Chapter 3 – Will
three
. . .
Frosting can get fucked
Will
The following morning, I’ve resisted the urge to gouge my eyes out using the lone spoon next to the coffee maker in our hotel room, and I ride the elevator to the lobby, working on erasing the memory of my parents in a compromising position last night.
All I’m saying is I’m grateful for their early flight to Barbados because I’m going to need at least three working decades before I set eyes on them again.
I’m halfway to the onsite coffee shop when my cell vibrates in my hand.
Drew
You know what I hate most in life?
Me
Waking up without caffeine readily available?
Drew
Well that. But something far more serious…
Waking up to an empty bed. Where’s my morning cuddle?
Me
It’s on its way, Baby. I snuck downstairs to grab you a decent coffee since hotel room coffee makers are always shit. The plan was to hop back into bed before you woke up.
Drew
Is it bad if I amend my order to a hot chocolate?
Me
No, it’s not. But I can’t guarantee it will live up to your standards. I’m in line right now and can only see three kinds of sprinkles.
Drew
Blasphemy.
I’d also like to request a FROSTED doughnut.
Me
Sigh. What’s it gonna take to make you love me?
Drew
Remember when my dad caught us in the kitchen and he threatened to burn his eyes with the chipotle marinade?
Me
On reflection, Coach wasn’t being dramatic. I’ll never be the same again, Drew.
Drew
I’m not happy about it either. I thought you were going to rail me on that stage, and I ended up rocking you to sleep.
Me
I’ll make it up to you.
Drew
Of course you will. Starting with a frosted doughnut.
“I see I’m not alone in my hatred of hotel room coffee.”
Still waiting in line, I turn around to find Zach Evans standing behind me.
At a similar age to my dad and in his late fifties, this guy is about as legendary as it gets when it comes to ice hockey.
A former Seattle Scorpions captain and defenseman, there were more posters of Zach on my wall when I was growing up than any other hockey player.
Today, he co-owns a chain of Italian restaurants called Luigi’s across the U.S. with my dad, Jon, and a couple other retired pro hockey players.
“How’s Florida treating you these days?” I ask, moving forward in the line. “We didn’t get much of a chance to catch up yesterday.”
Zach pulls on the bill of his black baseball cap, blue eyes creasing around the corners as he thinks about home. The Scorpions were the team of his career, but Cocoa Beach in Florida will forever have his heart.
“Yeah, good. Luna has decided that this school year will be her last. Making principal was amazing for her but she wants to spend time with our new granddaughter.”
He pulls his cell from his pocket and starts scrolling through pictures of the cutest baby girl I’ve ever seen. She has a mass of red hair like Aster, Zach and Luna’s son.
“Did Aster and his wife decide on a name yet?”
He blows out a breath. “Yeah, but it literally went down to the wire for registering the birth.”
I reach the front of the coffee line and give the server my order. Frosted fucking doughnut included. We both know Drew only ordered the damn thing for one reason, but what my wife wants, she gets.
“Amelia,” he confirms.
“Pretty name.”
He nods, pulling off his cap and running a hand through his brown hair which is less gray than Dad’s. That’s the trouble with having darker hair, age shows way quicker. Drew actually found a gray strand when we were lying on the couch watching a movie the other night. I was fucking mortified.
Drew’s hot chocolate is set down in front of me along with my coffee and the sweet treat that shall henceforth remain nameless.
Zach gazes around the lobby. “The last time we were in this hotel you and June were nestled safely inside your mom, giving her back ache, and your dad was nervous as shit, convinced she was going to get cold feet at the final second.”
I gape at him. “I can’t imagine Dad getting nervous over anything.”
Zach winks and puts in his order.
“Yeah, but you didn’t see the way your mom put him through his paces just to get her to go on one date with him.
If it weren’t for you and June showing up, I’m not even sure they’d be together.
” He jerks his chin at Drew’s hot chocolate, the whipped cream starting to slide down the sides of the takeout cup.
“I guess you better get going before you land yourself in deeper water for wasting sprinkles.” His shoulders shake with laughter.
“Goddamn, man, you had even me fooled with that Ring Pop prank. Drew was going out of her mind before the ceremony.”
Chuckling, I set a hand on Zach’s shoulder. It’s hard to believe this guy has been retired from the game for over two decades, his physique is as solid as it was when he was playing. He, Jon, Dad, and my coach, Jessie Callaghan, still hit the ice and play shinny when they’re all in town together.
“Will I see you around again before you head back to Florida?”
Like the hand on his shoulder isn’t enough, he wraps me into the kind of hug only Dads can deliver.
“I’ll be around here and there.” He pulls back and our eyes connect.
“I know you probably hear this all the time and I’m just another ex-pro in a long line repeating the words”—he swallows thickly—“but I’m proud of you, Will.
And Drew is the best thing that ever happened to you.
Keep racking up points and Ws because yeah, they’re all important.
But take it from a guy with his hockey days behind him, family is everything, and you landed yourself the greatest gift when you married Jessie’s daughter. ”
Words lodge in the back of my throat, so I’m grateful when Zach keeps talking.
“That speech you gave online when everything went to shit for you both…” he lifts one of his coffee cups in acknowledgement. “Bravo, man. You had a whole nation in tears over that speech. Luna wanted to know why I haven’t made the same grand gesture for her.”
I quirk a brow and tap my coffee cup against his. “Tell her that I learned from the best. I fucked up and I needed to own it. If anyone taught me about respect and always doing the right thing—on and off the ice—then it was you.”