Cora snorted and said, “Jesus, you guys are perfect for each other.”
Evan ignored Cora’s statement and said, “My jersey.”
“Cora,” she said. “You need to come with us. I don’t want to be the only Panthers fan in the group.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. You know how I feel about brawling men on ice,” she said. “Besides. I’ll finally get to wear my new Panthers sweatshirt. It hasn’t been cold enough yet.”
Jamie groaned and said, “Cora. No! Not you, too.”
Evan watched as she approached Jamie and patted him on the cheek. A moment later, she said, “‘Fraid so, babe.”
Jamie shook his head in disgust and said, “Well we’re gonna go back upstairs so you can finish making dinner.”
Evan gave Taryn one last look of longing before he said, “Lemme go grab tickets before it’s sold out. Center ice was only fifty eight bucks.”
“Nice. Remind me and I’ll pay you back,” Taryn said as she chopped some dill.
“You’re not paying me back for the ticket. I’ve got it,” he said.
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“If only so I can gloat when the Hawks win,” he said.
“Heading for disappointment, hotshot,” she said, gently mixing the chopped dill into the potato salad.
A few minutes later, the tickets purchased, he grabbed the steaks and another beer. He headed back up to the roof, glad again that he decided to add the seating and the grill. Last week he’d gotten a small fire pit, too. He idly wondered if it would be cold enough to use.
As he opened the door to the roof, he heard Taryn and Cora arguing with Jamie about Hunter Cosden, the goalie for the Panthers.
“No way,” Taryn said.
“Ehh,” Jamie answered, “He’s kind of a puss. Last year during the series that he basically gave away, all he did was whine to the media afterward about not having enough support.”
“To be fair,” Cora said, “They were down half their first line.”
“Part of that was just stupidity, though. That dumbass Blagojevic shot himself in the leg. It’s hard to feel bad for him when he was trying to carry a gun in the waistband of sweat pants. What an idiot,” Jamie countered.
He laughed when they winced in unison.
“Ev,” he shouted. “Back me up here!”
“Blagojevic is a dumbass,” Evan stated as he walked over to the grill.
He heard Taryn snort. A second later she added, “No one is disputing that. All I’m saying is that Cosden got destroyed by the media. The guy answered a question about what would have helped him. Not being on for sixty minutes of the game would have helped. Having any sort of offense would have helped. Anyone who watched the games could have filled in the blanks there.”
Evan knew Jamie was going to give him a ton of shit for siding with her, but she made a good point. Pained, he said, “She’s got a point, Jamie. The guy was playing hard for the entire game and they didn’t have anyone who was able to score consistently. I feel like the answers that he gave were the right ones.”
When Jamie opened his mouth to argue, Evan held up a hand and said, “Which is not to say that I’m not going to enjoy watching him get his ass handed to him, but he did get a bit of a raw deal.”
The ribbing continued throughout the meal and after when they sat around the fire pit. When it had gotten dark, Taryn ran downstairs and came back with skewers and marshmallows. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d roasted marshmallows. It had to be at least twenty years ago.
He watched in fascination as she completely torched her marshmallow until the outside caught fire. She gently blew it out and then popped it in her mouth.
He shook his head and said, “Baby, you’re doing that wrong. You’re not supposed to burn them.”
She snorted and said, “Hell yeah, you are.”
She grabbed another from the bag and proceeded to destroy that one as well, then held it out to him. Obliging her, he took a bite, drawing her fingertip into his mouth in the process. When he felt the burnt sugar dissolve against his tongue, he conceded that she might be right.