“Hey, Gretchen. This is Radek Novak, an old friend from college.”
She nods enthusiastically, her silver hair swinging. “Good to meet you, Radek. Nice game tonight, boys.”
We chat for a minute before I say, “He’ll have the T-bone, too.”
“That’s what I thought,” she says with a wink before moving through the restaurant faster than women half her age.
The other thing I love about this place? It’s fast. Within fifteen minutes, thick steaks sizzle in front of us. Radek’s eyes are dazed, as if Gretchen delivered divine intervention.
“You weren’t kidding about this place.” He rubs his hands together, eager to dig in. “This beats the salads I get at home and the damn chicken nuggets the kids eat all the time.”
“That’s rough. How old are your girls?”
“Daisy is four and Emily is six. Our living room is full of stuffed toys and ballet shoes. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“That’s great,” I say in all sincerity. I bet he’s an incredible dad, this brute of a hockey player with his ballet-dancing girls twirling around him.
Radek and I jump on our steaks, chewing contentedly for a while.
“The long travel stints are hard on everyone,” he adds with a sigh. “Penelope has her hands full.”
“You ever think about what your life would’ve been if you hadn’t met Penelope in high school?”
Radek shrugs and takes a drink. “She made fun of my hair and said hockey players are bimbos on skates. Love at first insult.”
I snort in amusement. “Really? You fell for her, just like that?”
“Falling in love is easy when you’re chock-full of hormones at sixteen. It’s thestayingin love part that’s less predictable. You saw how we were through college.”
Penelope also went to Michigan State, which is how I’ve had a glimpse of their relationship.
“What about college?” I ask.
“Plenty of things got in the way. Our schedules, mostly. The stress of school. The uncertainties of the draft. Still, we weathered things, one storm at a time.”
There’s a tiny pang of envy. But more than anything, I’m happy for him.
“What’s the secret?”
Radek puts down his fork and leans forward. “It’s no secret. Show up and pay attention. That’s it. If you’re right for each other, the showing up will be a breeze.”
He takes another drink before continuing. “But if paying attention to each other is a struggle, maybe that’s another conversation. I wouldn’t know. It never mattered how much Penny and I got on each other’s nerves, I’d still rather be with her on her worst day than with anyone else on their best.”
I think about Ligaya and our history of getting on each other’s nerves. How her special brand of witty sarcasm is more entertaining to me than anything. How I could spend the rest of my life paying attention.
From the front of the bar, the laughter of a cluster of women interrupts my thoughts. One of them waves our way. I take a drink of beer and avoid further eye contact.
“College Tristan would’ve gone over there.”
“College Tristan didn’t know any better.”
“I thought you were dating that model in Denver? What happened?”
I wipe my mouth with the napkin before answering, not in the mood to get into my measly dating history.
“Charlotte didn’t last two weeks after my knee surgery. She was gone before I could even take off the brace. To be fair, we had only been seeing each other for a month. I don’t blame her.”
Radek leans back, tossing his napkin on the table. “She did you a favor by leaving. Someone like that doesn’t deserve you.”
