Saving the Game

Has this ever happened to you? You’re minding your own business after the game, buying drinks at the bar for your teammates when you overhear a woman talking on the phone. You don’t know her, but she’s telling her mother she’s in a serious relationship with you. You decide to play along and ask her when you get to meet the parents. She’s embarrassed and apologetic but explains she’s just trying to appease her meddling mother. No harm, no foul. She’ll tell them you’re busy with hockey obligations and can’t meet them for dinner, but she’s also really pretty and you’re single so you decide what the heck, it’s just dinner, right? Only it’s not just dinner because they invite you to their resort grand opening and now you’re shacking up with the pretty girl pretending to be her serious boyfriend until she slips and says fiancé and now things have escalated a bit. You tell yourself it’s fine. Everything’s fine. You can handle this, but somewhere in all the pretending, you start to fall for your fake girlfriend/fiancé and now you have no idea how to save your heart from whatever game this is. No? That's never happened to you? Oh. Well, it’s happening to me. I think I’m in trouble.