Chapter Thirteen
Dallas
I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous playing against Ella, especially since I’m over a foot taller than her. But, she’s holding her own.
I figured it would be okay anyway, since I can’t handle skating lately without tripping over nothing, but that hasn’t happened so far with her.
In fact, my game is amazing right now, thank you very much. I feel like my old self, and it feels fucking fabulous. My moves are on fire tonight, but you know what?
Ella is on fire, too.
I duke, but she’s right there, stealing the puck and shooting it into the net.
We both have three goals.
I’m out of breath, panting underneath my helmet. Sweat is dripping down my face, and I’m hot all over. Ella skates over to the side of the rink, disappears for a quick second, and reemerges in front of me with two water bottles in hand.
“Thanks,” I say as I reach out to grab the drink and rip my helmet off. I chug the liquid, feeling better already.
Ella takes a sip beside me, then lowers her bottle, keeping it in her hand to the side of her body.
I turn to face her. “Where did you learn to play like that?”
“My dad,” she shrugs. “He taught me everything I know.”
“He must know a lot. You are amazing on the ice. Do you play for the college?”
She hesitates for a moment before she answers in a soft voice, “No.”
I quirk my eyebrow in surprise. “Who do you play for then?”
“Uh, myself,” she says with a little more bravado.
“What does your dad think about that?”
She’s silent for a moment before she whispers, “He’s dead.”
“Oh, fuck. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“It’s okay. It’s been a long time.” Her eyes drift elsewhere.
“It’s not okay,” I share. “I’m sure it’s still hard.”
“It is,” her voice is soft, and I swear I’ve heard it before. But, where? “But whenever I play, especially like this, I think of him. I bet he’d love to know that I tied Bristol Bay’s third leading scorer in a pickup game.”
I clutch my chest, because before my string of bad games I clocked in at number one. “Ouch.”
“Three is nothing to sneeze at.” She turns and skates away from me, but then spins to face me and adds, “You’ll get back to number one soon.”
Let’s hope so. I’m not sure if I believe that’s true or not, but I can’t help but grin anyway.