, making everyone laugh.

“It’s the excuse he’s using,” Elli said with a laugh.

“I think it’s all a ruse, he just likes making babies,” Fallon giggled as Elli’s cheeks warmed with color.

Shea let out a booming laugh before saying, “You got that right!”

They shared a laugh before Fallon took a drink of her wine. She loved hanging with Elli and Shea, they were so cute and perfect together. Even if their love made her want to puke, she still loved them.

“Fallon is going to sophisticate hockey,” Elli said with a grin for Shea. He laughed as he looked back over at Fallon.

“Are you now?”

“Yes, I am. I can do it. I’m awesome.”

Elli giggled as Shea smiled, then Elli said, “You sure are babe! Oh Shea, there’s Ricky Owen. Hey, excuse us Fallon, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Sure, great seeing y’all,” Fallon said. She watched as they walked away, hand in hand, with big smiles on their faces. They were so stinkin’ happy, it was sickening. But then she thought of what they had to do to get to where they were, and she couldn’t help but be happy for them.

What could she say; she was a sucker for love.

Fallon stood for a little while longer before she starting noticing guys checking her out. Since dating was the last thing on her mind, she took that as her cue to start working the room. She grabbed a bottle of the Rocky Top’s Big Orange Cabernet Sauvignon and started towards the crowd.

Fallon always walked with confidence ─ she had to or no one would buy from her. She knew what she had with her products and knew that with only one taste anyone would fall in love with Rocky Top’s wine. It was that good.

It had been in the family for over 80 years; there wasn’t a moment from Fallon’s childhood were she didn’t remember being in the fields, picking grapes to eat. She grew up with dirty feet and grape-stained clothes. She loved it, she lived it, and now that Fallon ran the PR department, it was finally getting to the level it needed to be. Rocky Top needed to be at the top and if Fallon had anything to do with it, it would be.

After working the room handing out business cards and vouchers for free bottles, Fallon spotted Elli standing with some older guy that had an empty glass. Since he looked like he had money, Fallon made her way towards him. She always liked to schmooze the big money guys ─ they always bought case after case for their companies. If Fallon got lucky, they usually hired them as the wine for their parties.

Which was always great for business.

“He has a bad rep. Money, booze, females, I don’t know,” the older guy said when Fallon reached the group. It was only Elli, Shea and the older guy, and Elli didn’t seem very happy.

“He’s clean, I feel good about him,” Elli said sternly. The older guy shook his head.

“I don’t know Mrs. Adler, Brooks is a fighter.”

Fallon blinked a few times, totally stunned. It had been a long time since she had heard that name.

“Yeah, but he’s second in the league for goals.”

“And first for penalty minutes. He’s a got a huge chip on his shoulder.”

“I’ll knock the damn chip off it for him if I need to, or hell maybe we’ll get Fallon to sophisticate him,” Elli said with a grin when she noticed that Fallon was just standing there staring at them. “Ricky Owen, Fallon Parker with Rocky Top Wine. She is one of our biggest sponsors.”

“Who?” Fallon asked totally ignoring Ricky’s hand, and hoping like hell that there was another Brooks in the NHL that fought a lot.

Because she only knew one…

“You probably don’t know him, Lucas Brooks? He was just traded in from the Sharks.”

Fallon wasn’t sure how the bottle of wine slipped from her hands, but the next thing she knew it was in pieces around her beautiful boots. Cabernet Sauvignon was everywhere, and Fallon’s face was beet red as she tried to catch her breath. Everyone looked down in shock before looking back up at Fallon’s stunned face.

Shea starting laughing as everyone still looked at Fallon in shock, then he said, “Or maybe she does.”

Oh, Fallon knew Lucas Brooks alright.

He was coming to Nashville?

Great, that was just f**king great.

**********************************

“You know back in the day, we would be hung over instead of moving into a new house on New Year’s Day.”