WAG for Hire

Jordan turned his attention back to the remaining fans. He signed whatever was put in front of him, and posed for pictures. He glanced in Toby’s direction every so often. She did not move from far from her spot, just shifted from one foot to the other. She rarely made eye contact with him, but had uncrossed her arms to stick her hands deep in her pockets.

Finally, with everyone satisfied, Jordan took a deep breath and approached her. He moved slowly, afraid that he would scare her off. He was unsure of what to expect. He had honestly believed the previous night had been their final encounter and had spent most of the night cursing himself for what had happened. At the very least he hoped for the chance to apologize.

When he was close enough, she looked up. He could see now that she was chewing her bottom lip. “Hi, Jordan.”

“Hi,” he said quietly, surprised at how relieved he was that she was not here to tell him to go to hell once again.

Toby’s eyes skimmed over him before landing on the Iceoplex behind him. “Good practice?”

“Not really,” Jordan said truthfully. He watched her hands reappear from her pockets. She twisted a few strands of red hair around her an index finger and he realized she was fidgeting. He decided to skip the idle chitchat. “Do you want to go somewhere and talk?”

Her sigh of relief was audible. “Yes,” she said immediately. “That is…if you have time.”

“Well, I don’t have a plane to catch to Philly later on this afternoon – I’ve got nothing but time,” Jordan said grimly. She frowned, and he sensed her guard slowly returning. “Toby, I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want to.”

“Oh.” She followed him to his vehicle. He watched her eye the Escalade as he opened up the back to throw in his bag. He did a quick glance around to make sure that it was presentable. Not exactly squeaky clean but he didn’t have to worry about her stumbling over something that would leave him red faced. He unlocked the doors and nearly laughed when she winced at the automated sound. She caught him and shook her head. “This seems like a lot of car for one person.”

“I have a lot of stuff,” he said indicating the hockey bag that even he would admit looked dwarfed in the back seat. “Would it help if I told you I carpooled?”

That earned him a smile.

Toby crawled into the front seat, settling against the leather. She too looked tiny in the seat usually occupied by one of his teammates. She stared straight ahead as Jordan started the vehicle and headed toward the city. The silence was deafening – he wondered if she was regretting coming with him.

“Are you hungry?” There was no question he was. He was always starving after practice and not even the disappointment of his suspension was going to curb his appetite.

“Yes!” she answered quickly and with much enthusiasm. He glanced in her direction to find her looking at him a bit wide eyed. “Sorry, I am just realizing now how long it’s been since breakfast.”

“I hear that.” At least she was talking. He knew better to press the issue so he pressed the pedal instead. Maybe she would open up once she had something to eat.



Toby was starting to think that this was a mistake. As she watched the familiar sights of Pittsburgh pass by at an alarming speed, she wondered what on earth had possessed her to use the remaining cash in her purse to hire a taxi to take her ‘where the Penguins practiced’. Thankfully the driver had been a sports fan. She had the distinct feeling he was judging her as a puck slut but she still got there.

Standing outside waiting in hopes that he would be there had taken the edge off whatever urge had gotten her there in the first place. She realized that she had no idea if being suspended from a game meant being suspended from practice as well. Added to that, she wasn’t even sure he would want to speak to her – and what she would say if he did. By the time, Jordan had finally appeared from the building she had wanted to bail, but of course had no money to do so.

Now, she was stuck with him – at least until he slowed the speeding bullet to a stop. “You are going to get pulled over going that fast,” she pointed out. He raised an eyebrow at her declaration. “I am sure it would make the evening news.”

“Right.”

Toby watched Jordan take his foot off the gas and felt the SUV slow down. He seemed to be concentrating on the road so she took a moment to study him. His hair was sticking out from underneath a Penguins ball cap, and his shirt was tucked in haphazardly. He was slouched in is seat. She bet if she could get close enough she would see bags under his eyes. He was tired – and she sensed it was beyond the usual post practice slump in energy. Apparently, she was not the only one who had a rotten night of sleep.

“You keep doing that and I am going to feel like I am under surveillance,” Jordan said, his tone light.

She immediately blushed. Obviously, she hadn’t been as discrete as she had hoped. She turned her head to look forward. They were running into a bit more traffic now that they were closer to the heart of Pittsburgh. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right – I like it,” Jordan told her. He flashed her a smile and she knew right then and there that he was showing her the edges of the man who had shoved his hand right down the front of a girl’s pants. “It means that I am more captivating then the surrounding scenery.”
“No, it means that you look like shit,” Toby retorted immediately. The smile disappeared from his face and she regretted her outburst. “Sorry,” she declared for the second time in under a minute.

“Don’t be sorry,” Jordan said hauled the Escalade off the road and managed to fit it in between two cars. She had to admit she was impressed by his parallel parking skills. As he threw the machine into park and switched off the engine, he gave her a sort of half smile. “Because you’re right.”

Toby hopped out of the Escalade, unsure of what to say to that. He had come around the front and she knew that this was her moment. There was a bus stop a few feet away and as fate would have it, she could see the number of the line that would put her right in front of her apartment building.

“Are you coming?”

She turned to see Jordan standing at the doorway of the restaurant. He had one hand on the handle and he was looking at her questioningly. “Yes,” she said before she could think it through. She followed him and was immediately assaulted by the smell of food. Her stomach growled. Cake for breakfast had not gone over well.

He led her to a table near the back. She was glad of his choice. Office workers on their lunch break were beginning to filter in. She just wanted a quiet place to talk – when she had worked up the nerve of course. She slid into the booth, picked up the menu and buried her face in it.

Jordan let her be for a few minutes and she had long since made her choice. Still, she flipped through the menu in hopes that courage would just magically appear. She heard him clear his throat and pretended that she didn’t. Finally, his hand appeared over the top of the menu, pulling it down so she had no choice but to look at him.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

Toby dropped her shield completely. “I feel like part of me should be. I certainly was last night. Maybe the lack of sleep has me going soft…”

Jordan looked so relieved. “Toby, you have to know I didn’t mean it like that…”

She knew she had to push forward. “Or maybe the lack of sleep is causing me to lose my mind because I sought you out to tell you I’ll do it. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend, Jordan.”



He wasn’t expecting that. Jordan sat up straight in the booth, watching her mimic his movement. He struggled with what to say and his momentarily silence must have been the only answer she needed. Her face screwed up into a look of humiliation.

“You don’t want to anymore. Oh God, I should have realized,” she said hastily as she turned a rather vivid shade of red. She shot up and he knew she was retreating.

“Toby,” he said just as the waitress sidled up to the table. Perfect timing. Toby was ready to bolt, half out of the booth already. His hand shot out to curl around her wrist. He gave it an easy tug, effectively stopping her. When she turned her head, he let go. “Please stay.”

Toby’s eyes shifted from his to the waitress who was watching the whole thing with rapt attention. She seated herself and began to fiddle with the menu. He knew she was desperate to get rid of the waitress. He wondered if she would stay or if she would try and run again. “I’ll have the turkey on rye with a bowl of tomato soup.”

The waitress turned to Toby who looked like she would rather be anywhere but there. “The same,” she muttered. Well, that didn’t bode well for him. As soon as the waitress left, his hand moved across the table to cover her wrist again, as if that were going to stop her if she decided she was going to leave. She looked down before meeting his eyes. “Would you stop grabbing me?”

“Would you stay?” He countered. When she leaned back against the booth, he lifted his hand. “Toby…”

“You don’t have to explain. I knew when you spewed forth that idea last night that you were making it up as you went. You certainly didn’t come into Meryl’s with the intention of hatching a plan straight out of a badly written romantic comedy,” Toby told him. “Of course, after some thought, you would think it was a stupid idea. It really is…a stupid idea. I am going to blame my decision to go along with it on the fact that I am exhausted…”

“Do you always ramble when you are upset?” Jordan asked as soon as she took a breath and he saw an opening.

“Yes,” she answered immediately.

“Can you stop long enough for me to talk?”

“I can try.”

“That’s all I ask,” Jordan told her. The waitress returned with two glasses of water and the necessary silverware. He could tell that she was going to keep a close eye on them. He hoped that it was because on the outside they looked like a couple in the midst of a fight and not because she recognized him. The last thing he needed was for her to go off and tell others that she had saw Jordan Staal fighting with his newest conquest. When she was safely out of hearing distance, he leaned forward. “You’re right. It is a stupid idea…” She opened her mouth and he frowned. “You said you would try.” She immediately closed it so he could continue. “But it’s the only one I’ve got at the moment. I am just surprised that you would agree to go along with it.”

Toby had an indescribable look on her face. “You’d be surprised what crunching a few numbers will do to your outlook,” she admitted.

Right, she was hard up for money. Jordan frowned. “Toby, I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t feel comfortable with. If you are doing this because you need the money that badly, then let me help you find you a job. I don’t want you to feel like you were backed into a corner.”

“Look at that, you even gave me an out,” she said quietly and he had a feeling that it was more to herself then to him. “That doesn’t help you Jordan. If you are going to help me, I may as well do something to help you in return.”

Jordan wasn’t expecting to feel as relieved as he did. She was going to help him. For the first time in a few days, he felt able to relax a little. When their food arrived, he was smiling and the waitress looked disappointed that there was not going to be any more drama from table seven. He took a big bite of his sandwich and looked over to Toby. She was just sitting there, food untouched. He knew she was starving – he had not missed the loud growl of her stomach when they walked into the place. “Toby?”

Toby’s eyes shot to his as if she had been snapped out of a daydream. “We are really doing this?”

“We are,” Jordan confirmed.

“Okay then.” With those words, he watched her dig into her sandwich.