Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
HARLAN
JUNE
The final round.
We survived New York, Boston, and Toronto.
We made it to the Cup Final. Game 7, at home. The Rusties against the L.A. Princes.
My potential new team.
Hostilities always got tight during the playoffs, and none quite like playing out the full seven games in a series.
I was ready to kick Ben Miknevicius in the face if he didn’t stay the fuck out of my crease. I shoved him out every goddamn time. What the fuck was a defenseman even doing near me?
How could I be friends with these people if I decided to go to L.A.
after this? I had a reason to despise each of them, even if I secretly admired their play.
Cap had played with some of the Princes in college, and Leroy and Sorrento had been on the team.
Talking to Leroy was like talking to a brick wall.
But Sorrento was an open book, and had been their captain. So while we warmed up for the final game, I picked the bike between Owen and him.
“Is it hard for you playing L.A.?” I asked.
“Complicated. Bittersweet,” he said. “Good to see friends, and Chappy’s still my best friend. But on the ice, it’s just business. I wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt him, though.”
“Do you miss it?” I went on.
He sighed. “Those years were good years. We had our kids out there. Got married. All the big life transitions. But these years are sweet too.”
“You and Jeanine had trouble adjusting to living here though, right?” I asked.
Sorrento nodded. “Yeah. We had a good life in L.A. No major problems, or so we thought. But it was more that we didn’t talk about the problems. We had enough friends and support people to distract from the stuff we ignored.
But a new city took all the distractions away.
We had to deal with it. But I don’t think you’re asking about my marriage. I hear they’ve got their eye on you.”
“Yeah. I don’t know how to feel about it.”
His smile was wry. “We loved it there, and we’ll probably still move back to California at some point.
It’s a great area. On weather alone, they’ve got Ohio beat.
” He paused. “But that’s the thing. Location is nice, but it’s about the people.
We loved it so much there because we had Jeannie’s family a couple hours away.
Our best friends were on my team. We had a community.
We lost all of that coming here. But you know how the league goes.
People get traded. The team there now isn’t the same team I left.
I couldn’t just go back and have it be the same. And we’ve made a life here now.”
I was quiet, pedaling faster to get my heart rate up. Dylan sped up too, glancing over at me.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t want to lose Emma.” I was shocked at how quickly I said it. I really loved her, and it was true, I didn’t want to lose her. But I also didn’t want to spend my entire life in Ohio and regret it later.
“Will she go with you?”
“She doesn’t want to leave Liam. He’s probably doing another year of juniors and she doesn’t want to force him out of her house. She wouldn’t let me pay for an apartment for him. He’s old enough that he could get a roommate—”
Owen launched into a coughing fit next to me. I sat back and slapped his back. “You alright, bud?”
“Wrong pipe,” he gasped.
“But anyway, it’s like you said. Even if I could get her to go with me, it won’t be what we have here.”
“I don’t envy you, man. I didn’t get a choice, and if I had, I’d have chosen L.A. But the way things are now, I can’t imagine my life going any differently, you know? Jeanine and I needed that, even if it sucked for a while.”
I laughed. “Whole lot of help you are.”
This was it: my last time seeing Emma before our Cup run ended. I’d either come out the other side with my name on the Cup or as one of the many who almost made it.
She told me earlier in the day that she’d stay out of my way, and that if I needed her, she’d be in the kitchen. I was not too ashamed to admit I needed her.
I went to my fourth floor tile and waited with my hands on my hips. Emma pulled a pan out of the oven and set it on the counter, then walked my way with a huge smile. We fell into a hug and she turned her face up for a kiss.
“You’ve got this,” she said.
“No guarantees,” I said.
“Well, I’m proud of you either way.”
“Ugh. Save it for your son,” I groaned.
“What? I can’t be proud of you.”
“No. If we lose, I need to know I’m going to be adequately flogged for my failure.”
Emma appeared to be deep in thought. “Hmm. And if you win?”
“If we win, I get to fuck you while you’re bent over the Cup,” I said.
“Okay. And if you lose, you have to crawl after me for a week while I whip your ass?”
I lifted a shoulder. “That would probably cover it.”
“Okay, then. I’m not proud of you either way, then. You will pay for your transgressions if you lose.”
“That’s more like it.” I pulled her close again. “I’m sorry I don’t know whether I want to go or stay yet.”
Emma put her hands on my shoulders and looked up at me. “I’m not worried about it. This has been the most incredible ride. Today is about today. This game. You. Everything you’ve done to get here. Your team.” She tapped my temple. “This is once in a lifetime. Clear your head.”
I hugged her tight to me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She pinched the skin on my arm. “Now, go have a salty snack and some water. You feel all skinny-dehydrated already.”
We sat in the locker room, almost ready for Cap to read the lineup. This was it. Last one. Mid-June. After this day, our team would never look the same.
For a lot of reasons. None of us had shaved since mid-April, and our caveman-like appearances had never been stronger. As much as I longed to have my mustache back, I was much more antsy to win this damn thing.
Every one of us was exhausted, but would never, ever in a million years give up. We were so close we could taste it.
Owen paced until he stopped in front of me. “I’m asking Liam to be my roommate.”
I stopped breathing. This could solve everything. If Liam was taken care of, Emma might go with me to L.A. “You’re telling me this right now?” I laughed.
He went on with a shrug. “I have an extra bedroom. I don’t know. He’ll be playing hockey. We get along well. It just makes sense.”
“You . . . don’t have to do that,” I said.
Owen lifted a brow. “What would it have to do with you?”
I thought about how things had been since Liam and Emma started traveling with us, how Liam stayed with Owen almost every night.
I knew how Liam felt about Owen, and while I’d kept a big secret from Owen, he seemed to be keeping one with me as well.
Owen claimed Liam kept him calm before games, and well, none of us were inclined to fuck with that.
Owen had the most goals on the team in the playoffs.
Whatever they were doing, it was working.
“Nothing, man. That sounds like a good plan.”
That added a fresh nervous energy to my already-amped state. I would potentially have options. I wandered around, figuring out who was in the mood to talk and who wanted to be left alone.
Leroy sat scouring a bunch of papers stapled together, rubbing his eyebrows with one hand.
“What are you reading?” I asked.
He slapped the papers across his palm. “I don’t know. Mara gave me something to read to take my mind off everything, but it’s just boring. I’m not sure it’s not one of her punishments.”
“Which takes your mind off everything,” I pointed out.
“Fuck!” Leroy slammed the papers into his stall, but they ricocheted and fell on the floor. “She got me again! She’s a fucking witch!”
I picked up the papers to keep them from getting wet on the soggy floor. Though, who knows, maybe that would yield him another punishment, which would help to calm and center him. Meh, I was nosy. And something familiar caught my eye.
It was a business plan for something called SoUPCYCLE. And the names across the top?
Mara O’Connell Leroy
Emma Corrigan
Emma and Mara had put together a business plan? I read on, and it was brilliant. It was a systematized version of what Emma did with the leftover food at work. They’d set it up as a non-profit and it could serve communities wherever someone decided to open a hub.
I clamped my jaw and a deep sense of pride took over. That was my Emma: compassionate, smart, logical.
And I’d be an absolute fool to walk away from her.