Collide (Oh, Pioneers!) Read online

  Collide

  Amanda Bridges

  For Stephanie,

  If it hadn't been for you, supporting my obsessions and dragging me on all those crazy adventures when we were young, the idea for this story would have never been born.

  I miss you more and more every day.

  For Jewels,

  Words cannot express how truly, truly grateful I am that fate brought us together as friends.

  Thank you for listening to me when I would complain about how this or that wasn't working. Thank you for your valuable input on how to make this story coherent for public consumption. And thank you for encouraging me when everyone else thought I was crazy.

  And for all those hockey boys,

  Without you, our lives would be a lot more boring.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Tori Cavanagh was no stranger to the world of hockey. With retired player for a father, and five brothers who had played competitively, she had lived and breathed hockey from the moment she was born. In fact, she was sure she had spent more time hanging around a hockey rink, watching games, than she had spent in school. However, all those years being surrounded by the sport had not prepared her for this moment.

  She stared up at the large building in front of her in awe, taking in its blue tinted windows, curved walls, and bizarrely tilted roof.

  She was here.

  She was finally here.

  Granted, when she had dreamed of this moment as a child, she had always imagined that she would be a player or a coach, not just a secretary. And in those dreams she was always discovered and hired by a scout based on her own merits, not because the General Manager was a friend of the family. However, the economy was struggling, and despite her experience and degree she had failed to find a job back home. When Daryl had called up her father and offered her a position working in the front office for his hockey team she had leapt at the chance. Her student loans weren’t going to pay themselves after all!

  The Pioneers were one of the newest teams in the league and had been added in the latest expansion along with the Las Vegas Aces. They had been announced the year before, but wouldn’t play their first game until this fall -- just a few short months away! -- and Tori was excited to be a part of their inaugural season. She still wasn’t entirely sure what she would be doing for them, but she would take whatever job she could get as long as she was involved in the sport she loved.

  Taking a deep breath, she smoothed the skirt and jacket of her dress suit one last time and opened the glass doors in front of her. Cool air washed over her body as she stepped into the lobby and crossed over to the large wood and glass desk that dominated the far wall. The receptionist sitting behind it glanced up at her approach. “Welcome to the office of the Portland Pioneers. How can I help you?”

  “Yes, I’m here to see Daryl Olson.”

  “Name?”

  “Tori Cavanagh.”

  “Oh.” The woman frowned as she looked at something on her computer screen. “Mr. Olson is out and I don’t see anything about a Tori Cavanagh on his calendar . . .”

  Tori sighed. “Try--”

  Before she could finish her sentence though, a large man wearing a dark suit walked into the lobby. He hesitated for a moment, frowning briefly as he tried to place her face. Then he broke out into a broad smile as he finally recognized her. “Vicky!” He hugged her, then held her out at arms length, looking her up and down. “Look at you! You’re all grown up!”

  “Hi, Daryl.” Tori blushed and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “You look well.” His hair was a little grayer than she remembered, but other than that he still looked like the same man who would sit on the couch and watch Maple Leafs games with her dad.

  “Come on, come on.” He motioned for her to follow him and led her deeper into the front office of the Pioneers, past empty cubicles and meeting rooms. Pictures of hockey players leaned against the walls where, Tori assumed, they would eventually be hung and the air was heavy with the heady smell of fresh paint. Men and women struggled to work around the contractors still building cubicles and hanging lighting fixtures. Daryl waved at the chaos along the way. “We’re still in the process of moving in.”

  “I can see that.” Tori nodded as she eyed the random boxes sitting here and there.

  Finally he stopped and opened a door, revealing a large office beyond. Two walls held floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the street outside and the pedestrians passing by, while the third was covered by the Pioneers’ logo. Daryl patted the back of one of the black leather chairs sitting in front of his desk. “Take a seat, Vicky, take a seat.”

  “Thank you, but I prefer Tori, remember?”

  “Oh, yes, right, right.” He sat down behind his desk. “How’s your mother?”

  “Fine now. I think she was just worried about me leaving home.” Her mother had always been overprotective of her.

  “Ah, yes.” He picked a pen up from the top of his desk and spun it between his fingers. “And your Dad? How’s the rink doing?”

  “Good; they bought a new Zamboni.”

  “Great, great.” Daryl put down the pen and leaned on the desk. He steepled his fingers in front of him. “Now, about your position . . .”

  “Yes.” Tori smiled, eager to leave behind the awkward small talk and learn what she would be doing. “My dad said something about being your administrative assistant, but the contract wasn’t clear about any details.”

  “Actually, we’ll be putting you with the scouting department first.”

  “Oh.”

  He leaned back in his chair, studying her once again. “Do you remember that trick you used to do when you were a kid? The one where you used to tell me what you would do if you were a coach?”

  “Barely.” Tori lied. Actually she remembered it quite well; her dad used to bet that at eight years old, she knew more about ice hockey than half the league combined. Daryl always feigned disbelief, promising her five dollars if she could guess what would happen in the game next. This had gone on for a year or two before her mother had decided her daughter had more important things to do -- like ballet lessons.

  “Well, I would like you to use that talent of yours to help out our scouts. They’re very busy right now, trying to fill our roster and attracting rookies to our organization. They and I would really appreciate it if you would take a look at some of the tapes we have.”

  “But . . . I’m not . . . Aren’t there rules preventing . . . ?”

  Daryl smiled. “What the league doesn’t know won’t hurt them. You’ll have other, normal administrative duties to attend to as well: filing, making hotel and flight reservations, that sort of thing.”

  “Oh.”

  “Come, I’ll introduce you to Lance and show you where you will be sitting.”

  Lance Telford appeared to be in his early forties, with light brown hair that was just beginning to turn grey and deeply tanned skin. Dressed in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt, he was in the process of unpacking his office when they walked through the door. He scrutinized Tori as Daryl introduced her, his brown eyes taking in her plain business suit and vibrant auburn hair swept up in a neat bun. The hand he extended was rough and calloused from years of handling a hockey stick. “Daryl’s told us quite a lot about you.”

  “I hope I live up to expectations.” She smiled.

  He didn’t return it. “I hope you do too.”

  “Oh, go easy on t
he kid, Lance.” Daryl patted her on the back. “You’ll be fine. I’ll leave you two to get to know each other.”

  Lance grunted a response as the General Manager of the Pioneers left the room. Once they were alone, he turned back to Tori. “Don’t you have something to do?”

  “Daryl said something about looking at some scouting tapes for you . . .”

  He laughed, but it wasn’t a friendly sound. “Of course he did.” He set up a photo frame featuring two kids on his desk. “But that won’t be happening. I don’t need some girl barely out of school to do my job. Why don’t you, oh, I don’t know, get some coffee for me or do something else instead.”

  “I’m not . . .”

  “Here you go.” He tossed a mug at her, and she had to catch it lest it crash to the floor and shatter. “Two packets of sweetener, please.” Then he turned his back and ignored her.

  Tori glared at him, and then began her hunt to find a break room -- muttering curses under her breath the entire time.

  Chapter 2

  The break room, it turned out, was buried in a small room at the very back of the office. A refrigerator stood against one wall, waiting to be plugged in, and the coffee maker had yet to be set up. Tori supposed there was a Starbucks nearby that she could visit to get her new boss his coffee. It seemed like there was one on every corner nowadays. However, after his condescending and sexist behavior, Tori found that she didn’t want to go out of her way for him. Sighing, she set the mug Lance had given her in the sink and leaned against the counter.

  This was not at all how she expected her first day with the Pioneers to go. She had thought she might be working as Daryl’s assistant, doing filing or setting up meetings. It had never occurred to her that he might still remember that silly talent of hers and try to exploit it. Or that the person she would be working for would be such an asshole -- though, really, who could blame him. Daryl was forcing him to delegate his job out to someone he barely knew.

  It was tempting to give up and return home. So tempting that she found herself pulling out her cell phone and looking up her mother’s number. She pressed the ‘call’ button, but it went straight to voicemail. She started to leave a message but loud voices interrupted her and Tori looked up to see two women enter the break room. Their easy chatter and laughter echoed through the empty place, making Tori smile even though she didn’t know what they were laughing about. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, she shoved her phone back into her pocket and picked up Lance’s mug. However, her movement stopped both women in their tracks and their voices died off into silence.

  Finally the blonde stepped forward, and extended her hand. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Steph.”

  “Tori.” Tori introduced herself. “I’m new -- actually, today’s my first day.”

  “That explains it. So what department do they have you working in?”

  “I’m the new secretary for the scouts.”

  “Ouch.” Steph winced. “Telford has a reputation for being moody.”

  “So I noticed. He didn’t seem thrilled that they had been assigned a secretary.” Tori replied dryly. She held up Lance’s coffee mug. “He sent me in here to fetch some coffee, can you believe that?”

  “Ugh.” Steph groaned.

  “I know, right? But the coffee maker isn’t up yet, so he’ll just have to deal with it.”

  Steph sighed. “I knew I should have brought my Keurig!”

  “So what do you do here?” Tori asked. The blonde was dressed in a black pantsuit with grey pinstripes, and her short hair was spiked out at all angles.

  “Public relations.”

  “And you?” Tori turned to Steph’s friend, trying to be polite.

  “I’m an account manager for customer service.”

  Tori smiled and nodded as if she knew what an account manager was, or why a hockey team needed a customer service department. In all her years of watching hockey on television and helping her dad run the family ice rink, it had never occurred to her that there was more to the front office staff than just the General Manager and possibly his assistant. “I never knew so much went into running a team.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so surprised -- it’s just like a normal company, really.” Steph’s friend sniffed, her tone dripping with condescension.

  “Yeah.” Tori’s smile faltered. “I should probably get going.”

  “Good luck finding coffee to appease old man Telford with.”

  “Thanks.” Tori gave her a small wave as she started back towards Lance’s office. “Good luck finding your own coffee.”

  She was only a few steps away when she heard Steph’s friend say, “Can you believe that? ‘I didn’t know so much went into running a team.’ Does she think it all happens by magic or something?”

  “Oh, give her a break. She’s new. You had no idea what you were getting into on your first day either.” Steph replied.

  “And did you see what she was wearing? Ugh. Talk about hideous!”

  Tori hurried away before she could hear more, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

  Tori returned the empty mug to Lance. He glanced at it with raised eyebrows and a look that clearly told her how disappointed he was. Tori glared at the wall over his head, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing tears in her eyes. After a moment of silence he told her that one of the IT guys had swung by to set up her computer and pointed her towards a cubicle not too far from his office. Tori waited patiently as the IT guy set her up with logins for the various programs she would need to use. Then, as soon as he was gone, she sat down and stared at the empty walls around her.

  What was she doing here? God, she had been so naive to accept Daryl’s offer without asking any questions or getting anything in writing first. She had just been so caught up in the idea of working for an NHL team and succeeding where all her brothers had failed that she hadn’t stopped to consider why Daryl would want her. It figured that he wanted her purely for her talents -- that seemed to be the only reason why men thought she was useful lately.

  “Hey,” Steph’s head popped over the cubicle wall. “What are you up to tonight?”

  “Um, nothing.” Tori looked up in surprise.

  “Want to hang out? There’s this bar nearby that Jen and I were talking about heading to after work, and, well, us girls have got to stick together. Am I right?”

  “That sounds nice, but would your friend be okay with me tagging along?” Tori smiled, trying not to seem too overeager. However, it had been so long since she had a real girl friend; she had always been such a tomboy growing up and had preferred playing sports with her brothers than playing dolls with the neighborhood girls. Then, as she had grown older, it seemed like the girls who wanted to hang out with her only did so because they wanted to get close to her brothers. Even though they had only chatted for a few minutes, Steph seemed nice enough -- her friend however . . .

  “Oh, yeah, sure. Don’t mind her. She’s a bit of a snob.”

  “I noticed.” Tori replied dryly and Steph laughed. “So where are we going?”

  “Mac’s.”

  “Where’s that?” She asked. Steph rattled off an intersection and Tori shook her head. “I have no idea where that is -- I just moved here.”

  “Really? Where did you move from?”

  “Thunder Bay.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “Canada.”

  “Cool -- Hey, wait. Isn’t the GM from there?”

  “Yeah. Actually, he’s my dad’s friend.” Tori admitted and then immediately bit her lip. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said that; she didn’t want everyone to think she was hired just because she knew the right people. Granted, that was the reason why she was here, but no one else needed to know that.

  “Cool.” She jotted down something on a scrap piece of paper the IT guy had left behind. “It’s not too far from here, but here’s the address so you can look it up in Google maps or something. We should
be there about seven.”

  “Awesome. See you then!”

  Chapter 3

  The day did not get any better; Lance refused to let Tori watch the tapes despite Daryl asking him to share them. He also refused to give her anything else to do, repeating multiple times that he didn’t need a secretary.

  Tori finally snapped back that it didn’t matter if he wanted an assistant or not; he was stuck with her until Daryl decided to fire her. Then, she marched out of his office and back to her cubicle, where she sat, watching the clock. As soon as she noticed that it was five, she clocked out and headed back to the hotel where she was staying until she could find an apartment, and sign a lease.