Page 9 of Power Play

Colby burst out laughing. “That would be great.”

Lucy nodded. “See? We’ll get you a jersey to wear and everything.”

“I don’t want to bug him, you guys. Not during such an important game.”

“It’s happening. You need to have some fun, Taylor. You can’t let one man turn you off the sport forever.” Colby held out her hand. “Phone please.”

I then realized that I left my purse at my stool, with my wallet and phone inside. “Oh, no!” I ran to the door and found it locked.

“Sorry!” Lucy reached around me and unlocked it. “I didn’t want us to get interrupted.”

Colby chuckled. “That’s messed up. What if some poor woman needed to pee?”

She shrugged. “We had an emergency.”

I moved past them and hurried back to my spot at the bar. It was occupied and my purse was nowhere to be seen. Before I could panic, the bartender showed up.

“I have your things back here.” He nodded to his left to the end of the bar, and I followed him to the opening. “Here you go.”

“Thanks so much. I had a bit of a––”

“No explanation needed. I took care of your tab too.”

I sighed, relaxing a bit. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“No problem.” He smiled, and I reached into my wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.

“Thanks.” I set it on the counter and turned.

“Phone.” Colby was right behind me and had her palm out again. I handed it to her and she typed before handing it to Lucy. She put in her number then gave it back to me. “We’ll call you tomorrow.”

With that promise, they returned to the table of guys. None of them seemed to be paying attention, but I noticed Jason was missing. Relieved I didn’t have to see him again, I slipped out of the restaurant and sighed when I reached the sidewalk. This day could not have gotten weirder.

I reached for my phone and called the one person I needed most.

“Hi, Tay.” My sister’s voice instantly slowed my racing heart.

“Hi, CareBear.”

“Oh no. What’s wrong?” Carrie knew me well enough to hear the pain I was trying to hide.

My eyes watered, but I sucked in a steadying breath. “What’s right would be a much shorter list.”

I continued down the street toward my hotel, grateful for the short walk.

“Start from the beginning.”

I could picture her sitting down at her kitchen table where they had their most serious discussions.

“I must not have been paying attention.” I began to tell her about getting lost, losing the job, seeing Jason, and finally the women that swooped in and comforted me.

“Wow. Taylor, I … I don’t even know what to say. That’s more than any one person should have to handle in a month, let alone one day.”

I walked through the lobby and into an elevator. “It’s been quite the day.”

Carrie huffed. “Well, let’s figure this out. Do you want to come home?”

“No!” Thankfully I was alone so no one heard my outburst. The doors slid open, and I rushed to the privacy of my room.