Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
DECLAN
Froggie
Mom stopped by the store
Declan
Why?
She wanted to tell me about the job my dad sent over
What job?
I hate being on the road
Some position at his company
Something I don’t want
He kind of sucks
To put it mildly
She also invited us to dinner when you get home
Ugh
Do we have to?
Yes
Because she checked to make sure that you didn’t have a game
Great
I can’t wait
I can hear your sarcasm through the phone
Sorry
You know how much they grate on me
I know
We’ll go and make nice and do what they want then we can leave
And maybe do something more fun at home
The light at the end of the tunnel
When are you leaving for the rink?
Getting ready to head out now
Good luck!
You know I’ll be watching
At home or from the shop?
Does it matter?
Declan: You answered my question
See if I cheer for you then
I love you, Froggie
Don’t wait up for me
I’ll see you in the morning
Try and stop me from waiting up
Ismile at the lock screen on my phone—the picture of me and Alice kissing over the Cup with her flowers in the bowl. It’s a touch blurry, but I don’t care.
It’s the two of us in a nutshell.
Hockey and flowers.
God, it makes me miss her even more. The bus pulls out from the hotel as I settle back into my seat. It’s the last game on our West Coast road trip and I can’t fucking wait to get home.
Road trips never used to bother me in the past.
Now? I hate being away from Alice.
I’m not new to relationships. I’ve had them in the past while playing. But I never had this burning need to get home.
Alice is the one that makes it hard to leave, but even sweeter to come home to.
“You look happy,” Nick says from across the aisle.
“Ready to get home tonight.”
“Do you miss Alice?”
I nod. “Yeah. You’re lucky that Bex comes to all the games with us.”
He blushes. He never likes the subject of Bex coming up if he can help it, always shy when discussing the subject.
“It’s not like we get to spend all that much time together.”
“Better than nothing,” I point out.
If I’m not talking with Alice, I’m either thinking about her or out on the ice.
I wish I could talk to the guys about what I could do for Alice to convince her to stay married to me, but I can’t.
Sure, they might know that what we’re doing is for the team, but they don’t know the other part. About the trust.
If that got out, I don’t know what would happen to Alice.
Fuck. She is the only person that matters. I don’t want anything to happen to her because of this, and I don’t want her parents finding out the truth behind our marriage.
Pushing them from the back of my mind, I turn my focus back to the game. Vancouver is a good team and my guys need my attention.
Because I’m ready to get a win on the board and head home to my wife.
The horn sounds as Seattle pulls ahead. They really are a good fucking team. They’re up 3-2 in the middle of the third. The home crowd is on their feet, celebrating the goal.
“Damn it.”
I take a swig from my water bottle before hopping over the boards to take my position on the ice for the puck drop.
“Only one goal,” Cash says. “We’ve got this.”
“Damn right we do. We’re not ending the trip on a loss.”
The puck drops and our center sends it to me. My skates dig into the ice as I make my way over the blue line. Cash is neck and neck with me.
I shoot the puck his way before the defenseman collides with me.
“Shit.”
I fall to the ice in a pile before trying to push my way back up. Their goalie has blocked the shot and they’re taking off toward Nick.
Even from here, as I’m driving toward the action, I can see he’s ready. He doesn’t let them score. He blocks the shot with ease as it sails off his stick. Cash scoops it up, and getting onside, the two of us work together down the ice.
He passes the puck to me. I skate around one of their guys, and with no one in front of me but the goalie, I fire it—smack into the back of the net.
“Yes!”
Tied, 3-3.
“Great job, Paddy.” Cash claps me on the shoulder. “One more and we’ve got this in the bag.”
Coach Barney changes the line and I skate back over to the bench. The goal quiets the home crowd, giving us the momentum.
Troy is on fire tonight as he gets the puck and is on a tear toward their goalie. He dekes them out with ease and gets another fast goal.
“Yes!” I pump my fist in excitement.
We’re only up by one, so we can’t rest on our laurels now. With only five minutes left, it’s a fight until the very end.
Shot upon shot is taken on goal with nothing going in. Each goalie is on top of their game. Nick is a beast between the pipes, not letting the pressure get to him.
With one minute to go, Vancouver pulls their goalie, giving themselves an extra man. Cash and I hit the ice.
They’re swarming, but we’re on them. They shoot the puck, but Nick swats the puck away with his stick, but Vancouver gets it and takes another shot. I block it before it can go in.
The final horn sounds as I fall to the ice with the puck ricocheting off of me.
Thank fuck.
“Hell, yeah, man!” Cash extends a hand, pulling me up and off the ice.
“You know, you didn’t have to use your body to stop the goal,” Nick says, taking off his helmet.
“I wasn’t going to be the reason we went into overtime. Gotta help the team.” I shrug.
Shaking hands with the Seattle players, I skate off the ice and answer the post-game questions by the awaiting media. It’s all rote.
Playing together as a team.
Working hard to help us win.
Seattle is a good opponent.
By the time I’m out of my gear, Coach is congratulating us on the win and letting us know practice tomorrow is canceled in favor of a rest day.
Even better.
Grabbing my towel, I head to take a quick shower. I’m ready to get the hell home. When I get back to my locker, I grab my phone.
It’s lit up with texts from Alice.
Froggie
That was an insane goal!!
Yeah!
Okay, c’mon
You guys got this
That block!
YES!
YOU WON!
Next time, can you make it easier on us?
That was way too stressful
I smile as I type out a quick response.
Declan
Sorry, Froggie
Next time, we’ll try and score ten goals in the first period to put it away early
I would like that
But that goal!
Declan, that was amazing!
Thanks
Not even the best part of my night
Oh yeah?
What would that be?
Getting to crawl into bed next to you when I get home
I’ll be waiting
I can’t wait to get home to Alice.