15. Michael
Our first game in the conference finals is just two days away.
Which means we need to do everything we can to make sure we stay on top of our game.
Coach Murray is pointing out the different players on our division rival team and the techniques they’re prone to use.
“Vegas has the top defense in the entire NHL. So we’re taking every scoring chance we see. No hesitations.” He looks to me when he says that.
“Got it, Coach.”
He nods his acknowledgment. “Now, in this game when we played them on home ice during the regular season, you’ll see the way they crowded the net…”
In the video, you see can see me, Hicks and Hutchy (Landry’s replacement in the first line during the season) making a play toward the net. The Vegas players create a blockade that makes it nearly impossible to get a puck through. Coach pauses it right before Hicks is about to make a one-timer into the net.
“Notice these two players. They read each other like a book. We’ll need to separate them. Vegas always puts them on the ice together.”
He presses play, Hicks shoots the puck, the duo knocks it away and steals the puck away to their side. It’s fast-paced and caught us all off-guard when it happened.
Coach pauses the video again. “Lights on, please,” he says to one of the assistants leaning against the back wall.
The room is packed. Each of the twenty-one of us on the Heatwave roster are present.
“This isn’t the regular season, boys. We’re playing the top of the top. So play like it.”
Rina pops in at the entrance of the press room where we’re all gathered.
“Coach, the kids have arrived.”
Coach Murray shoots her a salute and she gives us all a terse nod before heading back down the way she came.
“You heard her. Let’s go show these kids how the pros do it,” Coach says.
“When can I go faster?” The little girl I’m skating with cries out.
She can’t be more than five with her hair in pig tails. Her dad is at our side, struggling in his ice skates as well. He’s already lost his balance three times and we haven’t even made a full turn on the rink.
“You know, it might take some time. But as soon as you get a hang of the basics, we can graduate to faster speeds,” I assure her.
Her dad looks at me with weary eyes.
“Both of you,” I say with a smile and he laughs.
A familiar voice calls out from the entrance to the rink,“There he is!”
“Hey bud!” Zane’s voice rings out behind me.
I turn to watch his son Liam skate up to him. He’s not much older than the little girl I’m skating with. But he looks like he skated out of the womb.
“Slow down, would ya?” A mass of red hair is following behind him.
Libby.
Our eyes meet briefly but we both look away after only a second.
I try to focus on the task at hand, and not on the goddess that just appeared on the ice. The same goddess who I had my fingers buried in behind the restaurant we went to last night.
We agreed we’d need to be extra careful with our meetups. And since we both had roommates, we decided that after the Vegas game this Saturday would be our first real hookup.
It’s a little weird. Planning sex. But something about planning it, actually makes me excited. I have the day on my paper calendar circled a hundred times in red marker. The boys would assume it was because of the game. But I know why.
Libby gives Zane a hug when she approaches him.
“Thanks for picking him up. Kesley said the interim CEO of The Pulse called her in today?”
“Yeah, sounds like it could be good news,” Libby’s voice floats over to me.
I’m eavesdropping hard core. The only thing that pulls me away from their convo is this littles girl’s dad falling on his ass for a fourth time with a grunt.
I smile and extend him a hand to help him up.
“I’m helpless,” he admits as he takes my hand.
“Nobody is so helpless that they’re beyond hope,” I tell him. Realizing that I just quoted my dad’s latest book without even trying.
The guy laughs. “I just heard that on a podcast.”
“Let me guess, Turn Your Life Around?”
He shrugs. “I am trying to turn my life around…seemed like a good fit.”
My dad, apart from pastoring one of the biggest churches in the Houston area, also hosts a podcast and writes books. His face lines the shelves of almost any big box store I frequent.
And even though I don’t attend his church anymore, I still make it a point to listen in and read every book of his that comes out.
I love my dad. He’s a good man with strong faith. And anytime I’ve lacked my own, I tend to lean on his.
I’m old enough to realize I shouldn’t. Depending on someone else’s faith to fuel yours is dangerous territory. But it’s the best I can do right now.
“So you and Zane’s girl a thing?” The man says.
I look at him, brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, it’s just that I saw you guys went on a date recently.”
I let out a breath. I’d hate for our arrangement to get out before we’ve even had a chance to enjoy it.
“Oh, no. That was just a charity thing. We’re not… together,” I confirm.
I turn to look at Libby skating alongside her nephew and brother. She’s gliding.
“Is she single then?” The guy asks.
Is he serious right now?
“As far as I know,” I mutter.
“She really is gorgeous,” he says tracking her movements. I feel bile rise into my throat at the comment.
“She is,” I admit.
The little girl is listening in because she says to her dad, “You should date her. She skates better than you.”
He laughs and looks at his daughter. “That’s all the more reason why I shouldn’t date her, Carly. She’d skate laps around me. I’d never be able to keep up.”
“Nobody can keep up with Libby O’Connor,” I say from the corner of my mouth.
I hope he takes the hint. I know Libby is a beautiful girl. But now, she’s my girl. At least for all intents and purposes.
“Well maybe she can teach you like Mr. Ferguson is teaching me.”
Carly’s dad looks pensive as we pass the trio. Libby watches us skate by, her arms resting against the boards as she leans back and chats with her companions who are pausing for a break.
“Could you maybe put a good word in for me?” The man asks.
My face shoots in his direction, “Me?”
“Yeah. She’s your teammate’s sister, right? I’m sure you guys talk.”
I rub the back of my head, looking over at her before meeting his eyes again.
“Yeah, I can… put in a good word, I guess.”
When we’re done with the lesson, Carly and Phil thank me for volunteering my time and ask me to keep them posted on what Libby says.
I bring my hand up to my forehead and hit it a few times. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
There’s no way in a million years I’d willingly convince Libby to pursue another guy. Much less one who admittedly is trying to turn his life around.
But I gave them my word.
So I’m officially the world’s biggest idiot.