Four Months Later Conference Finals Game Seven
How can people do this?The seats are almost as comfortable as the ones at home, the view is great, and the food is catered by professional chefs. But this has been the most miserable two hours of my life. How can people watch a game this important from up here at the club level? I miss watching on the television in the dressing room with the other staff. There was a distance between me and the game then. Now, it”s like I”m involved in every play. And each time Brant has to make another save, I”m sure I”m going to throw up my heart along with that amazing peach cobbler. Caramelized peaches, browned butter ice cream, and a bourbon caramel sauce drizzled over it all? Maybe there”s one good thing about these seats.
Shortly after Brant and I made things official and public among the entire organization, not just the team, the Vice-President of Operations for the Sting called me into her office. She”s a very nice woman, and the few times I”ve spoken to her, we”ve gotten along well. That didn”t relieve any of my nervousness as I entered her office. We both knew why I was there, so she didn”t waste time. Dating Brant created a conflict of interest, and since we made it public, the team management couldn”t pretend to look the other way. We either needed to end our relationship or I needed to resign. Of course, they would never ask the world-famous hockey star who earns millions of dollars each year to make that sacrifice. I knew it would happen, so it wasn”t a surprise.
What was a surprise, though, was when she told me she arranged an interview for the head trainer position with the Salt Lake City Gulls. My dream job. They”re pro baseball”s newest expansion team, so they still had a lot of vacancies in the support staff, even though spring training was just around the corner. The Sting”s VPO is the former college roommate of the Gull”s General Manager, so she was able to get me the interview. She stressed it was only an interview and a very strong endorsement. I would have to earn the job myself. And I did. I interviewed three-days later, and two days after that, I had an offer. Apparently both the Sting and my old boss at the Colorado Lightning made for very enthusiastic references.
Building a training staff and program from scratch didn”t leave me a lot of free time. So all the dreams I had of traveling with the Sting and sneaking into Brant”s room had to remain dreams. It would have been difficult to get away with a teenager at home anyway. A teenager who is now several steps closer to being our legal ward—a term I hate, so we just call her ours. Just like we”re not her guardians, we”re just her people. Of course, the legal system being the legal system, there are still several obstacles in the way. Plenty more Utah Child and Family Services home visits and interviews, and plenty more chances for her parents to object. We”re taking things one day at a time. Just like we all have through the playoffs.
But as the final horn sounds, I drop my head into my hands. It makes the friendship bracelets on my wrists rattle. They were Chloe”s idea before the first round, and we spent three nights making them, enough to give to all the players” family members for game one. Everyone loved the idea. One-by-one the other families made their own and handed them out. So here we are now, each of us with our forearms practically covered by the twenty-two bracelets we”re wearing, and each of us with our heads buried or flung backward, looking at the rafters. Two to one.
Two to one. And just like that, the season is over. One round further than Denver made it, but still one game away from a chance to play for the cup.
The first goal that made it past Brant was a fluke that deflected off two different players. No one could have stopped it, so Brant will forgive himself for that one. But I know the other goal is the one that will stick with him. It was a rocket from the face-off dot, and Brant was being screened. There”s no way he could have seen it coming. When it went in, all eighteen thousand fans groaned. That”s what he”s going to remember. He”ll remember the sound of the fans.
The fans who are now cheering? Chloe nudges my shoulder, and I look up to see the entire arena on their feet. The players aren”t hurrying down the tunnel toward the dressing room. They”re skating a lap around the ice. Kayden is even waving a Salt Lake City Sting flag like they just won the series. Seattle”s players, who had been celebrating a second ago, are all standing to the side of the ice applauding with confused looks on their faces. ”What”s going on?” I ask Chloe.
”The Sting never even made the playoffs before, so I think everyone is just thanking them.”
I look around the club section where we”re all sitting. A few of the other wives and girlfriends are standing and cheering too. Zachary is standing on a seat, screaming down to Nikita. When Nikita hears him and blows a kiss up to his husband, I laugh. ”This is so strange. Imagine if we would have won.”
Brant looks up and finds us just as Chloe slips her hand in mine. The three of us share a simple wave, nothing like the enthusiasm of Zachary or Kayden, but a moment just for us in the middle of all this noise. ”Kinda feels like we did win, doesn”t it?” she asks.
”It really does,” I say. ”Let”s hurry and head down so we can get the good seats in the family lounge.”
Chloe and I snake our way through the other families and out into the hall that connects all the suites. We”re both wearing Morrison jerseys, but Chloe has added so many rhinestones and sequins to them that the only similarity to the one Brant wears is the font of the name.
There are only a few people in the hallway, and no one is waiting for the elevator. I press the call button and turn to Chloe. ”Remember, they lost, so Brant will probably feel pretty down. Be gentle, okay?”
She gives me an eye roll that makes me jealous. ”Relax, Lily, I got this.”
”What does that mean?” I ask just as the elevator doors slide open and Chloe steps inside. ”Chloe?”
”Hi ladies,” Bernie, the elevator operator, greets us. ”Heading down to the lounge?”
I smile at him and nod. He”s got to be at least eighty-five, but he”s been working for the team since their very first year. I can”t believe I didn”t meet him in my time as a trainer, but we”ve actually gotten to know each other well since I started watching the games from the WHAG section. He”s a great guy who loves the Sting more than almost anything else. ”Great year, right?”
”Best of my life.” His eyes glisten in the overhead florescent light. ”Don”t tell my wife or my boys I said that, though,” he winks. I laugh and hold up my hand like I”m taking an oath. ”That boyfriend of yours was a big part of it. He”s coming back next year, right?”
All our heads bob as the elevator comes to a stop and then the doors open. ”Definitely,” I answer him. ”You are too.” I hope he can hear that it”s not a question.
”Long as my ticker holds up. Double bypass next month. Put in a word for me with the guy upstairs if you talk to him, would you?”
”I will, and you”re going to be fine. If you”re up to it, come see me at a Gulls game. Otherwise, I”ll see you right here in October.” I take the phone from my purse and make a reminder to send a get well gift to Bernie after his surgery. I”ll ask the boys to sign a jersey for him.
Chloe and I are the first ones in the family lounge. She immediately plops onto the couch right in front of the enormous television at the far end of the room. The broadcast is showing the highlights of the game. When they get to Seattle”s second goal, I have to look away.
By the time Brant and Kayden walk through the door, the room is packed with families waiting for our players. Brant looks toward the bar at first. That”s where Chloe normally sits because they have an entire row of different cereals. I swear eating is a competition between those two. When he turns our way, I wave, and his lips curl up. It”s not a full smile, but it”s better than I expected.
”Daddy!” Chloe practically shrieks as she leaps over the back of the couch, runs across the room, and literally jumps onto Brant.
His eyes and mouth go wide as he catches her. ”Um, hey... sweetie?” What is this? he mouths to me.
I shake my head and shrug. Over the last four months, that”s become our sign for ”just Chloe being Chloe, I guess.”
Kayden moves past Brant and works his way through the crowd. A few people stop him to congratulate him on his goal, but most people here know what it”s like for a professional athlete after they lose a game, so they give him space. He sits at the opposite end of the couch from me and pulls his legs up to sit cross-legged. ”Tough game,” he says to me before turning to where Brant is still frozen with Chloe wrapped around him. ”Come on, daddy. Be sociable and join me and Lily.”
Brant whispers something to Chloe as she lets go, and they make their way over to us. Chloe sits on the armrest beside me while Brant drops onto the couch on my other side. He puts his arm around me and rests his head against mine. It”s still wet from his shower, and it”s ruining my hair style. I”ll have to dig a hair tie from my purse before we leave.
”You are insane,” I point to Chloe. ”And you,” I turn to Brant, ”just encourage her. What did you tell her? Probably ”good job, now let”s go embarrass Lily?””
”Something like that.” He stares at me for a moment before he slips off the couch and reaches into the pocket of his suit jacket. Even with him going to a knee, even with the enormous smile on Kayden”s face as he holds up his phone to film, and even with Chloe”s arms wrapping around me from behind, I don”t realize what”s happening. ”I wanted to do this after we won the cup.” He looks up at me before his attention flicks back to his hands. To the box in them. ”But that”s going to be next year now, and I can”t wait that long.”
My heart skips more than it beats as I notice the red box with gold lines wrapping around it. When he opens the lid and I see the diamond ring inside, I have no need for heartbeats. ”What is this?” The only reason I notice I”m shaking is because Chloe sighs and whispers for me to stop it.
”It”s a can of the cheap Canadian beer I used to drink when I was in high school. It would make me the happiest man in the world if you would chug it with me.” I”m vaguely aware of the loud smack as Kayden slaps Brant”s arm. ”It”s an engagement ring. I thought that would be obvious. Especially since I”m on my knee here.”
And now my lungs have given up too. My mouth is just about to join the rest of my body in a bewildered jumble when I finally convince it to allow me to speak. ”Do you want to marry me?”
”Pretty sure I”m supposed to be the one asking you that since I bought the ring.” There are a few laughs from the other families watching us. ”But yes. I already told you I”ll spend forever with you. I”d love to make it official. What do you say, Jams? Forever?” He takes the ring from the box, and the only thing I can think is that it”s like a mirrored ball. Even the small pavé diamonds on the band throw light in every direction as he holds the ring in front of me. But the center one? The one that”s bigger than my first car? That one seems to shine on its own.
”Stick your hand out,” Chloe hisses in my ear. A second later, she growls. ”Your other one.”
”Oh my god, I have to show Em. Someone take a picture, so I can send this to my best friend. She is going to die.”
”Say yes so he can put the ring on you first,” someone behind me shouts.
”Oh.” I look at Brant and see the same lopsided smile I saw when he brought me donuts. The right side of his mouth is curled up just a little more than the left. The teeth on that side show just a little more. I want to see this smile every day. I want to watch all the little changes that happen in his face over our years. I want to catalog each one of them as we spend our lives together. ”Yes.” The word finally bubbles free from me and won”t stop. ”Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes.”
His lips curve into a smirk as he slips the ring over the tip of my finger. ”I think that”s a yes. We probably don”t need to go to the review for that one.”
When he slides the ring into place, I only look at it on my finger for a second, just long enough to wonder at the perfect fit, before I slide down to the floor with him. ”You can”t even imagine the things I”m going to do when we get home to demonstrate just how much of a yes this is. It”s a good thing you have the whole offseason to recover because you”re going to need it.”
”Oh my god,” Chloe groans behind me. ”Why do you have to be like this?”
”Chloe,” Brant tells her, ”you”re going to stay at Kayden”s tonight, okay?”
She sighs. ”Yes. Anything to keep me away from you two cringe factories.”
”Forever?” I ask. ”The three of us. Forever?”
”Forever,” Brant answers.
We turn and look at Chloe whose mouth is dramatically pinched shut. ”You”re seriously asking me after that?” I stare at her until she finally gives in. ”As long as you keep this disgusting stuff to a minimum, yeah, I”m in. Forever.”