“Ducky!” a couple of the guys called. That was new since high school. His nickname had been Middy then, short for Middleton.
Josh stood and they did some manly greetings involving slaps and fist bumps. I recognized Cooper, since he was on a billboard in the subway in nothing but a pair of briefs. He was with the redhead he’d kissed on the kiss cam between the second and third periods.
Josh waved at me. “Hey guys, this is Katie.” He didn’t say my friend Katie. Would they think something else was going on? “She’s a math major, so you have something in common with her, Callie!” He directed that at the redhead.
“Ah, hi.” Was Callie a math student? She was older than us by several years, best I could tell.
Callie frowned at Josh. “I’m a tax attorney, Ducky. Not the same thing.” My expression felt stiff. She turned my way. “Where are you studying?”
“U of T.”
She smiled then, making her more approachable. “I’m a U of T alum. But it’s a big school. You finding your way okay?”
I nodded. Then Cooper grabbed her hand and took her to a different table. I let out a breath.
“Sorry,” Josh said. Then he yelled out again. “Jessica!”
A woman who’d come in with the players looked at Josh, and approached when he waved her over. She was a pretty brunette, looking nice and unthreatening in jeans and a non-Blaze shirt. I wasn’t sure which guy she was with.
“Jess, you do math stuff, right?”
She raised her brows. “I’m a financial advisor, so yes?”
“Katie’s getting her master’s in math. You guys have something in common.”
Jess looked at me and rolled her eyes. I shrugged. Josh was like a sugared-up toddler trying to put people together. But she sat down beside me, asking someone named Justin to get her a glass of wine. Ah, she was with him.
“You don’t have to?—”
“No, it’s good. I don’t come out very often, so I don’t know everyone that well anyway. I’m happy to chat with you and not have to talk hockey. You’re okay with that, aren’t you?”
“That would be great. I’m only here because I know Josh, so…”
She nodded. “I’m not one of the WAGs, just Justin’s sister. If that matters.”
I let out a relieved breath. “I’m not a WAG either, just Josh’s friend.”
Her brows raised, but someone—Justin?—passed her a glass of wine. There was a resemblance between them, though not enough to make their relationship obvious. He tilted his head and she shook hers. He walked to the far table and sat near Cooper.
I looked back at her. “You sure you want to sit here?”
“Definitely.”
“Do you know who everyone is? Because, true confession, I’m not a big hockey fan.”
“I don’t know them that well. I’ve dealt with Justin being a hockey prodigy all my life, so I’ve had to build up my own identity and friends away from hockey. Otherwise people want to use me to get to him.”
That reminded me of Andrea. Not that she’d used me, but as soon as she heard I knew Josh, hockey was all she thought about for a moment.
“But Justin’s played with the team for five years, so I at least know all the names.”
My muscles, which had tensed when my brain got stuck on the puck bunny track, started to relax. A woman who wasn’t a big hockey fan and wasn’t dating or married to a player? This was someone I could relate to.
I took another sip of my beer as I looked around. The table was filled with large men I was pretty confident were all hockey players. “My friend is going to be so jealous.”
“Hockey fan?”
“Both she and her girlfriend are. I wasn’t sure if I should come tonight, but she encouraged me to.”
