Hockey Holidays Read online

  “You have just described my exact situation. It is unbearable, except what I used to do is start babbling, usually about myself, which was ten times more embarrassing than letting the silence drag on. So these days, I just don’t say anything and let people think I’m an asshole. Or I find someone I know and then stick to them like a Siamese twin the whole time.”

  Good lord. If the man wanted to Siamese-twin her tonight, she was totally down for that. If their encounter had ended when she dropped him off, she probably could have lived off the thrill for a good two weeks. Being his date tonight? That was going to create memories for a lifetime. She could picture herself decades from now in an assisted-living community impressing all her fellow old ladies with the story of how she once handheld a professional athlete through a scary Christmas party.

  “So let me tell you the secret for killing silences that I learned when I joined my sorority. All you have to do is ask questions. Get the other person to talk. They’re probably just as eager to find a topic of conversation as you are. Like, here’s a great conversation starter I use all the time. ‘Tell me, what’s the best thing about your job?’”

  He gave her a look. “Everybody here has the same job as me.”

  “Okay, okay. Then ask what they’d do if they couldn’t play hockey.”

  He recoiled. “No way. No one wants to think about that. That’s depressing.” He coughed. “I’m beginning to think you’re not as good a conversationalist as I thought you were.”

  Her eyes flashed. “Is that a challenge?”

  “Maybe,” he said with a grin. “Your suggestions haven’t been all that good.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh yeah. Watch this.”

  She grabbed his arm and, mustering up her courage, led him over to a couple of players talking in the corner, Andre DiMarco and Spencer Corbett. DiMarco was an accomplished gourmet cook and had a visually stunning Instagram. Corbett was known for his wide and unshakeable stance. Not many players could knock him off his skates and he was especially effective at face-offs.

  “Hi guys,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Bailey and this is Gideon.”

  “Hey, Gideon, Bailey. Good to meet you. Andre DiMarco. This is Spencer Corbett. Welcome to the team, man.”

  “Thanks,” Gideon said.

  Before one of the dreaded awkward silences could descend, Bailey said, “Gideon and I were just talking about how I can make an origami crane. He was amazed but I told him it’s a pretty useless skill as far as skills go. What weird and useless talent do you have?”

  Spencer grinned. “I can do that cherry stem knot thing.”

  “I can do that too,” Bailey said.

  “But can you do it in less than ten seconds?” Spencer asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”

  “Let’s race,” Spencer said, still grinning.

  “You’re on,” Bailey said. Andre was already fetching them a cup of maraschino cherries from the bar. “You want in on this?” she asked Gideon.

  “No thanks,” he said, looking amused. “I’ll just watch.”

  “Get ready,” Andre said, pulling out his phone.

  Bailey and Ian plucked stems and held them ready between thumbs and forefingers.

  “Get set.”

  Laughing, Bailey held the cherry stem in front of her open mouth.

  “Go!”

  Bailey had never tried to do this quickly before. The goal had always been just to knot it, period. But she did her best. The first step was softening up the stem with her teeth so it was pliable. She was just getting the stem ends to cross when Spencer spat his stem out into his hand.

  “And we have a winner,” Andre said, raising Spencer’s arm into the air.

  “I bow to the King of Cherry Stem Manipuation,” Bailey said dropping her stem into Gideon’s napkin-lined palm.

  “Thank you. Thank you very much,” Spencer said in a passable Elvis impression.

  “Okay, now you, Mr. DiMarco. What is your useless talent?”

  “I only have useful ones,” Andre said.

  He promptly got booed by people standing nearby who had gathered to watch the cherry stem competition.

  “You must know how to do something nobody cares about,” Bailey said.

  Everyone looked at him expectantly.

  “All right, fine,” Andre said. “I can make myself sneeze.”

  “What? No way.”

  “Demonstration, please,” Bailey said, super curious. She’d never heard of this before.

  Looking slightly embarrassed, Andre lightly pinched his nose and as Bailey and a few others leaned closer. After a moment, Andre released his nose, blinked rapidly and let out a hearty sneeze.

  Applause broke out and Bailey laughed. “Who’s next?” she asked. “Gideon?”

  Chapter Four

  Gideon had to admit Bailey was a whiz at this party thing. She had everyone eating out of her hand armed with just one question. And the way she’d brought it up was genius. She hadn’t just busted the question out cold. She’d introduced it by saying they’d been talking about useless skills. As everyone was trying Andre’s method for sneezing on command, Gideon realized he might never have to be tongue-tied at a party ever again. All he had to do was prepare an interesting question beforehand. He could even have a list of possible questions on his phone.

  “Earth to Gideon. Come in, Gideon,” Bailey said.

  “What?” he said, noticing that everyone was looking at him.

  “It’s your turn,” she said. “To demonstrate your useless skill.”

  “Me?”

  He thought he didn’t have one, but then remembered. “Okay, I do have an almost useless skill. I say almost because it does actually come in handy once in a while.”

  “What is it?” Andre asked.

  “I always know what time it is. I never have to look at a clock. I just always know.”

  “Exactly?”

  “Within a minute or so, yes.”

  Someone behind him clapped hands over his eyes. “What time is it?”

  “Seven forty-two,” he said.

  “He’s right!” Bailey exclaimed after checking her phone. “That’s amazing.”

  And damned if his chest didn’t swell up like he’d won some kind of award.

  He looked down at her face, beaming with excitement and pride and he surprised himself by kissing her. She went still and her eyes stayed open, but her lips were soft. When he drew back, she gave him a tremulous smile.

  Fuck. Those full lips of hers were so tempting.

  “Knowing the time does come in handy during games, I have to admit,” Gideon said.

  “Then it’s not a useless skill, dickhead,” someone said.

  Gideon turned toward the angry voice and saw Cameron Bowes a couple of yards away pointing a finger at him.

  “Oh, shit,” Gideon said. “This is going to get real awkward real fast.”

  The crowd was slowly parting for Cam who was shedding his suit jacket. Not a good sign.

  “What? Why?” Bailey asked.

  “Well, the last time we played, I, ah, slammed him into the boards and he broke his nose.”

  Cam had just shoved one of Gideon’s teammates off the puck in the corner when Gideon came speeding in. A second later, Cam’s face connected with the boards. Looking back, he still thought it was a fifty-fifty situation. He certainly could have hit the brakes, but with only a split second to decide, sometimes a guy just chose the wrong option.

  Cam left the ice with a nose gushing blood. Gideon didn’t even serve a penalty in the box.

  “But that’s just part of the game, isn’t it?” Bailey asked. “Hockey’s a physical game.”

  But Cam had arrived and Gideon didn’t have time to answer. A woman Gideon assumed was the fiancée that Bailey had mentioned earlier followed, looking worried. The rest of the people gathered in a loose circle around them.

  “I have a bone to pick with you, Aguilar. You broke my