Chapter 8: Party of Convenience
We
never do find out why Presley wanted Hayden to come to his gentlemen’s club’s
birthday party for George-Hamilton-Tan-Guy. But because she’d mentioned said
party, Brody can corner her there. (Apparently he’s too cautious to call her,
but showing up uninvited at a private party? That needs no caution!) In order
to get into said gentlemen’s club, however, he has to enlist the help of
Becker, his teammate and best friend, who has a membership, conveniently
enough.
Inconveniently,
however, Becker’s wife (Mary) already had plans, so Becker going out with Brody
meant that, with it being so last minute that there was no babysitter, Mary had
to cancel her plans. To that I say, wth? Why is this okay? Brody didn’t even
tell Becker why he wanted his help (Becker asks later). So friend shows up on
the doorstep and husband agrees (albeit with many complaints about how angry
his wife will be) to drop his child-care duties and put on a tuxedo and go out.
If I were Mary I would be incredibly angry.
For
that matter, Brody should feel guilt, but apparently “he couldn’t muster any. For
two days he’d been trying to come up with a way to see Hayden and make things
right” (94). I don’t understand how that second sentence means Brody can’t feel
guilty for his dragging Becker out. (However, I think Becker should feel far
guiltier in this scenario. It isn’t Brody’s responsibility to make Becker take
care of his kid.)
They
arrive at the club and go inside, and only once there does Brody bring up the
scandal and allegations. Why the heck didn’t they talk about this in the car?
The narrative assures us that “this was probably not the time and definitely
not the place,” (96) but Brody tells Becker about what he saw happen between
their captain and Sheila-the-soon-to-be-ex. Nothing happens (as far as the
narrative tells us) because Brody chose this moment to reveal what he knows but
I still think Brody ought to have talked about it in the car—and saved us all
from the chat about Becker’s wife being angry that Becker took off. Then we
wouldn’t have had to know that stand-up, wonderful best friend Becker takes off
on his kids.
Presley
spots the two of them, conveniently after they’ve finished talking about all
the secrets and rumors, and Brody can immediately tell that he’s “plastered”
(98). Which means either Hayden really is incredibly unobservant (unlikely,
despite her inability to know how to read a scoreboard or learn anything about
how professional hockey works) or she did a bang-up job of deluding herself
that her father was only “buzzed.” Brody heads off to find Hayden within
seconds of seeing Presley, and that’s not suspicious at all. (Maybe he’s too
drunk to notice?)
Apparently,
though, Brody has super-vision. Hayden is on the patio, being all said, leaning
on a railing and looking out at the estate.
He paused at the doors, admiring her.
To his surprise, she turned abruptly as if sensing his presence. Their eyes
locked. And that’s when he saw that her sooty black lashes were spiky with
tears (98).
Okay,
it could be a small patio, but that seems unlikely at an “estate” and a
“gentlemen’s club.” So from a distance of many feet, Brody can tell that Hayden
has been crying. So he rushes to her side and she sinks into his embrace. (I’m
wondering if her “sooty black lashes” have mascara on them, in which case the
tears are likely getting mascara onto Brody’s tuxedo shirt.)
He
asks what’s wrong and after a little prompting she spills all, about her
father’s drinking and her concerns and how she’s sad that he’s more interested
now in power and money than in family. She shares that as a child he used to
take her fishing for a week every summer, although she hated to fish. Did this
kid like anything that her father
liked? I begin to see why her father grew away from her.
Hayden’s
former closeness to her father reminds Brody of how close he is with his
parents, and how he always makes sure to spend time with them in spite of his
schedule.
In the offseason he stayed with
them for a month and spent every available moment with his folks
(101).
That’s
sweet Brody. Too bad it’s downgraded from 7 pages ago, when Becker invited
Brody to his summer house for a week.
Brody usually tried to spend the
entire summer in Michigan with his parents, but for Becker, he was willing to
alter his plans (94).
I
point these things out because I enjoy consistency. (Although the inconsistent
magic trousers in chapter four still amuse the heck out of me.)
At
any rate, when Hayden laments that she needs some peace and quiet somewhere so
she can get her thoughts together, Brody says he knows just the place, and his perspective
ends.
For
those of you wondering about the playoffs, as I was, apparently the game in Los
Angeles was not only a loss but a 6-0 blowout.
Fair enough, that sucks for the Warriors. But I’m really confused by the
fact that they apparently played a game in LA on Saturday night, but only one
and came back (this party is on Sunday.) Single game. So game 1 and 2 were in
Chicago, which makes sense, and game 3 was in LA but why would they leave
before playing game 4, which ought to be on Monday and in LA? (Games 5, 6, and
7 should alternate, but the first four come in sets of two.) Does the author,
Ms Kennedy, actually watch hockey? Should we be revoking her Canadian
citizenship?
Ah, logic and special romance-novel-reality. And the charming lack of internal consistency.
ReplyDeleteFun!
(Also, *I* know more about hockey than this person seems to. Which is just sad. For them.)
I was going to say that this chapter felt particularly rushed in terms of RN-reality and inconsistency, but then I remembered the magic pants and ... no, apparently it's just the whole book.
ReplyDeleteAs for hockey knowledge... wait for a few more posts. I seem to recall a post where I got really wildly irritated about the playoff schedule and what Brody's traveling seems to indicate...