Underneath It All (Storm Series) (28 page)

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SIXTEEN

School started after the holiday break and Alaina was once again thrown into the minutiae of lesson plans, endless crafts, and cleaning up after her students. Cold season was in full swing and she made sure to take her multivitamin and wash her hands often. She hated being sick.

From a distance
, she watched as the plans for Rob’s fundraiser solidified startlingly quick. At this point, she couldn’t do much, since Rob insisted on being involved in every little detail, so she stepped back.

On the day of the event
, she helped set up a banquet room at one of those places that held weddings and such with a line of tables for the players to sit at and the boxes of photos and hats waiting to be signed and handed out. Each player would have an assistant who would stand behind him and fetch the items to be autographed. Ben, of course, had his wife, Jaela. Sebastian had his now-fiancée, Sarah. Alaina was helping Rob, and two of the other wives had stepped up to support Jordan and Rick, completing the contingent.

Alaina really had no idea what to expect. Her fear, of course,
was that they’d be left with tons of stuff and make no money, but the players who were signing were popular, and she hoped her worries were unfounded. The weather was blustery, blowing the light snow they’d had over the past couple of days around in a swirling morass, which wouldn’t help attendance. She bit her lip, sending up a quick prayer that the day went well.

About a half
hour before the doors opened, Jaela looked outside. “They’re lining up.”

“In this cold?” Alaina asked.

Jaela smiled. “Hockey fans are nuts.”

“I guess so!”

“Or maybe you’re underestimating my popularity,” Rob said, sliding an arm around Alaina’s waist and pulling her to him.

Jordan pointed at Rob. “Your popularity? Dude, they’re here to see me.”

Ben stepped up then. “Obviously the captain’s presence is what’s causing the traffic jam.”

“Huge egos, all of you,” Jaela said with a shake her head.
Alaina would’ve thought she was scolding the men save for the rueful grin that spread over her face.

“Where’s the baby?” Rob asked.

“With my parents,” Ben said. “They’re still here from the holidays and giving them time alone with their only grandchild is certainly no hardship for them.”

“My folks are trying to work out a visit in February when I’ll
hopefully be able to play again,” Rob said. Then he leaned down and told Alaina, “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

Her heart skipped a beat. They’d been together for several months now, and Rob had taken the news in stride when Alaina explained that her parents wanted h
im to come to dinner. Of course he’d charmed her mother and talked shop with her father—who Alaina had no idea had become such a hockey fan once he’d heard his daughter was dating Rob D’Amico.

He
was practically a part of the family by the time the night had ended. Her mother had sent him home with several containers of leftovers, and he’d given her a kiss on the cheek in thanks. Alaina hadn’t seen her mother blush, ever, but not only did her mother blush, but, in the blink of an eye, this odd smile appeared and she became a simpering schoolgirl. Quite a sight to behold, but Rob did that to every older woman he met, probably unconsciously. Karen had been the same way at Tux ‘n’ Pucks.

They finished preparations
, and then the arena’s off-duty security guards who’d offered to wrangle the potential crowd opened the doors, pointing out the sign with directions on how to get the autographs. Sooner than Alaina could blink, the room was filled with five lines that snaked all the way out the door.

In their planning
, they’d debated whether or not to make the fans stand in line five times if they wanted all five players’ autographs, but then had developed a system whereby the fan could get a different-colored ticket for each additional player. After a short time, two lines had formed in front of each player—one with the fans who’d chosen that player first and another with fans who’d already seen one player and then turned in the appropriate ticket to get into another player’s line. That queue was shorter than the original one, and though Alaina had her doubts about how well the system would work, everything was going swimmingly so far as the fans waited patiently to get their items signed. More wives and girlfriends had volunteered to collect money, as the fans couldn’t exit without going through the checkout line. Overall, the setup was brilliant and Alaina was impressed.

Karen arrived an hour in and we
nt to each player, bringing him snacks and more water and patting each on the head. Alaina laughed as each player rolled his eyes but nonetheless allowed the motherly contact. Sarah and Karen had a brief conversation, and then Karen walked over to Alaina.

“I can see you’re busy, but I wanted to say hello again. This is a great cause, and frankly
, I’m happy to see Rob so dedicated to something. You’ve been good for him. I was starting to worry about that boy. He’d been single for too long.”

Alaina waved off the other woman’s compliment. “This was all him. I
didn’t do much.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. Rob’s been here for
a few years, and I’ve never seen him like this. Not only is he smitten with you—that’s obvious—but he’s so serious about helping these kids. He’s got a goal in life now besides hockey, and in my book that’s rarely a bad thing. You may not believe me, but that’s all because of you.”

A moment later
, as the women continued to chat while Alaina fed Rob pictures and hats, the man himself turned around and said, “You’re talking to the brains behind this operation, you know. Karen gave us a ton of great ideas for how to organize this.” He indicated the room with a sweep of his arm. “Clearly, it’s a setup that’s working.”

“You give me too much credit, boy,” Karen said, waggling her finger.

Rob grinned. Obviously these two had sparred before. “I’m no boy.”

“You’ll always be a fresh-faced boy in my book, kiddo.”

“And don’t call me kiddo.” Rob turned back around, Karen regarding him with a fond smile.

By the time each fan had their autographs, since the guys insisted on staying until every last one of them had gotten what they wanted, Alaina was dead on her feet.

Ben called over to her and the other women, who were starting to clean up the mess behind the tables, “Hey, ladies, take a seat. You’ve been running yourselves ragged.”

Rob stood and face
d her. “Baby, you look exhausted. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t have the hard part here,” Alaina said
before yawning, not able to stifle the reaction. She indicated his hand. “Numb yet?”

He laughed. “Passed numb about two
hours ago. I’ll tell you what else is numb. My ass. I need to move around. So sit, please.”

A
bunch of pizzas appeared, and when Alaina looked up, she was surprised to see Claudette following the delivery man into the room. Jordan did a fist pump then grabbed the pizzas as Rob approached, pulling out his wallet. The delivery guy pointed to Claudette and Rob greeted her warmly, the two exchanging a hug that had Alaina’s eyebrows shooting up. How did Rob wrap every woman he met around his little finger? He brought Claudette over to where the assembled workers were already chowing down on the hot, cheesy pies, and introduced her all around.

Alaina grabbed a slice
, and then Rob insisted Claudette sit and eat with them. She did, and before Alaina started stuffing her face, they had a brief conversation.

“Thank you for this
,” Alaina said. “You didn’t have to.”

“My neighbor was here earlier. He said the place was packed. I figured
maybe no one had thought about food afterward, so I decided to bring you some.” Claudette shrugged. “It’s really the least I can do.”

“I appreciate
this, really, and judging by the way those pizzas are disappearing, everyone else does too.

A few moments later
, the money collectors emerged from the room they’d closed themselves into so the take for the day could be counted right away. Each of the three ladies had several leather bank deposit envelopes and Alaina’s eyes widened. Rob shot out of his seat and hugged each as they dumped the money on a table near the food, and then he turned back to the people gathered after having a tête-à-tête with one of the wives.

“Apparently quite a few of the fans gave more money than they owed…” As if one body, everyone leaned forward
, and Rob continued, “We’ll count the money a couple more times before we make the deposit, but the initial count is just over forty-three thousand dollars.”

Tears instantly formed in Alaina’s eyes
, and she’d let out a strange sound before she could stop herself. Sebastian, who was sitting next to her, put his arm around her, and she collapsed onto him, trying to unsuccessfully hold back the onslaught.

Rob rushed over. “Baby, baby, talk to me.”

“I’m fine,” she choked out. “Overwhelmed.”

Rob
and Sebastian shared a look. Then Rob backed away, faced everyone, and said, “I want to thank everybody here on behalf of myself, of course, but also on behalf of the roughly nine thousand students who will have supplies thanks to this.”

Sebastian squeezed her tighter. “
Let it out.”

“I feel dumb.”

“Shhh…”

Out of the corner of her eye
, Alaina saw Ben stand. “The guys got together—the ones who are here and the ones who aren’t—and we want to add this to the total. This is a great cause we all believe in.”

Rob took the check and visibly choked up. He took a moment, trying to compose himself, t
aking a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

I know how you feel, love.

“Thanks, man. My God, I had no idea you were doing this.” He held up the check. “With this we’ve got sixty-five thousand dollars. I don’t even know what to say. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could do this the first time out. You guys are awesome. I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much.”

Everybody clapped and hugs were exchanged. Rob pulled
Alaina out of Sebastian’s arms then planted a quick kiss on her lips.

“This is unbelievable, Rob,
” she told him, still wiping away tears that just wouldn’t stop.

“I know. I can’t even think of where to start
with this much money.”

A moment later
, Claudette approached. “Alaina mentioned you’d been in contact with the purchasing manager for the district, and that’s great since the district will get a volume discount. She also mentioned she’d given you a list to guide you, but if you’d like me to look at anything before you send your list over to purchasing, I’d be happy to.”

“I would, thanks,” Rob answered.
After grabbing a napkin, he wrote down his e-mail address then grabbed another for hers. “And thank you for the food. I can’t believe that completely slipped my mind. Everyone worked so hard.”

“Like I told Alaina, it’s the least I can do.” Placing a hand on Rob’s forearm, she said
, “Excellent job. I’m impressed.”

“Thank you.” They hugged again
, and then Claudette left.

Rob turned to
Alaina. “We have some stuff left. Not a ton, but by my very quick count, maybe seventy hats and a couple hundred pictures. What do you think we should do with them? Keep them for another fundraiser? Donate them?”

“That’s your call.”

“I want
your
opinion. In case you haven’t figured this out yet, what you think is pretty important to me.”

“Let me think a
bout everything. My head is spinning right now.”

“Deal.” He called over to the guys
, “Can you help me consolidate everything that’s left into a box or two? I’m not sure what we’ll do with it, so I guess I’ll take the boxes to my place for now.”

“Where
everything is sure to end up on eBay,” Jordan deadpanned.

Picking up a stray piece of cardboard from the hats, Rob balled it up and chucked
the wad at Jordan. Alaina’s heart went into her throat until she realized he’d used his good arm. Even so… “Um, honey, if you could refrain from doing things like that, I’d be grateful.”

He pivoted to face her
, his face a mask of confusion. “Doing things like what?”

“When you threw the cardboard
, I forgot for a second which arm was injured and had a flash of you hurting yourself again. I can’t take stress like that.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t think.” Rob caressed her face then leaned in to speak directly into her ear. “I need you with me. I know we’re both exhausted, but if I don’t get inside you
, I think I’ll lose my mind. I want to be close to you. God, I’d love to fall asleep inside you.”

Alaina’s breath caught. “O
-Okay.”