Breaking Skin by Debra Doxer

to me. “Perhaps we could squeeze it in. We’re performing for the president and the first lady at the Kennedy Center next month, and then we have a charity event at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Perhaps we could fit her birthday party between those two bookings?”
    Tag can be such a pompous ass. I elbow him in the side and he grunts, even though I’m sure it didn’t hurt. It’s easy to fall into this banter with him, even though I don’t want to. It’s familiar and comfortable, but confounding because I don’t know why he’s being so nice to me today.
    The mother asking about birthday parties appears confused too, but for a different reason, as her forehead wrinkles deepen.
    “He’s kidding,” I tell her. “We don’t do birthday parties.”
    “God save me from suburbia,” Tag mutters once she’s gone.
    But I’m not focused on him. I’m looking for Cole, and I spot him by the door talking to some other parents. I guess whatever he intended to say to me wasn’t important enough to wait around, and I hate how disappointed I am.
    The parents who dropped off their kids arrive to pick them up. Some of them get out of their cars to chat with Cole before they go. Several of the dads are unabashed fans of his, and many of the women are too. Some women linger longer than others. What they’re doing seems a lot like flirting to me.
    “Who’s that?” Deedee asks, looking in Cole’s direction as she moves us away from Tag.
    “You don’t recognize him?”
    She squints and tilts her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
    “Blackthorn Tavern, the stockbroker . . .”
    “No!” She squeezes my arm. “He’s the guy from that night? The one you—?”
    I nod. “That’s Cole, and he’s not a stockbroker. He used to play professional hockey.”
    “No kidding. Do you think they were all hockey players? You’d think they’d want to brag about that.”
    “Maybe they didn’t want the attention. Would it surprise you to know he’s my sister’s neighbor?”
    Deedee’s eyes grow round. “You’re kidding? You mean you’ve seen him before today? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Because he hates me . I swallow and shift on my feet.
    She looks closer at me. “I remember you liked him. A lot.”
    “That was a long time ago.”
    “Is he married? Kids? Oh wait, if he’s here he must have a kid, right?”
    I look over at Derek talking to Langley across the room. “He’s divorced, and the tall boy by the window is his.”
    Her brows rise at that divorce news, which tells me she thinks it’s good.
    “Am I supposed to eat this thing?” Tag asks, interrupting when he approaches again with a cupcake in his hand. “One of those little girls gave it to me.”
    Deedee looks at him from beneath lowered brows. “I could recommend you do something else with it.”
    Tag frowns at her. “Funny. I’m going to get changed.” As we watch, he tosses the cupcake in the trash on his way to the dressing room.
    “Just kidding,” Deedee calls after him, but he doesn’t turn around.
    “Still hating him on my behalf?”
    “I’m trying to hold on to the hate, but he’s been pretty nice today. Do you think he wants to get back together with you?”
    I scoff. Her question seems absurd after the things Tag said to me at Boomer’s. “Is he still with Meredith?”
    “I don’t know.” She shrugs.
    “Maybe he actually has a conscience and feels bad about the way we left things.”
    “If he wants you back, do you want him?”
    I sigh and look across the room. My gaze lands on Cole again. He smiles at an attractive woman, another one of the mothers, I assume. I remember that smile, remember how it made me feel that night.
    “Maybe he’s the reason you’re not answering my question about Tag?”
    Deedee studies Cole with obvious appreciation, and I force my gaze away from him, annoyed at the way I keep seeking him out.
    “These moms sure like him,” she says. His group of female admirers has grown to four.
    “He used to play for