Chapter 16: Sleet Kitten: Chapter 16

For being another night that got totally jacked up by unforeseen events, I’m having a ton of fun. After Isabelle accepted that professional hockey players were no longer available to her, Steph poured a round of very strong margaritas.

We’ve moved our party down to the theater room. We can be as loud as we want down here, and it’s the perfect excuse to get back on this amazingly-comfortable couch. We have the lights on low, and Steph somehow finds a way to sync up her phone to play YouTube kitten videos on the big screen.

I divulge the story of how Jackson and I met, the subsequent game, and the Mother Mary incident. Isabelle finds it all highly amusing, but I think Steph is going to hyperventilate, she’s laughing so hard. Which is ridiculous because I know she heard the story from Mary already. But perhaps the margaritas make it funnier. And it is funny. Now that it’s over.

Wiggling my shoulders, I bury myself further into the corner of the couch. The same spot I shared with Jackson. Mary and Steph are seated together in the middle and Isabelle is opposite me on the far length of the couch.

Looking to Isabelle I ask, “So, what’s your story? Have you always lived in Minnesota?”

“Me?” Her eyebrows pop up at my question. “There’s not much to tell. I’ve kind of lived all over. We moved a lot growing up since Daddy’s job would take us to different towns every couple of years. It was just him and me, so – aside from switching schools – it wasn’t hard to pick up and move.”

Mary gives her a look of motherly sympathy. “Oh honey, I know how hard it can be to start new schools. That must have been difficult.”

Sighing, Isabelle admits, “It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but I knew how important Daddy’s career was. He was busy, but always found plenty of time for me. And he made sure I had the best of everything.

“We spent several years in Iowa, but I finished up high school in New York. I liked it out there, and I stayed for college, but when Daddy took this job a few years ago I decided to move back. The Midwest always felt like home, and I missed living near him.”

“It is pretty great here,” I nod. “I’ve been here my whole life, aside from travel. Did you say you went to college in New York City?”

“Not quite, I went to Cornell, so more in the middle of the state.”

“Damn, girl!” My eyes widen; I had definitely misjudged her as a ditzy blonde.

“Yeah,” Steph agrees. “That’s impressive.”

Isabelle just shrugs.

“What did you study?” I ask.

“Oh, um, I just majored in finance, and economics.”

Laughing I say, “ ‘Just?’ Like, ‘I’m just a flipping math whiz,’ no big deal.”

She glances away. “I’m an insurance underwriter right now, nothing really exciting.”

It’s hard to tell in the dim lighting, but I think she’s blushing. This makes me grin. “Shit, Izzy, you’re a nerd!”

Isabelle straightens up and locks eyes with me for a moment before turning away. I must have offended her. I thought she would know I was kidding. “Sorry, I didn’t mean nerd in a bad way. It was meant to be a compliment. I wish I was great at math, it’s just not my thing.”

When she replies, there’s a little tremor in her voice. “No, it’s not that.” She pauses. “You called me Izzy.”

“Oh, uh, sorry. It’s just a nickname. If you don’t -”

She cuts me off. “I like it. It’s just no one has ever given me a nickname before. I mean other than my daddy.” As she reaches up to quick brush her hand against her cheek, I feel a mirrored tightness in my chest. “I don’t have many girlfriends.”

“Well, you have a few more now,” I say. Izzy looks up at all three of us, and I see Mary and Steph both nodding their heads.

Steph cuts the tension by raising her glass. “Cheers to that! The more bitches the more merrier!”

“Hear, hear!” cheers Mary.

Izzy and I both silently raise our glasses and tip them toward each other.

After taking a sip, I hum as an idea starts to form. “The players might be off limits to you for dating, but – with brains like yours – you could work for them. Your education added with the real-life knowledge that you have, you could start your own business. Be a financial planner, or investment guru, or whatever it’s called, to the stars of hockey. And aside from having the smarts to do it, you have the next and possibly hardest step done, access to the players.”

Steph is practically bouncing off her seat by the time I finish. “Holy crap that’s a brilliant idea! Izzy you have got to do that! You’d be perfect!”

Izzy looks back and forth between us, biting her lip. “I don’t know, do you think they’d take me seriously?”

Mary scoffs. “Of course they would. And these girls are right, that’s a great idea. Those boys don’t know the first thing about what to do with their money. Most of them blow it all away on strippers and stupid cars.”

“Mom!” Steph exclaims while laughing.

“Well, not my Jacky boy.” Mary looks at me. “He would never do that.”

“No ma’am,” I agree, trying to keep a straight face.

“You know what, you’re right. It’s a great idea!” Izzy grins. “I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. But… I don’t know the first thing about starting my own business.”

“I do!” I slap a hand over my mouth, I didn’t mean to shout that. I’m getting way too into this. Lowering my voice to a normal volume, I continue, “Well, not me, but my best friend has her own business. She’s an event planner, here in the Twin Cities, so she’s had to do the whole registering a business thing, and taxes, and blah blah blah nerd stuff. Which I’m sure you’d enjoy.” I wink at Izzy. “Her name is Meghan. She’s an absolute terror of a friend, but she’s a savvy businesswoman. I’ll have to introduce you to her.”

Izzy nods. “That’d be so great.”

I picture their meeting and grin. “Ohmygod, Meghan is going to love you! But – fair warning – she’ll help you set up your business, and then she’ll get all up in your personal business. She seriously doesn’t understand boundaries. She’ll critique your dating profiles, and will definitely ask you detailed questions about your sex life.”

Steph laughs. “I like her already. Invite her over right now!”

I chuckle.

Izzy grimaces a little. “I don’t have any dating profiles.”

“Please, do yourself a favor, and at least make up a fake Tinder account or something to show her. If you don’t, she will literally force you into one.”

Steph leans forward. “Since you won’t be able to date hockey players, especially if you’re working with them, then you totally need to get online!”

“Really? You think I should do online dating?” Izzy asks.

“Dating, going out for drinks, fucking for fun, whatever.” Steph shrugs.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m on Silver Singles,” Mary says.

Steph looks at her. “Seriously? Are you dating someone?” It’s hard to read the look on her face. It’s definitely shock, but it’s hard to tell if it’s the good kind or the bad kind.

“I’ve been on dates, but there’s no one special yet.” Mary puts her hand on Steph’s lap. “I’ll always love your father. He was my perfect pairing, but life chose to be a bitch and took him too young. Stupid giant heart of his. Me dating has nothing to do with me loving him any less. But your father always told me that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted me to keep living my life. So, I’m doing what he said.” Mary pauses. “And if I’m gonna hook myself a sugar daddy, I’ve gotta do it while I’m still hot.”

I have no idea what to say to this, and clearly neither does Izzy. We wait another beat before Steph throws her arms around Mary. There’s a sound like a laugh, mixed with some jumbled words. Mary pats Steph on the back saying, “There, there, quit making a fool of yourself.”

I feel like such an intruder right now. This is clearly something that’s meant to be a private conversation. But I feel like getting up to leave would be just as inappropriate as listening, so I wait it out.

Steph chokes out a “Mom, I understand,” then, “I’m so happy for you.”

Clearing her throat, Mary pats Steph on the back. “Enough of this emotional mumbo jumbo. Let’s make Izzy a Tinder account, so she can go get laid!”

I think under any other circumstance, Izzy would have fought the idea. But coming on the tails of Mary’s declaration, she gives in. And that’s how we spend the next hour – drinking margaritas, and creating a sexy new dating profile under the name Izzy.