Chapter 24
OWEN
Mav
You can’t cut your hair. It’s your good luck charm. First San Jose, then the hat trick. Don’t change anything.
Gav
Change your underwear. And your socks.
Owen
I’ve got to at least get a trim.
Mav
No more than half an inch.
Gav
Is that some rule you just made up?
Mav
Trust the process.
Owen
There’s a process?
Gav
Let Gina do it. She’s a good groomer.
Owen
I’m not a dog.
Mav
That’s not what I’ve heard…
Owen
What have you heard?
Mav
Not enough, actually. Get on that.
Owen
I’m getting on the ice.
Ishove my phone into my bag not wanting to think about things like good luck charms and haircuts and Gina’s fingers in my hair.
I’ve been tense and angry for two days straight. The last thing I want in my head, messing with my game is what happened.
That game should’ve been the best night of my life. Gina was in my jersey, I had both my girls blowing kisses. They gave me the lift I needed to make the magic happen.
Sure, I’ve scored hat tricks before in the minor leagues, but it’s a whole different level to do it in the NHL. The defensemen are a lot tougher, and the goalies don’t let anything past them. It’s a combination of timing, luck, and lightning speed.
Now, when I close my eyes, I see her in that guy’s arms. That guy who I’ve since learned was Baxter the bastard. He broke her heart, and yet, when he reappears, she goes back to him?
This is worse than when I saw her with Donovan, and I feel worse than I felt that night. I’m too old to be acting like a jealous punk. I’m too old to be fighting these feelings of jealousy. I don’t like these feelings of jealousy.
I need to step back and think about this. I’ve been following my heart, my emotions, my sister’s visions… and they’ve led me to the same place I was before, a place I swore I’d never be. Only this time it’s worse.
She’s been blowing up my phone, but I can’t talk to her yet. My emotions are out of control, and I need to get my head straight. I need to talk to my dad.
Coach said I could take an extra day after our last game on Sunday and fly to Eureka. I’ll miss a practice, but with the way I’ve been playing, I’ve earned a personal day.
I just have to get through this weekend.
Before facing off against Tampa on their home turf, I look up at the camera and blow a kiss to my baby girl. That hasn’t changed.
My play also hasn’t changed. I’ve been in this position before, hurting and needing to do whatever it took to numb the pain. I played hard and earned my spot on this team, and I’m not letting anybody down.
Maverick and I work the puck down the ice, trying out a new Figure Z formation we’ve been practicing. He passes it to me, and I pass it to Hancock, skating to the outside and holding off the defenseman as Mav flies forward for the final pass, which he shoots past the goalie for a score.
We don’t have as many fans in this part of the country, but we can still hear our side going wild with air horns and chants.
Again, we’re taking it all the way. Thunder’s number 52 is coming at me hard, but I’m in no mood to deal with him. Mav sends a pass my way, and before I can grab it with my stick, he slams me into the boards.
Forgetting the play, I grab him by the pads and spin him into the wall, and it’s on. The guys are all around us, and fists fly. The linemen allow it for a bit, then 52 and I are each sent to our teams’ boxes for a two-minute penalty.
I kick the side of the door when I enter, before sitting on the bench. Anger surges in my veins, and I know it’s really about her. All of it is about her.
Every player is that fucking Baxter, and if 52 gets in my way again, I’m likely to draw blood.
While I wait, Mav and Gav do one of their signature plays, intercepted by the Thunder defenseman. The guys are right. Tampa knows every move in our arsenal. It’s time to start working on some new plays.
I watch them, strategizing options we can try on in practice. It distracts my mind, and my anger is finally cooling off when it’s time for me to get back in the game.
Donovan skates up to me as soon as I’m out, putting his large hand on my shoulder pads. “Leave 52 to me. Focus on scoring. They don’t see you coming.”
My jaw is tight, but I nod. He’s right. I scored a hat trick back home because Atlanta didn’t know what to do with me yet. The only thing they do know is 52 throws me off, but our team captain is blocking him now.
Mav skates up to me, speaking in my ear. “Gav’s going for the pinch. He’ll send it to you this time.”
I nod, turning and making eye contact with our defenseman. “I’m ready.”
It’s a play they usually complete together, but we’re all thinking on our feet this game, looking for ways to mix it up.
Gav’s play is successful, and he gets the puck to me. I’m moving fast in the direction of our goal when the Thunder defenseman moves in for the block. At the last second, I pass it to Sax, turning and moving away from the guy.
I’m beside the net when I see the puck fly and bounce off the goal. We keep at it, playing faster through each period. Tonight, we only score one point to the Thunder’s two. It’s another barn burner, but this time Tampa takes home the victory.
We head to Nashville next to play the Terminators. They’re a decent team, although not quite on our level. Still, it’s a fast, physical match, and we come out with another win.
By the end of the weekend, the team is amped up and closer than ever. We’re starting to gel, and I’m finding that sense of home and family I had with my old team in South Carolina.
On my way to the airport, I check in with Maddie. Seeing her little face soothes the ache in my chest, and I remember a time when it was just me and her and Heather and hockey. It was all so simple then. I hadn’t complicated my life by falling in love.
“You need to come home soon, Daddy,” she says, her brown eyes so serious. “Something’s wrong with Miss Gina, and you always make her smile. She needs you.”
I can’t answer her. I only tell her I’ll see her at dinner Monday, and after we disconnect, I get the text I knew would be coming from my sister.
Heather
What happened? Gina said nothing’s going on, but I’m not dumb. Why are you going to Eureka?
Leaning my head back, I can’t answer her either. It’s way too complicated, too deep, and too much to get into over text. I simply press my head against the seat and keep it short.
Owen
I’m good. I’ll explain when I’m home.
Now, sitting on the small passenger plane miles above the earth, I finally read the texts from Gina. Each one is more urgent than the last, and they all say the same thing, Please talk to me.
Gazing out the window, I picture her green eyes, her full lips, her pretty smile. I remember holding her in my arms, how good it felt, and the pain in my chest is like a knife pushing through my lungs.
I will talk to her. I will explain, but I have to go home first.
“Come here and give me a hug.” My stepmom Britt meets me at the door.
Her blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail, and her green eyes sparkle with joy. I bend down to hug her, and she pats my back, making a grunting noise as she squeezes.
“Hey, Mom.” I hug her, straightening.
“I can never get over how tall you’ve gotten. Let me see those teeth.” I smile at her, and she squeezes my cheeks. “Perfect. Now where is my sweet grandbaby?”
“In LA with Heather. I’m just making a quick trip. I need to talk to Dad about something.”
Grammy Gwen steps up in her flowing caftan and frizzy white hair. Gold bangles are stacked on both arms, and her eyes narrow.
She circles a finger around my face. “Your aura is off. What’s wrong?”
Forcing a laugh through the tightness in my chest, I shake my head. “You know I don’t believe in all that stuff.”
“That doesn’t mean it isn’t real,” she answers, sounding just like my sister.
Heather’s a chip off the ole block.
“It’s always good to see you, son.” Dad steps forward to pull me into a hug. “What brings you all the way over here during hockey season?”
“Do you have time to talk? I need to run something by you.”
His dark brow furrows, but he nods. We walk outside, strolling down the street of the old neighborhood I know so well. We pass homes of my relatives and friends, homes I know so well from when I was a boy, running, playing hide-and-seek, fishing with my friends.
We walk past my grandmother’s house with the massive live oak tree out front. It’s the same yard where I would play with Britt’s old bloodhound Edward. Man, I loved that dog. He’s the reason I got Ladybird for Maddie.
We continue out to the end of the lane, over a narrow wooden bridge, down a small hill to a wooden fishing pier. It was built out over the marshy grasslands leading out to the ocean.
It’s the same old fishing pier where my great-grandfather would take my uncle Alex when he was a boy. The old man was dead long before I was born, but I’ve heard all the stories about him passing his secret recipe for award-winning bourbon to my dad’s younger brother.
My great-grandfather was close to all my uncles, but he had a special relationship with Alex. I imagine it being similar to my relationship with my dad. Some family members just seem to speak your language better than others.
“What’s on your mind?” Dad asks when we reach the end of the wooden platform.
He’s dressed in his khaki sheriff’s uniform, and I consider how different he is from Gina’s dad, who is also the sheriff of a small town on the coast.
They both take their jobs seriously, but my dad is quiet, thoughtful, no-nonsense… Which made him falling for my mom with her family of fortune tellers, magicians, and escape artists all the more unexpected—and they’ve been happily married for more than twenty years.
“Do you remember how it was before you met Mama Britt? When it was just you and me?” I glance up at him.
His brown hair is gray at the temples now, but his shoulders are still broad. We’re the same height, but in my mind, he’ll always be taller than me, always wiser.