“Madison,” Eva said.
“What?”
“Today is a big day for you,” Zoe said.
“Stop it,” I said. “I’m not going to make it a thing.”
“But it is a thing,” Eva said. “We can go with you. We’ll be your assistants.”
“I don’t need assistants,” I said.
“We can be sexy silent helpers,” Zoe said.
“That’s the same thing,” I said.
“Zoe will bring her guitar and sing,” Eva said.
“And Eva will bring her laptop and write scary stories for people,” Zoe said.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I agreed to do this. I have to do this. I want to do this. This is important to me.”
“We know it is,” Zoe said. “It’s a lot of emotion too.”
“For more than one reason,” Eva said.
“I understand,” I said. “Here’s what I can say right now. I was asked to take pictures for an important event. This woman and her family are standing up and fighting back against cancer. They’re sending out so much positivity in a time of unease. They want me to take pictures of everything. To capture it. Maybe I can get a sense of closure. Something I never had on my own.”
“That’s powerful,” Zoe said.
“And the other thing?” Eva asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Okay? I don’t even know if he’ll be there.”
“He’ll be there,” Zoe said.
“Okay. Fine. He’ll be there. He’s suspended right now. And he asked for a trade. I think it’s clear where we both stand on things. Do I love him? Yes. Am I going to jump up in front of everyone and declare that? I just…”
“You’re just going to walk into a moment and see what happens,” Eva said.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if that’s insane or not,” Zoe said.
“It’s my choice,” I said.
“We can still show up,” Eva said. “Just sneak in, eat food and flirt with sexy hockey players.”
“That actually sounds nice,” Zoe said.
“Stay away from Maverick,” I blurted out.
Both Zoe and Eva pursed their lips.
I sighed.
Yeah, okay, fine, I had to admit it…
I was nervous as hell to see Maverick.