Chapter 29
“Cap Daddy is back!” Jefferson’s voice booms as I walk down the hallway toward Sadie’s office.
“Damn straight.” I can’t help the giant smile that spreads across my face. Nothing like coming back for game seven to help your team move on to the next round of playoffs. I am so fucking pumped to finally lace my skates up and hit the ice with my team.
The team doctor cleared me a couple hours ago.
I’ve stuck around the rink because I know seeing Sadie at home would distract the hell out of me.
I know it’s juvenile, but knowing she made a bracelet with my number on it did something to me.
I immediately pictured her on top of me wearing my jersey.
It’s fucking cliché and inappropriate, but damn, did it make my dick hard.
I almost skipped out on this meditation session, but as team captain I need to not only do whatever it takes to get my head on straight, but I need to set an example for the younger guys. Especially the knucklehead bouncing on his toes in front of me.
“Take it easy, Jefferson. Save some of that energy for the game tonight, yeah?”
He salutes me like I’m the captain of some ship and not of a hockey team. “Aye, aye, Cap!”
I shake my head at his shenanigans and step into Sadie’s office.
I immediately notice that she and Sophia are missing.
Glancing at my watch, I see it’s five minutes until the session is scheduled to start.
It’s not like Sadie to be late. My stomach sinks and I immediately begin to worry, wondering if something happened at home.
I’m about to run to the locker room to grab my phone when Sophia comes running through the door. Relief washes over me. She stops in front of me and yanks on my hand, causing me to crouch down in front of her.
“Daddy! Miss Sadie fixed the toilet!”
Uh-oh.
The toilet was in perfect working order when I left today, which could only mean one thing. Sophia.
I look up to find Sadie to ask her about what happened. When I finally spot her, she’s surrounded by the guys on the team, and Jefferson is doing some ridiculous yoga pose, causing everyone, including Sadie, to laugh. God, I love her laugh.
Once she frees herself of Jefferson, she walks up to Sophia and me.
“Hey, sorry I’m cutting it close. We had quite the afternoon.” She blows a stray piece of hair that’s fallen over her face, and it’s then that I notice her hair is mussed. It sure looks like my daughter put her through it today.
I look down at Sophia and she quickly averts her eyes from me. I’m about to ask her what type of trouble she caused but Sadie’s hand lands on my arm.
“It’s okay. We just had a mishap with a Hot Wheels car. It was an accident. Hunter came to help me out. All is good.”
My look must convey that I’m not convinced because she sends me a reassuring smile. “I promise.”
“You could’ve called me.”
It shouldn’t bother me so much that I wasn’t the first person she called. I’m pretending I’m upset because it’s my house but I can’t deny the jealousy I feel knowing Hunter came to her aid instead of me. It should’ve been me.
Sadie drops her hand. “You had an important appointment. We had it handled. Isn’t it nice to know you don’t have to play Superman all the time and come to our rescue?”
No. It’s not nice. I want to play Superman if Sadie is involved.
Goddamn it. I need to remind myself that she and I can never happen. She’s made that very clear, and I agreed it was for the best.
Why the fuck did I agree to that again?
Just then, Sophia takes Sadie’s hand and they make their way to the front of the room. Right. We’re doing what’s best for Sophia. I’m such a shitty dad. I’m more concerned about how I feel about my kid’s nanny than I am about my kid.
I’m just not sure it really is such a bad idea. Sadie’s afraid we’ll jeopardize Sophia’s stability. But what if we find out we’re perfect together? That would also be good for Sophia to see.
I push aside all thoughts about Sadie and focus on my breathing. The only thing I should be thinking about is the game tonight.
Sadie’s voice interrupts my game day thoughts. “All right, guys. Find your mats. We’re gonna do some light yoga stretches before moving into our meditation session. Game seven. Do or die. Let’s get you focused and ready for work.”
Sophia sets her mat up next to Sadie. They both lead us through our opening yoga poses and I can’t help but feel a new sense of calm watching them together.
I’m about to play in one of the most exciting games of my career, and my two favorite girls are going to help us lead the way.
Life doesn’t get much better than that.
It’s been one of the hardest fought games of my life. There is absolutely nothing like playoff hockey. Every single man out on the ice is putting their body on the line and it’s a sight to be seen.
We’re down by one goal with two minutes to go. If we don’t score and take this thing to overtime, we’re all packing up and heading to the golf courses much earlier than we’d like.
The Hawks are giving it their all, but they’re also playing it safe to end the game. Once they get to the redline, they fire the puck into our zone. It’s a lot of back and forth but if we can keep possession of the puck, we can pull our goalie and have a six-on-five situation.
Columbus’s goalie covers up the puck after a scrum in front of the net. The linesman blows his whistle and Lincoln signals to the ref he wants a timeout. We all huddle around the bench, eyes locked in on our coach.
“You guys have two minutes to tie this game up. We’ve come too fucking far this season to have it end here in our own barn tonight. Find a way to win.”
We all nod and a few guys yell, “Let’s fucking do this!”
Lincoln steps back up on the bench and Ellie takes his spot at ice level.
“Niko, I want your line out to start us off.” She points to one of our grinders who’s on the ice already. “Hayes, you’ll be the sixth man. Plant your ass in front of that net and don’t let anyone push you around.”
Ellie draws up the six-on-five faceoff play we’ve run a hundred times in practice the past couple weeks.
We have yet to run it during a game, saving it for playoffs.
Teams will watch film for hours to prepare for these types of situations.
We wanted something new up our sleeve for this exact moment.
Let’s hope it fucking works.
We all skate to the faceoff dot on the far side of the rink. Instead of my line mates lining up on both sides of me, they line up to my right, leaving my left side vacant. Hayes also lines up with them. We have three guys lined up on my right, directly in front of their goal.
The Hawks players aren’t sure where they’re supposed to line up. They scramble to cover the men in front of the net, leaving the left side of me completely open. Just as the ref is about to drop the puck, I hear Connor move behind me, skating up to my left where it’s empty.
I win the draw over to him and tie up the Hawks’ center, leaving Connor plenty of room to skate around us untouched.
He drives the net, forcing one of the Hawks’ defenders to abandon the chaos, which also leaves Jefferson wide open in front of the net.
Connor skates hard, as if he’s going to wrap around the net.
The defender follows him but at the last second, Connor puts the puck on his backhand and dishes it to Jefferson, who is all alone just above the crease on the goalie’s blocker side.
Jefferson doesn’t hesitate. As soon as the puck touches his stick, he releases it. The puck soars right over the goalie’s shoulder on the short side of the net. The buzzer sounds and the red light flashes, signaling a goal.
“Let’s fucking go!”
We all converge on Jefferson who has his hands raised in the air. Hawks players are lying on the ice at his feet, but we ignore their existence and celebrate together right in front of their net.
As we follow Jefferson to the bench to knock gloves with our teammates, I see that only nine seconds ticked off the clock.
We still have enough time to fucking win this thing in regulation.
Lincoln signals for my line to stay on the ice, and Mack takes his place back in our net. He nods at me, letting me know he’s ready to go. I look over at Jefferson and then to my other winger and see they’re both dialed in. We’re going to fucking do this.
Slowly, I make my way to the faceoff dot. Winning this draw is huge. We have all the momentum and I need to do my part to keep it. If we get possession of the puck, we can drive down the ice and have a chance to win the game.
The ref raises his arm to drop the puck. As soon as he releases it, I swipe my stick under the Hawks player’s and turn my body to block him from the puck. I use my skate to kick the puck back to Connor and he takes off down the ice.
As soon as I disentangle myself from my opponent, I join the rush down the ice.
We battle against the Hawks in their zone, for what feels like forever. I pass the puck up to Connor at the blue line and glance at the clock to see there’s a minute left in the game. We’re nearing the end of our shift but I am too fucking amped up to make a line change.
Connor passes the puck down low to Jefferson in the corner.
Jefferson fakes once and dekes out the Hawks defender, causing him to trip on his own skates.
With the defender down, Jefferson drives as hard as he can with the puck to the front of the net.
The goalie readies himself, skating to the top of the crease to cut off the angle.
Jefferson fires the puck at the same time I push off the defender in the slot. The shot hits the goalie’s far pad, bouncing off perfectly, creating the type of rebound us forwards dream of. It bounces right to my waiting stick. There’s no time to think. I just shoot.
The goalie dives across the crease with his glove raised high. I watch as the puck tips the top of his glove but my shot is too hard. The puck sails past and hits the back of the net.
Holy fuck. It went in.
I’m so fucking excited, I take a few strides away from the net and do the celly I used to do as a kid. In true Teemu Selanne fashion, I throw my glove in the air and pretend my stick is a gun and shoot my glove as it falls to the ice.
I’m sure I’ll receive a hefty fine for that celebration, but I don’t even care. It’s game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Take my money. It was worth every penny.
My teammates attack me, nearly knocking me over. They’re all screaming in my face and pounding on my helmet as we celebrate the go-ahead goal.
What a fucking feeling. There’s nothing like it.
I’m eating my own words the minute I skate over to the bench to celebrate with the guys.
Because standing behind the glass, just a couple rows up, is Sophia and Sadie.
They wanted to sit closer to the action tonight, and I’m glad they did.
Sophia is standing on her chair so she’s almost the same height as Sadie and they’re hugging each other, their bodies rocking back and forth with excitement.
The moment Sadie releases Sophia and turns back toward the ice, our eyes meet.
The smile on her face could light up the damn world.
My eyes don’t leave her as I skate down the bench hitting gloves with my teammates.
I stop at the end where the door is open so we can make a line change, eyes still locked on Sadie.
She starts cheering again, yelling something unintelligible, and starts jumping up and down.
She’s in a snug-fit Bobcats long-sleeved shirt and her tits bounce each time she jumps.
That, with the radiant look on her face, is my undoing.
I don’t think I’ve ever had to deal with a boner in my hockey gear, but there’s a first time for everything.
Sadie looks fucking gorgeous, and the fact that she’s cheering for me only amplifies the effect she has on me.
I finally force myself to turn back to the ice and glance up at the Jumbotron.
Only nineteen seconds left in the game. I know the guys will want to go out and party to celebrate this win.
As captain, I’m going to have to make an appearance.
But even if it goes against all the rules we set in place, there’s only one person I want to celebrate with tonight.
And she’s sitting two rows up with my daughter.