Chapter 7
“You really made them bag skate?” Elliot asked from where he was perched on his desk in the office he and Frankie shared.
One of the other assistant coaches for the Halifax Harbour, Elliot was on the younger side just like Frankie was but he was talented with one full season spent working with another team under his belt.
“Absolutely. I told them if they didn’t focus and pay attention to my drills, which they didn’t because I basically had to spell it out to a pair of blue liners, that I’d make them suffer,” Frankie said. She shrugged and leaned back in her chair with a smirk. “And suffer they did.”
“Damn, Stevens. You’re bold, I’ll give you that.”
“Hey, they need to respect me and if making them bag skate until they puke proves that I mean what I say, then it’s worth it to me. I already know they don’t push themselves as hard when I'm with them as they do with Neil and I don’t appreciate it.”
Elliot raised his hands in surrender. “Fair enough, Coach. I support your decisions and I’d be shivering in my skates if I was ever on the other end of one of your don’t piss me off stares.”
Frankie laughed and tossed a crumpled up piece of paper at him. “I can give you one of those stares anytime, bud. Watch your back.”
“You scare me, Stevens. You really do.”
There was a rap of knuckles on the open door of their office and Frankie looked up to find Cameron Clarke standing in the doorway dressed in his gym clothes. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at her.
“What can we do for you, Clarke?” Elliot asked as he hopped off his desk then walked around it and slid into his leather desk chair.
Cam looked between them and waved him off.
“Nothing major, just wanted to say that my sister Juliette is popping by for a visit and a tour of the training rink today. She was supposed to be here earlier to watch the skate but apparently the elevator in our condo building crapped out on her and she was stuck in it for like 45 minutes.”
Frankie grimaced. The building she lived in had apparently been dealing with some similar issues but luckily she hadn’t experienced any herself yet. “Yikes, that’s rough, but I look forward to meeting her.
“Just remind her that taking photos and videos is prohibited, okay?” Elliot jumped in to say. “Training camp is a pretty hush hush thing but I know I don’t need to tell you twice.”
“No problem,” Cam said, giving a thumbs up. “She’s been around hockey her whole life. She’s followed me to every team I’ve played for so she’s super familiar with how it works and to be honest, sometimes I think she knows more about all of this than I do.”
“She probably does,” Frankie said with a laugh. “A woman after my own heart.”
An hour later, Frankie was in the viewing room getting some film ready for a small group of players to watch when she heard distant voices in the hallway outside the room.
The sound grew louder as whoever was wandering the halls grew closer and she threw a glance over her shoulder just as Cam walked into the room with his…
Jules.
Her Jules.
Well, not HER Jules but…the Jules she knew. Kind of.
They locked eyes immediately and Jules offered her a small, timid smile.
“And this,” Cam said, “is Coach Stevens.”
Frankie tried, she really did, but she could not stop a laugh from bubbling up and slipping out as she looked at the two people standing a few feet away from her.
Cameron Clarke, star forward, hockey heartthrob and league favourite and beside him, his twin sister Juliette with her striking glacial eyes and soft lips. She really was gorgeous and Frankie's heart fluttered in her chest as she admired her features.
Her blonde hair was down today, falling to the tops of her shoulders in loose waves that Frankie had the sudden urge to run her fingers through.
She didn’t know how she’d missed it but Cam and Jules were so obviously twins.
Their features so strikingly similar, the same bright blue gaze, same high cheekbones, the same easy smile that seemed to put people at ease.
It was clear as day now that she was looking at them standing side by side and it’s why Cameron had seemed so familiar to her when they'd first met. Standing together now, Frankie felt foolish for not noticing it earlier.
“Coach Stevens…” Cam said apprehensively, narrowing his gaze at her. He probably thought she was crazy, laughing at the sister he was introducing her to. “This is my twin sister, Juliette."
Nodding, Frankie bit her lip and smiled. “Yup, we’ve uh…we’ve actually met.”
A look of confusion slid onto Cam’s face and he glanced at Jules. “You've already met?”
“So…funny story…it turns out she lives in the same condo building as us and we met at the fitness centre,” Jules confessed sheepishly.
“Why didn’t you tell me the two of you had already met when I told you she was one of the coaches?
” He asked and Frankie picked up on a slight hint of irritation in his voice, like he’d been duped, but she didn't miss the fact that Jules knew who she was and had said nothing to her brother about their meeting.
“Because,” Jules said, looking at Frankie now and offering her a friendly smile. “When she and I met, I didn’t know at the time that she was one of your coaches. I only clued in when you told me her name during our physio session.”
“Huh.” Cam scratched his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Weird.”
“Guess we’re basically neighbours, Clarke,” Frankie joked, trying to peel back some of the odd energy that had fallen over the room like a blanket.
“Yeah…about that,” Jules said, bumping her shoulder against her brother’s. “You guys even live on the same floor.”
This time it was Cam’s turn to laugh. “No shit, eh? This is definitely the first time I’ve ever lived so close to a coach.
Kinda strange but cool with me.” He quickly glanced at his watch then grimaced.
“Oh, damn. I’m late for a meeting with the nutritionist but are you two…
good here? Since you’re, y’know, friends or something? ”
“Yeah,” Frankie said. “We’re all good. I can even give Juliette the rest of your tour if you want.”
It was strange to call her Juliette.
The name almost didn’t fit the woman standing a few feet away, shifting her weight from one foot to another, fidgeting with a ring on the index finger of her right hand.
But any awkwardness was wiped away all thanks to the six foot two frame of Cameron Clarke who was acting like an oblivious puppy dog with a short attention span and grinning like an idiot. He gave Jules a quick side hug and darted out of the room.
“I want to start by -”
“No, let me go…”
They both laughed and Jules took a few steps towards Frankie.
She was wearing a yellow shirt that complimented the adorable rosiness of her cheeks and she crossed her arms, smiling the cutest little smile that let loose a gang of butterflies in Frankie’s stomach.
She was a 32 year old adult…she did not get butterflies.
And yet…
“I really didn’t know who you were when we first met,” Jules admitted, her voice quiet and sincere.
“And then Cam told me his team was getting a new female coach. I still didn’t put two and two together but once he gave me a description of you, it was pretty easy to figure it out after that.
There aren’t exactly a ton of female coaches with red hair in the NHL… ”
Frankie laughed a little but then she cocked her head to the side. “How do you know your brother and I live on the same floor?”
“In the elevator the other day, you uh, you got off on his floor, so…”
Ah, the elevator ride.
How could Frankie forget the moment when she almost asked Jules out for a drink?
She had been so close, just a breath away from letting the question slip out.
But maybe it’s true what they say, that everything happens for a reason because unbeknownst to her, Jules was the sister of one of the players she was now coaching and Frankie couldn’t exactly be asking her out for drinks now, could she?
“Is it weird?” Jules asked, pointing between them. “This – you and me – knowing one another already? I hope you don’t feel like I lied to you or anything.”
Frankie slipped her hands into the pockets of her team branded sweatpants and studied Jules, looking for any sign of uncertainty or her being uncomfortable. All she got in response was another soft grin and an inquisitive gaze.
“No, it’s not weird. And I’m not completely innocent either, I never said what I did for work.
I was trying something new, keeping my work life separate from everything else because I’m learning just how demanding this job is and with it being so new…
I don’t know, I guess I was just thinking it might be nice to have a friend outside of this sport, someone who didn’t know how monumental it all is.
Normal isn’t the right word for it but…”
Jules' gaze softened, like she understood what Frankie was saying completely, and she took another step closer. “I get it, believe me, I do, because I feel exactly the same way. My brother is…well, you know who he is, and that can make my life complicated.”
Of course Jules would understand, of course she would know what it was like to make sacrifices for a sport they’d both spent their lives so wrapped up in, and Frankie felt a kinship in that.
“It’s just been Cam and I for most of our lives and his success happened so fast. I’ve been with him every step along the way and haven’t ever really known much or experienced much outside of that so I know what it’s like to want a bit of something for yourself, to not lose yourself to this sport all the time. ”
There was something about the way Jules spoke of her experience with a kind of reverence that tugged at Frankie’s heartstrings. She knew what it was like to feel isolated, even when she was constantly around something she loved.
“I get it,” Frankie said. She swallowed and looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling a little nervous.
“And I understand if y’know…” She glanced up again and pulled her hands from her pockets, crossing her arms. “You want to keep things professional when it comes to any relationship you and I have because I’m your brother’s coach. ”
Jules pursed her lips and took a deep breath, like she was considering it, like she was working through something, an internal battle that Frankie could see playing out on her face.
The reality was that they didn’t have much of a relationship to begin with.
They were basically strangers so nothing would even have to change if Jules wanted to keep things surface level.
They’d smile at one another in the gym if their paths crossed, make casual conversation in the elevator about the Harbour’s most recent game, and go about their days as acquaintances with one thing in common; hockey star Cameron Clarke.
And Frankie would have to accept that.
She could accept that.