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there’s no game today so nothing I’m on the
schedule for. Razor was going to come over and play video games
this afternoon, but he can help, too.”
    “ That’s really not
necessary,” I said feebly, but he’d already pulled his cell phone
from his pocket and was most likely texting this Razor, whoever
Razor was.
    He slid the phone back into the pocket
of his jeans. Then he smiled at me, bringing his dimples out again.
“Come on. Let’s get started.” Before I could object again, he’d
turned the sofa on its side and was ripping at the plastic sheeting
surrounding it. “Do you have a box cutter?” he asked over his
shoulder.
    I grabbed it off the kitchen counter
and handed it to him. Less than twenty minutes later, he’d
unwrapped my sofa and chairs, and we’d put the legs on them so they
could be used. Now I had an even bigger mess than before, with all
the plastic and cardboard strewn across the living room
floor.
    My stomach growled, and he grinned at
me.
    “ I’m starving, too. We
should take a break for lunch. Razor will be here
anytime.”
    I should really buy his
lunch , I thought. That was only fair,
considering all he was doing for me. “Where do you want to go?” I
asked him. “My treat.” At least I could afford it, after the
signing bonus Mr. Sutter had given me.
    “ Honestly, we could just
stay here. I’ve got PB and J.”
    I couldn’t let him eat a peanut butter
sandwich after helping me so much. Especially not after what
Brenden had said to me about Jamie’s cooking ability. “I haven’t
bought much yet, mainly just some kid food to get by until we’re
settled. Would you rather have a hot dog and some mac and
cheese?”
    You would have thought I’d
just hung the moon, based on the look he gave me. “Are you serious?
I would love a hot
dog and mac and cheese. I’ll go take the garbage down if you’ll
start on that.”
    He was only halfway finished hauling
out all the cardboard and plastic when he came back up with another
young guy. This one—Ray Chambers, the guy Jamie called Razor—could
have passed for a Rob Lowe lookalike, at least in Rob Lowe’s
earlier years. Good thing I was making more hot dogs and mac and
cheese than I’d thought I would need. The two of them finished
cleaning up together while I cooked.
    We ate on paper plates while sitting
cross-legged on the empty dining room floor.
    They stayed with me the rest of the
afternoon, helping me to put together tables and arrange furniture,
unload the rest of the boxes from my car, and even to unpack a few
things, right up until I had to leave to go pick my kids up from
school. The whole time they laughed and joked around with each
other, never once acting like there was anything they’d rather be
doing.
    Despite my overprotective motherly
instincts, I liked them. It probably wasn’t smart of me. I needed
to be wary, to guard my kids against predators and not trust anyone
who seemed friendly and likeable on the surface. Jason had been
friendly and likeable, too.
    I didn’t trust myself anymore to know
who was safe and who wasn’t. Could you ever really know?

    There wasn’t any good reason why I should be the one to speak up.
Not now. Not while the Seattle Storm was behind in this game by a
goal.
    I wasn’t the captain anymore—they’d
given that position to Harry. He’d been sent back to the AHL after
being called up to Portland with me last season. It was supposedly
so he could get more seasoning and experience as a leader. This was
exactly one of those moments when he needed to step up and take the
reins.
    I was only going to be here for the
rest of this game, having already played the first two games of my
conditioning assignment. I ought to leave it to him, to let him
figure out the best way to lead his team. I was here to get back
into game shape. Nothing else. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
It just wasn’t in me to be silent. Like Zee, I’d always been a
leader everywhere I went. Unlike Zee, I