Chapter 17 Natalie
Chapter seventeen
Natalie
"Look at him," Dex calls across the ice. "Man walks in smiling like he solved world peace."
I glance up from the stands just in time to see Gabriel glide past the blue line, pushing a puck ahead of him during warm-ups.
He is, in fact, smiling.
Colby skates by him and shakes his head. "Nope. Worse."
Dex slows beside him dramatically. "Oh no. That's married man glow."
Half the team bursts out laughing.
Gabriel flicks the puck toward the net and rolls his eyes. "You guys are exhausting."
"You love us," Dex says immediately.
"That is highly debatable," Gabriel mutters.
Beside me, Maddie presses her hands against the glass and shouts, "GO DADDY!"
A couple of the other team kids giggle. One of them tries to copy her.
"GO DADDY!" the little boy yells toward the ice.
His actual father is standing twenty feet away, staring at him like he just got replaced.
The Nashville Outlaws practice facility smells like cold air, rubber, and coffee. Pucks slap against boards. Skates carve sharp lines into fresh ice. Music thumps faintly from somewhere behind the benches.
It’s lively.
And somehow it already feels familiar.
Maddie is sitting with three other kids two rows down, a pile of coloring books and toy hockey sticks scattered around them. Every few seconds she pops up to watch Gabriel skate past the glass.
"That's my dad," she tells the girl next to her for the third time.
"We know," the girl says patiently.
Maddie beams anyway.
Down on the ice, Bobby raises his stick.
"Someone check the whiteboard," he calls out.
Colby snorts. "Pretty sure someone just moved into first place."
Whiteboard? First Place? What does that mean?
Bobby taps his stick against the ice like he's applauding. "Gentlemen," he announces, "whoever had this week on the whiteboard better start planning the victory drinks."
Gabriel shakes his head again and circles back into the drill.
Dex isn't done.
He skates backwards in front of Gabriel, grinning like a menace.
"So," Dex says loudly. "How's married life treating you, Shelly?"
Gabriel taps the puck between Dex's skates and keeps moving.
"Ask your therapist," he says.
Dex snorts. "Bold of you to assume I have one."
Colby skates past and mutters, "At this point the team should probably just hire one full-time."
Coach blows his whistle sharply.
"Less talking," he calls. "More skating."
The players push off again.
A minute later Coach glides past Gabriel and pauses mid-stride.
"Shelly."
Gabriel looks over. "Yeah?"
Coach narrows his eyes slightly.
"Stop smiling."
Gabriel blinks. "What?"
Coach gestures vaguely at his face.
"That smile is suspicious, Shelly."
The entire team loses it.
Dex bends over his stick laughing.
"He can't help it, Coach," Dex manages. "Married life."
Coach pinches the bridge of his nose.
"I don't want to know," he mutters.
Practice resumes.
I laugh quietly in the stands, shaking my head.
The camaraderie between these men is ridiculous. Loud. Immature.
They chirp. They shove. They laugh like a pack of overgrown golden retrievers who just happen to be elite professional athletes.
And Gabriel is right in the middle of it.
A few minutes later the door at the back of the rink opens.
Mason steps inside carrying a stack of orange cones and a bag of pucks.
"About time," Dex calls from the ice. "We were starting to think you retired."
Mason doesn't even look at him as he walks across the rubber mat toward the bench.
"Set up the drill," Coach says.
Mason steps through the gate and skates onto the ice with the rest of them, dropping the cones in a line across the neutral zone.
"Try not to trip over those," Dex says helpfully. "Coordination is not your strong suit, Shelly."
Gabriel glides past him. "You tripped over your own stick last week."
"That was a bold tactical decision," Dex says.
Colby skates through the cones next. "Yeah. To fall on your ass."
Coach straightens and points at the line of cones. "All right, ladies. Tight turns. Quick passes. Try to look like professional athletes."
"Harsh," Bobby says.
The drill starts immediately. Players weave through the cones, passing pucks and cutting hard around the circles.
Dex chirps the entire time.
"Careful, Shelly," he calls. "Your wife is watching. Don't wipe out."
Gabriel fakes a pass at his skates.
"Focus on the drill," Mason says, skating past them.
Dex grins. "Coach Mason has entered the chat."
"Keep talking and you're skating laps," Mason replies.
Dex points at him. "See? Coach."
The guys laugh as they cycle through the drill again.
Eventually Coach blows the whistle.
"That's enough," he calls.
Players coast toward the boards, breathing hard, tapping sticks against the ice.
Mason skates over to Gabriel and jerks his head toward the tunnel.
"Shelly. Walk with me."
Dex immediately perks up. "Ooooh. Field trip."
"Mind your business," Mason says without looking at him.
"That has literally never happened," Dex replies.
Gabriel pushes off and follows Mason toward the hallway by the tunnel.
From the stands it just looks like two guys going to talk after a drill.
I don't think much of it.
A few minutes later I head down the corridor toward the coffee machine.
Maddie is still happily occupied with the other kids, their laughter drifting faintly from the stands behind me.
The hallway is quieter. Cold air. Fluorescent lights. The distant scrape of skates from the rink.
Then I hear Mason's voice.
"I know what's going on."
I stop.
Gabriel answers calmly.
"Do you?"
"Yeah," Mason says. "I do."
There is a beat of silence.
Then Mason says it.
"You break her heart, I end you."
I freeze in the middle of the hallway.
Gabriel doesn't raise his voice.
"You think I'd do that to her?"
"I think you're a hockey player with a history," Mason says flatly.
"And I think Natalie can handle herself," Gabriel replies.
The air between them goes still.
Then Gabriel speaks again, quieter this time.
"I'm not playing around with her."
Another pause.
"She's not a game to me," he adds.
Something tight in my chest shifts.
Mason exhales slowly.
"Good," he says.
A moment later he continues.
"Because she deserves better than some locker room story."
"I know," Gabriel says.
His voice is steady.
Certain.
I back away quietly before either of them notices I'm there.
By the time I return to the stands practice is still going.
Dex spots me immediately.
"Oh look," he calls loudly. "Mrs. Shelly returns."
The players immediately begin stretching like they've suddenly remembered how muscles work.
Bobby bends sideways dramatically.
"Very normal stretching. We do this all the time," he says.
Colby nods solemnly.
"Definitely not talking about Gabriel's love life."
"You guys are terrible," I tell them.
Dex grins.
"We prefer entertaining."
Practice winds down a few minutes later.
Players skate toward the benches, pulling off helmets and gloves.
Maddie runs down to the glass again.
"Daddy!"
Gabriel skates over, leaning his forearms on the boards.
"Hey, kiddo," he says. "Are you supervising practice?"
"Yes," Maddie says seriously. "Dex talks too much."
Dex gasps.
"Betrayal," he says.
"Even the children know," Colby adds.
Gabriel laughs and looks up at me.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah," I say lightly.
I hesitate for half a second.
"You survived my brother."
Gabriel snorts.
"Barely."
"Most people don't," I say.
"He's intense," Gabriel replies.
"That's a polite word for it."
Gabriel shrugs.
"He's looking out for you," he says.
Then he adds simply,
"He should."
Dex skates past again and bumps Gabriel's shoulder.
"Group hug," he announces.
"Absolutely not," Gabriel says.
"Too late," Dex replies, throwing an arm around him.
The rest of the team starts laughing again.
Maddie claps like this is the greatest entertainment she's ever witnessed.
Watching them, I realize something.
Gabriel isn't holding back anymore.
And somehow...
Neither am I.