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She nodded. “Sure am. I appreciate you picking me up.”
“No reason to take an Uber when I was heading home at the same time.”
She’d mentioned grabbing an Uber this morning when she told him her car was in the shop. Blake had insisted on coming to get her instead, since her shift ended an hour after his game.
“The timing was pretty perfect,” she acknowledged with a grin. “Getting to work wasn’t a big deal since I don’t mind walking during the day, and the weather was lovely, but it’s a different story at night.”
The area around Hopkins wasn’t the kind of place a woman wanted to roam alone after dark. Baltimore was one of those cities where a person could feel perfectly safe walking one block, then two blocks later, be terrified out of their minds.
“I definitely wouldn’t let you walk home after dark. I’m happy to pick you up.”
Erika glanced at the sky when they walked out of the emergency room. “I thought it was calling for rain.”
“It still is, but I think it’s starting later than they forecasted.” They made their way to the parking garage, where he’d parked his car.
“Well, I owe you one for this. And don’t worry, it’ll be business as usual tomorrow because the mechanic called, and my car is ready.” She’d finally made an appointment to have her car looked at after dealing with a weird pinging noise for nearly a month.
“Did they figure out what was wrong with it?” Blake asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, something to do with a loose exhaust bracket. Whatever the hell that means. God only knows what it’s going to cost me.”
“Hopefully it won’t be too bad. Did you go to Rocky’s like I suggested?”
She nodded.
“Good. He’ll take care of you. Rocky’s an anomaly. An honest mechanic.”
She smiled. “Glad to hear it. Soooo…coming to get me didn’t ruin any horizontal victory dance plans tonight, did it? Or is Mindy meeting you back at your place?”
He shook his head, grimacing. “Unfortunately, no dancing. We got our asses handed to us.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Erika knew how much her competitive neighbor hated to lose.
“Not sure why it was such a slog tonight. We couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm. Nothing—and I mean nothing—would hit the back of the net.”
“Maybe it was jet lag from the West Coast trip,” she suggested. “You got back pretty late the night before last. I’m sure that had to take a toll on you guys.”
“Yeah, Coulton said the same thing.” Coulton Moore was the Rays’ goalie, a gentle giant if Erika had ever met one.
“I don’t know how you manage as well as you do,” Erika added. “Hopping back and forth across the country with precious little time between games sounds exhausting to me.”
Blake pulled his keys out of his pocket and hit the fob, the car lights flashing as the doors unlocked. “It’s part of the job, and you get used to it after a while. We’re usually better at bouncing back from the travel. Tonight, we were just off.”
“You’ll win the next one.” Erika climbed into the passenger seat as Blake slid behind the steering wheel. She leaned her head back and sighed, glad to finally be off her feet.
Blake started the car but didn’t put it in gear as he studied her face. “Doesn’t look like your night was any better than mine.”
She rubbed her eyes wearily. “I’d have to check the latest census, but I’m fairly certain I treated fifty percent of the population of Baltimore tonight. There’s a nasty stomach virus going around, and we currently live in a city filled with dehydrated people.”
“Shit. Hope you don’t get sick. Hell, I hope I don’t get sick,” he added with a grin. “Sold-out game tonight. Lot of people breathing the same air.”
“You’re healthy as a horse.” She tried to recall if she could remember a time when Blake was ever sick. She couldn’t even recall him getting a cold. It was one of the things the two of them had in common. Erika could count on one hand the number of times she’d been sick in bed. And most of those were when she was a kid. “I wore my mask the entire time. Plus, my immune system is probably the strongest part of me. God knows it’s always getting a workout.” She sighed again, slipping off one of her shoes, rubbing her aching foot. “It’s good to be off my feet. I didn’t sit down once tonight.”
Blake reached across the console and grasped her knee, giving it a squeeze. “You know, I could use a beer. What do you say we stop into Pat’s Pub and unwind with a pint before heading back?”
It was late, but Erika was too wired to sleep. “That’s sounds great. I didn’t have time for more than a handful of crackers on my break, so I might grab a sandwich too.”
Blake pierced her with a look. The one that told her he was probably going to give her yet another speech about how she should take better care of herself.
