Chapter 1 #2
I rolled back around and covered my head with my pillow. I guess I was a glutton for punishment because all I wanted was to fall back asleep so I could dream about her again. If I closed my eyes, I could probably mentally slip right back into the memory.
“If you don’t get up, I’m gonna fight you,” Kappy warned. “I have too much energy after watching last night’s game from a lame desk.” After being forced to retire earlier this season, Kappy became a studio analyst, so he was still in the hockey world, just not on the ice.
“You are not fighting anyone, Richard,” Piper snapped, then she added, “JP, please be agreeable with him.”
Damnit. She sounded desperate. I could annoy Kappy all I wanted, but I hated pissing off the girls.
“Fine.” With a groan, I rolled out of bed, my muscles still aching from yesterday’s game and celebration.
_________
Colt, my other best friend, was hosting the first of many parties this offseason because he was our team captain. I’d eventually get to host a Stanley Cup party at a location of my choosing, but I’d figure that out later.
With a new pool and mini bar, Colt and his wife, Mer, had the perfect backyard for hosting. He also hired a company to set up a bounce house and little obstacle course for the players’ kids, including his eight-year-old daughter, Lucy.
There were actually a lot of toddlers and little kids running around because most of the guys my age had found wives and girlfriends over the past couple years, and a lot of them started families.
That was great for them, but almost every single conversation these days worked its way back to something their kid said or did, or some “annoying” aspect of their relationship that they secretly loved.
While half the guys on the team were still single like me, I didn’t quite fit in with that squad either.
Most of them were young and wild, bragging about their latest hookups or about how much they drank over the weekend.
Next season would probably be even worse because we were expecting a few retirements this off-season, meaning more young guys would be added to our roster.
Across the yard, Kappy was manning the grille. He had Piper’s arms looped around his waist, her cheek resting against his back. Every once in a while, he’d crane his neck to look down at her and crack a joke, making her shoulders shake with a giggle.
Colt was busy talking with some of the training staff, his baby boy, Callahan, resting in the crook of his elbow.
I was happy for my friends, I really was. And it’s not that I wanted their lives in any capacity; I just wanted my own to look a little different.
“You don’t look like a guy who just won the Stanley Cup last night,” Hans said, pulling me from my thoughts.
At about eighty-years-old, Hans was one of my best friends and role models.
He was the rink manager of Centre Ice Arena back in Michigan where we all grew up.
When Centre Ice folded a few years back, the three of us guys made sure Hans had a place to land.
He now managed our practice rink, the Coliseum, here in downtown Chicago.
“Just tired,” I said with a grin. “How are you doing?”
His blue eyes narrowed. “Shoulder okay?”
“Wha-? Oh.” I hadn’t realized I’d been rubbing it. I tweaked my right shoulder during our playoff run but refused to get it looked at in case it pulled me off the roster. “Just a little sore. It’ll be fine after some rest. How are you doing?”
He held my gaze. “You’re sure?”
“I am,” I said with a forced chuckle. “I’m not Kappy, no need to worry.” Kappy was known for hiding injuries or problems until it was way too late.
“Good.” He wagged a finger at me. “You let me know if you need any help, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smirked. “Same with you, old man. How are you doing?”
“I’m just fine.” His bright eyes crinkled at the corners with a fond smile. “I was just about to get going.”
“Oh.” My eyebrows pulled together. “Already?”
“Yeah, like you said, I’m an old man,” he croaked. “I need my sleep. Summer hockey camps start up tomorrow.” He shakily got to his feet. “I need to be ready for the next batch of troublemakers.” He arched a bushy white eyebrow.
I grinned at that. We were probably his worst troublemakers back in the day. “Let me know if you need any help. I’ll knock some heads if you need me to.”
He nodded. “Will do.” His eyes went to Colt and Kappy, then back to me, and his throat bobbed with a swallow.
“I wanted to say thanks for inviting me,” he said slowly, like he was trying to choose the right words.
“It means a lot that you boys still include me.” His chin wobbled, making panic rise up in my throat.
Hans was never one to share his emotions.
“Hans, are you—”
“It’s okay.” He held up his papery thin hand, trying to brush it off. “I’m okay.” He forced a smile as he started shuffling across Colt’s lawn.
“Well, no thanks needed,” I said, walking with him to his car. “We still owe you for being obnoxious assholes back in the day.”
He cracked a wry grin and wagged a finger at me. “Ah, I’m glad I put up with you three. You turned into my best friends.”
“You’re ours too, old man,” I said forcefully, feeling the need to assure him that we valued him just as much.
We walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to his car, but he paused when he reached his driver’s side door. “Do me a favor?” he asked, his bright blue eyes finding mine.
My eyebrows rose in surprise. In all the years I’d known him, I’m pretty sure he’d never once asked anything of me. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Take a break from the ice for a bit.” His weathered face went serious. “You just had a very long season. I love seeing you at work every day, but you need a break from the place, yeah? Can you do that?”
“Oh.” I rubbed my jaw. “Yeah, I guess I should probably take a couple days off, rest up a bit.”
When I looked back up, his blue eyes held a little spark. “Maybe you should book a vacation.”
I laughed. “And go by myself?”
“Why not?” he asked, his eyebrows slamming down. “I go by myself every year.”
That was news to me. I couldn't even picture him on vacation. In my mind, the old man practically lived at the rink. “But where would I go?”
“Think about it.” He grinned while tapping his temple. “It’ll come to you.”
“All right,” I said with a laugh, patting the top of his car. “I’ll think it over. Get home safe now, okay? Or we’ll have to send Kappy to save you. He’s the only sober one.”
Hans cracked a grin while slowly folding himself into his seat. “Never thought he would turn into my emergency contact.”
I smirked. It was kind of rich that Kappy, who was usually the leader of every prank we ever pulled, had suddenly become the responsible one.
As Hans’ old Ford Taurus drove off down the tree-lined street, his advice echoed in my head.
Making my way back to the party, I mentally kicked around a couple vacation ideas, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it’d be kind of lame to go by myself.
I was about to ask Kappy if he’d join, but I got stopped in the driveway by a gaggle of kids.
“Uncle JP will help us!” Lucy called out, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward.
“Right?” A tiny conspiratorial smile grew on her face.
I had to laugh because she fully knew I couldn’t say no to her.
Right after Lucy was born, Kappy and I practically moved in with Colt to help raise her.
Those first few weeks were a blur of dirty diapers, spit up, and tears—from both Lucy and Kappy—but when she rewarded us with a smile, it was all worth it.
Lucy was a big reason I wanted to have kids of my own one day.
“He’s perfect! He’s a giant!” A tiny kid with glasses and popsicle stains down the front of his shirt nodded in approval.
“Yeah?” I laughed. “Perfect for what?”
Lucy rubbed her hands together like a mad scientist. “You’ll see.”
And that is how I got roped into spending the next hour picking kids up and putting them down so they could “slam dunk” the basketball over and over again, which I knew was probably horrible for my shoulder.
The mothers all laughed as they watched while I was sweating bullets, and their husbands completely evaded the scene so they wouldn’t get called over to help.
When Colt finally brought out water guns, the kids thankfully lost interest in basketball, so I wandered into the garage where some of the younger guys were playing beer pong.
I hadn’t realized how many hours had passed, but it was dark by the time I left the garage, and I had trouble walking in a straight line as I made my way back to the patio.
Plopping my ass on the outdoor sofa, I watched Colt, Mer, and Lucy in the pool together, cooing over the tiny baby boy in a little floaty device.
“You look like someone kicked your puppy,” Kappy said with a chuckle. “Here.” He handed me a water bottle. “You need this more than I do.”
“I don’t have a puppy.” I shook my head, making my vision swim. “But maybe I should get a puppy. Maybe that’d be better than a damn vacation.”
Kappy’s shoulders shook with a laugh. “Oh boy, stop rambling and drink.”
I cracked the water open, spilling half of it on myself in the process, which just made Kappy laugh harder at me. I glared at him as I guzzled the rest of it down.
“You know,” Kappy started, “you could always listen to my advice and go find her.”
“Go find who?” My tongue was lagging, making my words slur together. I blinked hard to refocus my vision.
“Don’t play dumb, JP.” Kappy slapped me on the back, making me cough out my sip of water. “I've known you since we were in daycare, bud.”
That was true. And I admittedly knew exactly who he was talking about, but I forced myself to stare blankly back at him anyway.
“C’mon,” he whispered, looking disappointed in me. “Little Al Pal.”
Just hearing her old nickname had my heart pounding, but I tried my best to ignore it and shove down all those old emotions.
“You should go find her. Piper and I wasted way too much time. I wish I would’ve bulldozed into her life, like, five years ago instead of waiting around.”
“I don't need to go find her. I know where she is. She’s not lost.” She just doesn’t want to be here.
He frowned. “Maybe not physically, but she is lost, dude.”
“Huh?” I rubbed my eyes. I was way too drunk for riddles.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice to say, “I heard her talking on the phone with Piper and Mer the other night. I wasn't spying or anything, they were talking in the living room. Ali sounded so—oh. Oh fuck.” He stood abruptly, scraping his patio chair back against the concrete.
“What? She sounded so what?”
“I have to get my wife before she cracks her head open.” He tore off his hat and threw it on his seat. “She’s trying to teach those benders how to do skating lifts. Here, watch our stuff.”
“Wife? What? You have a wife?” I squinted up at him. I was talking to Kappy, wasn’t I?
He laughed as he jogged away. “Piper’s always been my wife,” he yelled over his shoulder. “And no one’s lifting her but me.”
“Wait, what were you going to say?” I called after him. I wanted to scream at him to finish. Ali sounded so…so what?
A phone ding went off next to me, distracting me.
I searched my body for my phone, but it was missing.
Another ding.
It must’ve been Kappy’s.
Ope.
Nope.
Looking over at the pile of their stuff, I quickly realized it was Piper’s phone, and it was open to a text chain with “Al Pal.”
I fully knew I shouldn’t look at their messages.
It was an invasion of their privacy, and it wasn’t right.
But it’s not like I opened her phone, it was sitting right there, already open.
And Kappy told me to watch their stuff. So, my eyes were on their stuff, including the phone, watching it. No harm, no foul…right?
Leaning over the phone, I saw a picture of Ali with a couple other girls standing in front of a grey castle with crumbling walls.
The message read: You should come visit!
I’m on the Irish leg of Castle Cruises and I think it’s my favorite.
Bring Kappy if you’re worried about leaving him home.
I know Mer can’t come because the baby’s so young, but I really miss you guys!
“Get JP! C’mon,” someone yelled.
“Huh?” I looked up, feeling caught.
Ziggy and Wilson, two of my teammates, were grabbing me, pulling me out of my chair.
“Wait, wait,” I slurred, patting my body to search for my own phone.
“McQuaid, get your ass over here—we need another player!”
“He’s on our team!”
“No, he’s on ours!”
Apparently I played a round on everyone’s team.
Because I blacked out.
So, I have no memory of actually finding my phone or of what I did next.
But I woke up in the morning with a confirmation email from Castle Cruise Lines.