Pipe Dreams(36)

       
           



       

"Right." Lauren whipped out her Katt Phone and pulled up the catering  manager's line. "Some of the guys think it's bad luck to plan a victory  party beforehand," she explained. "They'd rather wait an extra half hour  for their chicken wings than have me jinx them."

"Good," Jimbo grinned. "Because I just ordered ten dozen wings and a few plates of nachos. Hope you don't mind."

"That's fine. Drinks?"

"I thought I'd let you handle that. That guy in the black vest seems to  be on top of things." Jimbo pointed at an employee poking at a  touch-screen terminal beside the bar.

"Good tip," she said. "I'll talk to him right now."

Lauren ordered several other food items and asked the waiter to set up a  table, and to rope off an alcove where they could congregate. Players  would be trickling in any moment now, and this melee wouldn't be easy  for Nate's security team to handle.

Sure enough, Castro and Beringer arrived a moment later to cheers.  Lauren stationed Jimbo at the entrance to the alcove and asked him to  keep an eye on things until the bus arrived with the rest of the team.

Lauren flitted about, checking on the status of the transport vehicles  and taking care of business. Everyone was smiling and jubilant, yet she  fought off an unhappy void right in the middle of her chest.

This morning Lauren had taken an ovulation test. It was your basic  pee-on-a-stick situation, and performed in the privacy of her hotel  room. A minute after executing this maneuver, the digital readout showed  her a smiley face.

She'd been wearing a frowny face ever since.

A frantic call to the fertility clinic had confirmed what she already  suspected-they wouldn't perform her insemination two days from now when  she was back in New York, because it wasn't likely enough to work.  "Nobody wants to waste an expensive vial of sperm," the nurse pointed  out. "It's best to wait until next month when you'll be in town."

But I'm tired of waiting, Lauren complained to herself. Now that she'd  made the big decision to become a mother, she wanted to get on with it.  And even worse-next month this same scenario might just play out again.  The road to the Stanley Cup finals could potentially stretch out another  fourteen games, each one two or three days apart. It could be mid-June  before the kings were crowned. If her boys survived this next series,  and if Becca was still out of commission, she might miss another date  with the clinic.

The room began to fill with players and even more of their loved ones.  She saw Jimbo admit a couple of team alumni, too, including Dan  "Chancey" Chancer and his evil troll of a wife. Great.

"Hey there."

Lauren spun around to find Mike standing nearby with four champagne  glasses and a magnum in his hand. "Hi," she said, momentarily stalled by  the happy look in his eye, and the dazzling effect of Mike Beacon in a  suit, his shirt collar open at the neck, his tie stuffed into a pocket.  "Good work tonight."

"Thanks." He winked. "It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done."

"That's me on a good day," she joked.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Can't agree there. You've never  had a day without a whole lot of pretty." He held out the hand with all  the glasses. "Take one of these, will you? I want to pour you a glass."

Lauren almost refused. She'd given up alcohol this past week on account  of her potential pregnancy. Now she realized it didn't matter if she had  a glass of champagne. Swallowing roughly, she slipped one from his  fingers. "Thanks."

He poured, and she was all too conscious of how close to one another they were.

"Hans!" Mike called, lifting his chin toward the blond man standing nearby. "I have bubbly."

The guy came closer, and Lauren realized where she'd seen him before-the  airport. And sure enough, Hans was followed by Elsa and another man,  too.

"I want some!" Elsa sang, pointing at the bottle in her father's hand. "Just a taste!"

"You can have a sip of mine," he said, pouring another glass. "This is  for Hans, who makes it possible for me to go anywhere or do anything."  He gave the man a warm smile. "We should be drinking to his health  instead of my victory."

The blond cutie blushed, and took the glass.

"Hans, this is my friend Lauren Williams."

"It's nice to meet you," she said. "And how are you, Elsa? I love your  hair longer like that." She waited to see what the girl would find to  say. The poor thing had never been able to tolerate Lauren, but Lauren  wasn't about to take it personally. The kid had her reasons.                       
       
           



       

"Thanks," she said stiffly. "That's a nice suit jacket you're wearing."

The compliment startled Lauren. "Thank you!"

"My granny has one just like it," Elsa added. Then she smiled like the Cheshire Cat.

"Does she now?" Well played, sister. Lauren bit her lip against a bark of frustrated laughter.

Behind Elsa, Hans the babysitter looked mortified. And Mike gave his daughter a stern look that said, We'll talk later.

Looking pleased with herself, Elsa took Hans's champagne glass out of  his hand and took a taste. Then Hans snatched it back. They obviously  had their hands full with this kid.

"This is Justin," Mike said a beat later, handing a glass of champagne  to a redheaded guy on the edge of their group. "And that's my whole  entourage tonight." He poured a glass of bubbly for himself. Elsa tried  to take it, but he held it out of her reach. "That's enough," he said,  and she could swear it had more than one meaning.

Lauren shook hands with Justin and made a couple of minutes of small  talk with Mike's crew. She learned that Hans was Elsa's violin teacher,  and that springtime was-in addition to play-offs season-the season when  classical musicians auditioned for symphony jobs.

"It has been somewhat crazy," he said in a slightly clipped accent.  "Last week I left for Philadelphia the minute Mike got home from Tampa.  Tomorrow Elsa flies home with Justin and I go off to Cleveland."

"That sounds stressful," she sympathized.

"Not as stressful as the actual auditions," Justin said, wrapping an arm around Hans.

Hans smiled again. The two of them were adorable.

Even so, Lauren made her excuses. She thanked Mike for the glass of  bubbly and made noises about checking to see that every player had made  it back from the arena.

There was really no more work to do tonight. The team had done it all  themselves, and had earned themselves a trip to the conference finals  next week. She finished her champagne and abandoned the empty glass on a  table.

It was time for her to head upstairs. As she wove through the bodies  toward freedom, Lauren spotted the bald head of an infant in the crowd.  And when she looked over its little round head, she found that it was  held in one burly arm by the young forward Castro.

She maneuvered closer for a better view. There was nothing sexier than a  hunk of a guy holding a chubby little baby. "Who've you got there?" she  asked the player.

"Hey, Lauren! This is my nephew. Isn't he cute?"

"The cutest," Lauren agreed. The baby had the smoothest dark-gold skin,  and little starfish hands, one of which he jammed into his drooling  mouth. "Can I hold him?"

"Of course you can," Castro said, passing her the baby immediately. "I  was trying to give my sister a break, and now she's gone and ditched  me."

"Hi," Lauren cooed to the warm bundle landing in her arms. "What's your name, handsome?"

"Xavier," Castro supplied.

"Hi, Xavier. Do you have any smiles for me?" The baby looked up at her  with wide eyes, as if trying to decide. She used the pad of her thumb to  stroke just under his soft little chin, and then he made up his mind.  He opened his mouth and gave her a giant, toothless smile.

"Aw, man. I think he's in love," Castro said.

So was Lauren. "You are a very handsome man," she said to the baby in a  low voice. Lauren loved babies, yet they didn't inspire her to speak in a  high voice. "What are your hobbies?"

"Drooling," Castro said quickly. "Watch your jacket, actually."

But Lauren wasn't worried. It wasn't, as a matter of fact, one of her  prettiest outfits. Elsa had pointed that out rather harshly, but it was  half true. "What do you think, Xavier? Are you teething? Is that why  you're so drooly?"

He jammed one chubby fist into his mouth and seemed to agree with her.

"Dude, you passed my child to the first set of willing hands, didn't  you?" A woman with Castro's coloring and a cheerful smile punched her  brother in the biceps. "I'm Jackie," she said to Lauren while Castro  rubbed the spot on his arm that his sister had punished.