Page 3 of Her Game Plan

This guy.

“Don’t call me Princess, Ball Boy,” I snap.

“If the pearls fit.” He gestures to my necklace with his beer bottle.

I cross my arms. “Are you sure you want to do this? Kickers aren’t known for their throwing ability.”

The way his right eye narrows makes me think he might be catching on to the fact that I do know who he is. Unwilling to give up the game, I try to distract him. “Do you think Beckett is going to take it easy on Finley?”

He turns to look at the couple currently laughing together, as they stand holding the beanbags. “He’s a pro hockey player: he’s not going to let her win.”

“I’m not sure that’s true. They’re new. She’s competitive. He might want her in a good mood for a little hanky-panky tonight.”

Callan chuckles. “Hanky-panky? Have you been hanging out with my ninety-year-old grandma or something?”

“Your grandma is ninety?! That’s so cool!” As someone who was never able to meet any of her grandparents, at least not that I remember, I have always been fascinated by the idea of sitting on a porch with someone who’s lived through so much and asking them a million questions. “What did she think of the Great Depression?”

“I… What?” Callan looks like I asked him to translate War and Peace into Latin.

“You know, the period in history where—”

Callan cuts me off, “I know what the Great Depression is! Jesus, how dumb do you think I am?”

I wait for him to continue, but after an awkward beat of silence, I realize it wasn’t a hypothetical question.

“Oh, I don’t think you’re dumb, I guess.”

Callan shakes his head. “Super convincing. Just because I haven’t asked my grandma about the Great Depression doesn’t mean I don’t know what it is. I just… Would she have even been born?”

I start to mentally calculate it, but give up when Finley starts to play, her red bag hitting the board between us before sliding through the hole.

“Yes!” I shout, doing a little dance. “We are going to crush you two.”

Callan smiles. “Don’t be so certain, Princess. I am a quarterback after all.”

Chapter 2

Callan

“Here, take my seat,” I offer Beckett Kane when he joins the poker game late on Thursday night.

He ignores me, opening up the closet in my basement to pull out another folding chair instead. “I’m surprised we got you here,” I comment when he claims an empty space across from me at the table.

“Yeah,” Nate Riley, a basketball player for the Mountaineers, agrees. “I figured now that you’re back to being gainfully employed, you’d start ignoring our existence again.”

“Don’t give the guy a hard time,” I cut in. “Who wants snacks?”

I asked my chef to make everyone’s favorites for tonight. I also stopped by the store to get a few extra bags of chips and three different charcuterie trays in case the guys were feeling something other than their usuals. Unfortunately, a few guys, especially those on the Stallions with me, have already texted to let me know they’re not making it tonight.

“I’ll help you,” Riley offers, leaving Kane with our fourth player, Jameson Walker. He’s a golfer who lives three hours away in eastern Colorado, and as such, usually ends up staying over in my guest room when he makes it to poker night. Mostly because I insist he stays until he finally gives in. I have a seven-bedroom house: I might as well have people stay here instead of paying for a hotel.

“How’d your party go the other night?” Jameson asks a few minutes later when Riley and I return from the kitchen, our arms full of food and drinks. “Sorry Bryn and I couldn’t make it. Wild Bluffs has a huge fireworks display. It’s a Harper family tradition to watch them together from her parents’ backyard. Or roof.”

“No problem. Would’ve been fun to have you, but I totally understand.” I pause before asking, “Bryn’s staying here with you tonight, isn’t she?”

“Yep,” Jameson replies. “She’s out with a friend from college right now but promised to catch a rideshare back.”

I love Jameson’s wife, potentially more than I love him. Though I mostly love seeing the two of them together, totally obsessed with one another. It’s a relationship goal I haven’t yet figured out how to achieve.