Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
CATALINA
"If you ask me, they all sound like douchecanoes." Marley crossed her legs at her knees and chewed her gum a little faster.
I glanced up from the senior Labrador whose teeth I was checking, and hummed my agreement. "That's a good word for them."
"Leonard, on the other hand, is such a good boy." She leaned forward and scratched the dog behind the ears.
"He's the best boy," I agreed. "If the average hockey player was as well-behaved as this, the rink would be a better place." I let him close his mouth, and stepped away to take off my gloves and wash my hands.
"The whole world would be a better place if people were like dogs," she said. "Especially goodest boys like this one."
I offered Leonard a liver treat, which he happily accepted and chewed on. His tail thumped a couple of times.
"Do you think Cruz has a point?" I asked softly. "I love doing this. Caring for animals. Do I really need to keep pushing myself the way I have been? I could be focusing on this, worrying about getting my clinic hours up."
"Are you asking that because you want to give up racing, or because Cruz is getting to you?" She glanced up at me, a frown etched on her brow.
"I don't want to give it up," I said quickly.
"I don't want to deal with those assholes anymore.
" I exhaled out my nose and grabbed Leonard's collar to help him down the steps and off the examining table.
"Everyone keeps telling me how important the arena is to Opal Springs.
It would be so easy for them to paint me as the bad guy and make everyone in town hate me. "
Before she could respond, I led Leonard out the door to reunite with his human. This was the last appointment for the day, so I locked the door behind them and returned to the examining room.
"First of all, there's no way everyone in town is going to hate you," Marley said. "You're way too awesome for that. Most people know what the guys are like."
"That won't matter if they suggest I'm getting in the way of them becoming an expansion team," I said. "They can be the biggest assholes on the face of the planet and I'd still be the big bad wolf. I'd hate me too if I was getting in the way of something like that."
Marley pushed herself to her feet. She fixed me with her stern best friend expression that she mastered early on in high school. The one that was somewhere between, 'or else,' and needing to fart. It never failed to make me smile.
"Catalina Joanna Ryan. You're not getting in the way of anything. You know that as well as I do. If they go around spreading shit like that, they don't deserve to go pro."
"It's not about what they deserve, it's about what Opal Springs deserves," I argued.
I scratched my forehead and sighed. "If there was somewhere else to practice, I'd use it.
Even if I have to drive a long way to do it.
" There was nowhere else though. Nowhere closer than two or three hours each way.
I couldn't do that and get my clinic hours in at the same time.
The team wouldn't drive that far either.
I was starting to wish the arena was built already. I wouldn't have met any of them then.
“Maybe it's time to go back to Melbourne," I concluded. "That might be the best thing for everyone." Including my bruised hip from where I hit the boards. A padded training rink wasn't such a bad thing.
"No!" Marley insisted. "I mean, if that's what you have to do, but I'd miss you so much." Her puppy dog eyes could have competed with any of the actual puppies I'd treated today. Including Leonard.
"I'd miss you too Marley-Jane," I said. "I'm not ready to go back yet, but I don't know what choice I have." I'd have to work with a new coach if I went back to Victoria. I wasn't going to uproot my father again to come with me. Even if he insisted. His life was here now.
I thought mine was too, but I couldn't have everything. If I stayed here, I was going to have to choose to forget about racing, or find a way to get those assholes off my back. Maybe I should train at midnight.
"For what it's worth, I think you should ignore them," she said. "There's no reason why you can't keep working here and train. Whatever those guys’ deal is, it's their problem. You don't have to make it yours."
"It became mine when Cruz posted the video online of me crashing out the other day." Of course it went viral. People always enjoyed watching other people get hurt. Or at least, have accidents.
"We should go to the game on Saturday night," she said.
"If we're lucky, we can video one of the guys getting a puck to the nuts.
" She looked as though she'd thoroughly enjoy that happening.
Admittedly, that was something the Internet would love to see too.
Videos of men being hit in the balls never seemed to get old.
I snorted. "That would be funny, but they wear padding and cups.
They wouldn't feel anything." A puck to the part of their face that wasn't covered by a mask, on the other hand, would hurt like hell.
I couldn't even bring myself to wish that on them.
In spite of everything, I didn't want to be that petty.
If I did, that would be a victory for them somehow. Like I lowered myself to their level.
Let them act like a pack of high school boys. I wasn't going to do it. Someone had to be the adult in the room.
"They might not feel it, but the footage would still be gold," Marley said with a grin.
She adjusted her glasses and exhaled softly. "I guess that would be juvenile. I just really hate to see you sad about all of this, and thinking about giving up your biggest dream."
I took some bandages off the corner of the examining table and put them away. "That's the thing though. Shouldn't I be grateful to be doing this? Maybe I'm being greedy."
"All of those guys did apprenticeships to become fully qualified at their trades," Marley said. "And they still want to give it up to play hockey."
"Those trades might not be their dream job," I said. Maybe they were, but I suspected hockey was where their hearts lay. Assuming they actually had hearts.
"No, but they can make a good living out of it. No offence, but there's not too much money to be made from speed skating.”
"Yeah, none." Winter Olympians didn't get paid. At best, I might get endorsements if I won.
“Right, you're doing it for the love, not for the money. They could give up hockey today and still pay the bills. You skate because it's a passion. It's part of who you are. Just like working with animals is. You're not greedy for having a dream."
"I suppose so," I said reluctantly. "But I won't even have this if they create trouble for me. People might stop bringing their pets here."
Opal Springs had grown significantly since we were kids, but even in a town of this size, if someone got a reputation, word got around quickly.
If people didn't want me to treat their pets, the clinic would have no choice but to let me go.
I'd never be able to start my own. Not here.
Maybe in Melbourne or somewhere like Dusk Bay.
"The animals and their humans love you," she insisted. "No one is going to stop bringing them here. We see how you are with them. If the guys start something, we'll deal with it. Like we always have."
"With too much vodka?" I grinned.
"Exactly," she agreed. "So tell me about your date with Easton."
I didn't want to talk about it, but at least she wasn't suggesting starting rumours about Cruz's ability as a mechanic, or Easton's as a carpenter.
I refused to be the vindictive one in the story.
Besides, ruining their reputations would do nothing to restore mine.
They'd probably find a way to make things even worse.
I leaned my back against the bench that ran along the side of the room. "I thought we had a nice time. He seemed sweet and we have a lot in common."
"But then the next day, he was a dickhead along with the rest of his team?" She blew a bubble and popped it, narrowly missing gum sticking to her glasses.
"Basically," I said. "He was laughing along with them."
"Ugh," she groaned. "Men. What about Dean and Shaw?"
I told her about the way they looked at me, and their teammates. And about the way Shaw gave me the creeps. "Did you say he was a butcher?" I asked. "I felt like he wanted to put me up on the block and cut me into slices."
"Sounds like Dean likes you," she said. "For all you know, he's growling at the rest of them when you're not around. He seems like the shy kind."
All I could say to that was, "Maybe. He's still one of them. Plan A is to stay out of the way of all of them."
"But you don't want to?" She cocked her head at me. "You enjoyed yourself with Easton."
"I could have had the best date ever, but he still acted like a dickhead the next day," I said. "Clearly he's not as nice as he lets on, and I was right in the first place when I told myself it would only be one date because I lost the bet."
"If you could do it all over again, would you skip going out with him?" she asked.
"I… I don't know," I admitted. The date was fun and the quiche was fantastic. The kiss almost convinced me there could be something between us. I wasn't sure if I'd miss all of that to avoid the frustration of the day after.
"I'm going to give you some advice and I hope you don't get angry with me," she said tentatively. "I think you should talk to him. Tell him what you're thinking and make sure he understands that it's not okay to behave like a douchepotato."
My first instinct was to dismiss her words out of hand. After a few moments of thought, I nodded slowly.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to try to clear the air." I wasn't going to let them think they could walk all over me with no consequences.
"He might even get the rest of the team to back the fuck off," she said.
"Doubtful. I'm not even sure my father's threats made much impact."
Her eyes widened. "Oliver threatened them?"
My eyebrows twitched upwards. "Since when are you on first name terms?"
Her face turned slightly pink. "It's a recent thing. He suggested since we worked together, we should be a bit more casual with each other."
For some reason, her response made my skin itch. "You're not interested in my father, are you?"
"What? No," she replied immediately. She wouldn't meet my gaze.
"Good. Don't go there." I grimaced. "That would be weird. I don't need one of my best friends as my stepmother."
"Yeah, weird," she said vaguely. "Anyway, are you going to talk to Easton?"
"I might," I said. "I'll make sure he's not wearing any padding over his groin, just in case." I smiled faintly.
Marley giggled. "If you knee him in the groin, I have no doubt he deserved it."
"I'd only do it as a last resort," I said. I had a feeling she might be right.