She told him she was horrified that their relationship had progressed to “meet the parents,” and no way in hell. He laughed at her and told her he’d kidnap her in the dead of night and throw her on a plane, but she was going to Chicago with him.
Truthfully, she was curious about his family and she was already anticipating his next game with Chicago to see if he was serious about that or not.
Today she was meeting Tara and Liz for lunch, something they tried to do at least once a week. They were eating at a midtown restaurant since Liz had a client meeting in a couple hours and Tara had an event that night she had to rush off to prepare for after lunch. Jenna had a few hours before she had to be at the bar, so this was going to be a relaxing lunch for her.
“Now that you’re married, it’s a wonder Mick lets you out of his sight,” Liz said to Tara after they ordered.
“I won’t see him at all when camp starts up in the summer. I’ll be a widow like you are now,” Tara said.
Liz nodded. “I know. This is miserable. The week down in Florida was amazing, though.”
“You are nice and tan,” Jenna said. “I’m jealous.”
“As tan as someone with my fair skin can get after I lather up with a fifty-plus sunscreen.”
“And how is my brother doing?”
Liz sighed. “Your brother is spectacular.”
Tara laughed.
“Gag. TMI.” Jenna made a face. “Not the information I was looking for. I meant at spring training.”
“Oh, his stats are great. In and out of the bedroom.”
Tara snorted.
“Is that all you think about?” Jenna asked.
“When you aren’t getting it regularly, yes. It’s all I can think about. If I wasn’t so damn busy with my own job I’d be parked at the beach house in Florida, naked and spread-eagled, ready for him after every game.”
Jenna laid her head in her hands. “I give up. I should stop coming to lunch.”
“Speaking of people getting it regularly, how’s it going with Ty?”
Her head shot up and she caught sight of the surprised look on Tara’s face, followed by the smile.
“Oh, you’re still seeing Ty? Details, please.”
“Again,” Liz said to her. “Not a big secret, right?”
“I guess not now that you’ve spilled, you blabbermouth.”
Liz shrugged but didn’t look at all apologetic, so Jenna turned to Tara. “Yes, I’m still seeing Ty.”
“And?” Tara asked.
She sighed. “It’s good. Nice. We’re having fun. That’s all.”
Tara took a sip of water. “Hmmmm.”
Liz waved her fork at Tara. “That’s exactly what I said. But let me tell you, the sparks that ignited between the two of them after the last hockey game I took her to nearly set me on fire. So I think there’s a lot more than ‘nice’ going on between the two of you.”
She swallowed a bite of food and laid down her fork. “He asked me to go to Chicago with him to meet his parents.”
“He did? Oh, my, that is big.” Tara looked to Liz, then back at Jenna. “That sounds serious.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re not serious. It really is just a fling.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought it was between Gavin and me,” Liz said.
“I thought the same thing about Mick and me,” Tara said, flashing her wedding ring. “And look what happened.”
Jenna laughed. “We are not getting married. We aren’t in love. It’s just sex.”
“Honey,” Liz said. “If a guy is casually f**king you, he doesn’t bring you home to meet his parents. He’s serious about you.”
“You think so?”
“Definitely,” Tara said. “The question is, are you serious about him?”
“I don’t know. No, I’m not. He’s not my type.”
Liz snorted. “Yeah, there are so many things wrong with him.”
“So true.” Tara lifted her fingers and started counting on them. “He’s ugly. Poor. Bad job. Zero personality.”
“Horrible hair. And that body…ugh,” Liz continued. “That smile is wretched. No sense of humor. He’s so unfriendly that kids and dogs run screaming…”
“Oh, shut up, both of you. You know what I mean. He’s not the kind of guy I would have chosen for myself.”
Tara let out a soft laugh. “They rarely are. But they sneak up on you and surprise the hell out of you, and suddenly, you’re head over heels in love and there’s a not a damn thing you can do about it.”
Was she falling in love with Ty?
God, she hoped not. This was not in her plan at all.
NINETEEN
JENNA WAS ON A DAMN AIRPLANE HEADED TO CHICAGO.
How the hell had that happened?
She blamed Liz and Tara for this. Somehow, over lunch that day, they had convinced her she might be falling in love with Ty. Or if not love, then something that at least required she stay checked in to this relationship for a while longer. So when Ty actually made good on the offer to go to Chicago and meet his parents, she hadn’t run screaming in the other direction.
Ty had arranged everything, including a first-class ticket on the flight. She decided she was going to look on this as a mini-vacation away from her responsibilities at the bar, and nothing more.
The flight landed and she was met at baggage claim by a gentleman holding a placard with her name on it. He escorted her by private car to one hell of a luxury hotel. She had club seats for the game tonight, where she’d be seated with some of the Ice players’ wives and girlfriends who had also traveled up for the game.
She had just enough time to shower and dress for the game when it was time to meet the women downstairs to take the car over to the event center where the Ice would be playing Chicago tonight.
Admittedly, she was excited. She’d talked up Crista and Leslie on the plane, so she sat next to them when they got to the center. Leslie was married to Jeff Lincoln, the other center on the Ice, and Crista was engaged to Ruddy Meyers, one of their wings.
Leslie was a pistol, as full of fire as Jeff was cool and reserved. She was tall, statuesque, and built with an amazing body, with raven hair that fell straight down her back. She looked like a Victoria’s Secret underwear model when in fact she was a middle school math and science teacher. Jenna could well imagine the pubescent boys fantasizing about Mrs. Lincoln.