Chapter 19 #3
With my heart in my throat, I skate off the ice, run through the tunnel and down the corridor in full gear. My skates hit the concrete as I blow past a security guard and hit the emergency exit door with both hands.
I burst out into the night air of the parking lot.
And there they are.
Under a light between a rental sedan. Josie's crying, mascara streaked, still fighting. Her mother's voice carries across the asphalt, crisp as a slap.
"—and now I understand everything. The secrecy, the lies. Because you knew, Josephine. You knew exactly what you were doing and you were ashamed—"
"That's not—Mom, please, you are not listening to me. I didn't sleep my way into this job."
"I saw what that screen said, in front of all those people. You created a scandal! And you know what breaks my heart? Your father."
I can't move across the parking lot fast enough, watching as Josie physically flinches at her mother's words.
"He filled your head with all of it. This fantasy that you belonged in a man's world. And look where his nonsense got you. Thank God he's not alive to see what it made of you. He'd be ashamed that his little slut of a daughter—"
"That's enough!"
Both women turn at exactly the same time. And yeah, I'm aware of what I look like right now. Six-four, full pads, skates on fucking asphalt while still dripping sweat under a parking lot light.
I don't care.
No one speaks to my girl like that.
"Excuse me?" Josie's mother draws herself up. "This is a private conversation—"
"You're wrong about him." I step between them, and I say it slow, because I've spent seventeen years learning what silence costs and I am done paying. "Her father wasn't filling her head. He was the only one who ever bothered to look close enough to see how special your daughter is."
I stay steady on my skates, locking eyes with Josie's mother.
"Your daughter just took a dead franchise and gave it a heartbeat.
Every seat in that building tonight… she's the reason they sold.
Every jersey on every kid. Every smile in that building right now.
This whole town believes in something again, and it's because of her.
" I look at Josie but she doesn't smile.
"Sweetheart, that's not a scandal. That's the most impressive thing I've ever watched a human being do. "
"And you'd know, of course," her mother says icily, forcing my eyes back to her. "You must be the captain."
"Yeah. I'm the captain. And I'm in love with her."
Josie's breath catches and her eyes grow wide.
"That's right. I love her," I say again, to Josie now, because she's the only one who matters right now. "I was going to wait to tell you. For the right moment. But I spent my whole life waiting for the perfect moment, and I'm not doing it anymore. I love you, Josie. I love you so goddamn much."
Josie makes a sound that's half sob, half laugh. "You're in full gear."
"I'm aware of that."
"You smell terrible."
"Also aware."
"I love you too." She's crying and grinning and stepping closer to me all at once. "God help me, I love you too."
She launches herself at me and somehow, I catch her, lifting her clean off the asphalt. I kiss her while the arena behind us roars on for a goal I've already forgotten.
Her mother stands there a moment longer, stripped of an audience, then turns on her heel and piles into the sedan without another word.
Josie pulls back, forehead against mine, breathless. "We won?"
"We won."
Josie shakes her head like she's trying to clear static from a bad signal.
"Wait. How did we—" She looks at the arena behind us. "You guys were down two-nothing. Beck wasn't even looking at you. How the hell did you win that game?"
"Would you believe me if I said it was all me?"
"No."
"Good, because it was mostly Mason bailing us out and me getting lucky on a rebound."
She laughs, and presses her face into my chest pad like she needs a second to just breathe against something solid.
The sedan's headlights sweep across us as her mother's rental peels out of the lot, tires chirping against the asphalt like even the car wants to make a point on its way out.
I watch it go, then tip Josie's chin up with two fingers. "You okay?"
She exhales, watching the taillights shrink into the dark. "Honestly? That's exactly what I expected." A small, sad shrug. "At least now I know for sure. I don't have to keep hoping she'll surprise me."
"Josie—"
"It's fine." She swipes under her eyes, streaking mascara worse. "Maybe if she's not part of my life, that's okay. Besides… I've got someone else to disappoint now."
"Who?"
She looks up at me, half-laughing despite the tears still drying on her cheeks. "You."
I pull her in tight, right there under the parking lot light, sweat and pads and all. "Sweetheart," I murmur against her hair, "you could try for the rest of your life. You will never disappoint me."
I set her down, lace my fingers through hers, and look back at the glowing building. Inside awaits a victorious locker room, my pissed off brothers, and the phone in my bag with all the missed calls I've been running from my whole life.
"Come on," I say. "There's one more thing I need to do tonight."