Chapter 26
Arizona
This was . . . pandemonium.
When we were being led through the underground tunnels of Surf Arena, I hadn’t known what to expect. I’d never watched a hockey game on TV, let alone attended one in person before.
But as soon as we were spit out rinkside, in an area reserved for the players’ families pre-game, I was instantly overstimulated.
Forget the players whizzing past the glass so fast it made my head spin; the fans in the stands were just as chaotic.
They held signs professing their love for certain players, their wolf whistles layering over one another, and the youngest among them beat on the glass, begging to be gifted a piece of equipment.
And the loud music being pumped into the arena only served to amp up the almost party-like atmosphere.
I wondered how the hell the teams could focus on the game with all of this going on around them.
Maisie tugged on my hand, demanding my attention. “Are you coming?”
Both she and Austin were out-of-their-minds excited when Levi suggested they come to his final home game.
They’d been eager to watch him play in person for a while now, but his schedule made it difficult.
The last thing we needed was for Hilda to catch a glimpse of them out late on a school night on national television.
“You two go ahead.” I motioned toward the glass where several younger kids stood on chairs to see over the boards.
They took off running, pressing their faces to the smooth surface in search of the man with the number nine on the back of his jersey.
“Look!” came Maisie’s delighted cry. “There he is!” She waved a hand wildly. “Dad! Over here!”
She’d only been calling him that for a few days, but every time I heard it, my heart melted. I was beyond blessed to have a front-row seat as their bond grew stronger. It was something truly special to behold.
Both kids were jumping up and down in their attempt to flag down Levi, their joy so infectious that I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up from my chest.
Levi stopped at the glass, a giant smile splitting his face when he gazed first upon his daughter, then Austin. When his eyes lifted to meet mine and he hit me with a flash of that sexy smolder, it had me blushing like a teenager in the midst of her first crush.
A couple of pucks were tossed over the glass, one for each of them, then he blew a kiss to Maisie and skated off.
Austin turned around, bright-eyed. “How cool was that?”
Seeing him happy was a rare gift, and I soaked up every minute of it.
“Pretty cool,” I agreed.
He bumped shoulders with Maisie. “You are so lucky he’s your dad.”
The clacking of heels sounded nearby before a very pretty, very pregnant redhead stepped past me, walking right up to the kids.
I didn’t know this woman from Adam, so instantly, I went on alert.
But then I clocked the badge affixed to her dress and relaxed.
It was likely that she was yet another member of the Surf staff who had been bending over backward to make their first game special.
“Excuse me, but are you Maisie?” she asked.
When the preteen girl turned around, the woman gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.
“Oh my God.” The words came out muffled. “You look so much like him.”
The hairs on the back of my neck raised, and I moved quickly to join them.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
“Oh!” Big blue eyes widened when she realized she hadn’t bothered to introduce herself. “I’m Bristol.” To Maisie, she said, “An old friend of your dad’s.”
The green-eyed monster reared its ugly head because I wasn’t buying the “friends” bit for a single second. This woman had former lover written all over her.
Maisie must’ve picked up on that, too, because she asked, “Are you—Are you my birth mom?”
Bristol gave her a sad smile. “In another life, maybe I could have been.”
The twelve-year-old’s face fell, her disappointment palpable.
My eyes automatically dropped to the woman’s large bump, and I hated that my mind even went there, but it was on the tip of my tongue to ask if the baby she carried was Levi’s.
Almost as if she could read my mind, she placed a hand on her swollen stomach and laughed. “Until this morning, I hadn’t seen Levi in years. This little one and her older brother belong to the broody hunk behind the bench for the Speed, my husband, Maddox.”
Heat crept up the back of my neck, and I began to apologize, “I shouldn’t have—”
“It’s okay. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably be thinking the same thing.
Someday, when I can drink again”—she let out a huff of annoyance so heavy it lifted the strawberry-blonde strands of hair away from her face—“we’ll have to split a bottle of wine, and you can tell me how you managed to pin down the man who was once allergic to commitment. ”
“I don’t drink.”
She didn’t bat an eyelash, smirking. “Then I get the whole bottle to myself. Even better.”
I gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Sure. Maybe.”
Bristol heaved a sigh. “Well, I’d better get going. Gotta get up to the press box.” She fingered the access badge I’d noticed earlier. “It was really nice to meet you . . .” Her words trailed off as she waited for me to provide my name.
“Arizona,” I supplied, extending a hand.
“Arizona.” She smiled as we shook before turning to the girl at my side. “You too, Maisie.”
When she walked away, I was left more than a little rattled. Levi’s former playboy ways weren’t a secret, but I never expected that I would come face-to-face with a woman from his past, especially one who gave off “the one who got away” vibes.
Insecurity clawed at me from all sides.
How could he possibly be happy with someone like me when he could have had someone like her?
The front-row seats Levi secured for us were intense. The kids loved it, but I wasn’t as big a fan, as evidenced by my loud screams every time players slammed into the glass in front of us.
“Is it really necessary for them to hit each other so much?” I voiced my objection to the violent nature of this particular sport aloud.
Austin’s eyes stayed glued to the game as explained, “They don’t hit to hurt each other. It’s all about puck separation.”
“Ah.” I inclined my head in understanding, even though I had no clue what that meant.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when what felt like every person in the arena began to boo loudly in unison.
Then Austin slammed a palm flat on the glass, shouting, “Hey, Stripes! Get off your knees; you’re blowing the game!”
Horrified, I yelled, “Austin!”
“Nice one, kid,” the man seated behind me said, offering a hand to the teenager for a high-five.
When he caught me glaring, Austin shrugged. “What? It’s true. He didn’t call the blatant hooking on Cole when he was on a breakaway. In a one-goal game, the loss of that opportunity is huge.” He scoffed. “And we don’t even get a power play to make up for it.”
I blinked at him; the words coming out of his mouth might as well have been in a foreign language. “Where did you learn to talk like that?”
He smiled proudly. “Levi taught me how to chirp.”
“Of course he did,” I muttered under my breath.
“Dad’s on the ice!” Maisie shouted, bouncing on her toes.
Sure enough, number nine in aqua and orange streaked across the ice, his strides powerful, while at the same time looking completely effortless.
As if he were an on-air announcer, Austin began doing a play-by-play.
“Nixon with the chip up the boards around the Speed defenseman, he’s got Astor and Sutton with him as they enter the offensive zone on a three-on-two odd man rush.
Nixon passes the puck to Sutton before curling around the back of the net.
Sutton sends it to Astor, who rings it around for Nixon.
Nixon dekes out the defender once, then again, looking for an outlet before finally sending it to the point.
It goes D-to-D from Barclay to Astor at the blue line.
Then passed back down low to Nixon, who slides it over to Astor on the back door—”
A horn sounded, and the crowd went wild, everyone on their feet, cheering as the announcer declared, “Surf goal!”
Though I flinched against the noise, I kept my eyes locked on the players dressed in aqua. Levi hoisted Cole into his arms as the rest of their teammates swarmed them.
Laughter burst past my lips. “They’re basically overgrown children.”
Austin’s smile was a mile wide. “How awesome is it that they get paid millions to play a game?”
Oh, boy. I could hear the hope in his voice that someday he might be able to follow in Levi’s footsteps—a dream that many had but very few would achieve.
Not wanting to burst his bubble—life would do that without my help—I kept my mouth shut, letting him continue to believe, even if only for a little while, that anything was possible if you put your mind to it.
“My man’s a real playmaker.” Austin sighed, retaking his seat.
“A what?” I cocked my head.
“Almost exactly what it sounds like. He makes plays that create scoring opportunities for his teammates. He moved the puck around, forcing the Speed players to chase it. When he had it on his stick, he held onto it just long enough to draw two defenders, allowing Cole to get free and set up in front of the wide-open net. And then, when the moment was right, he struck, sending the pass so Cole could score and earning himself the assist.”
Huh. Now that I thought about it, Levi was actively involved in making that goal happen.
“So, being a playmaker is a good thing to be?” I ventured a guess.
Austin smirked. “Hell yeah, it is.”
“Language,” I reprimanded, but there was no real heat in it. Truth be told, it was nice to see him this excited about something.
Levi wasn’t just making an impact on the ice; he was making an impact on this teenage boy’s life.
The longer I sat waiting for Levi to get home, the more nervous I became.
I plucked at the sheer purple robe hanging off my shoulders. Why had I thought greeting him with lingerie was a good idea?