Page 46 of Slap Shot
“A bone?” I frown and turn to face him. I rack my brain, trying to remember if I missed a workout or team meeting this week, and I come up short. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Pretty sure your private chef moving in with you issomething, man.”
“How the hell did you hear about that?”
“I know everything about everyone on this team. People think they can keep a secret, but nothing gets past me.”
“You had no clue Liam and Piper got married in Vegas,” I draw out, and he flips me off.
“Fuck you. So? Is it true?”
“Is what true?” Riley drops his stuff in the row behind us and leans over the back of our seats. “Who’s in trouble now?”
After Maverick, I’m closest with him and Liam. When you spend almost every waking second with a guy on and off the ice for months on end, he becomes a part of you. Your right-hand man who knows your game—and you—better than you do, and I won the lottery with my teammates.
“Hudson is living with a woman,” Maverick says, and Riley gasps. “I know, right? And the fucker didn’t think to tell us.”
“What? You have a new girlfriend?”
“Isthatwhy you skipped book club this week?”
“Y’all are annoying with your interrogation.” I shuck off my jacket and toss it on the middle seat. I unbutton my sleeves and roll them halfway up my arms. It’s warm in here all of a sudden, and I adjust the air vent above me. “Yeah, Madeline is living with me. No, we’re not dating. I invited her and her daughter to stay in the condo because it made sense logistically.”
“Herdaughter?” It’s Maverick’s turn to gasp. “Holy shit. Huddy Boy is inloveeee.”
I reach over and knock the back of his head. When Riley laughs, I lean back and flick his forehead. “I know I have ahistory of serious relationships, but I’m not in love with her. I barely know her.”
“She’s a single mom?” Riley asks, and there’s less teasing in his voice now. “Dude. That must be hard.”
“I’m sure it is, but Madeline makes it look easy. Between making my meals, getting her daughter out the door for school and helping with homework, I don’t know when she has time for herself,” I say.
When I got home from weight training yesterday, I found Madeline and Lucy in the kitchen. I did my best to not disturb them because they looked busy: there were three worksheets spread out on the kitchen table. I saw erasers and mechanical pencils next to their cups of water. A stack of pink folders by a half-eaten apple.
Lucy noticed me, though. She perked up and waved. Asked if Gus and Millie could sit with her, and productivity went out the window.
I apologized to Madeline for interrupting, but she only smiled. Shrugged and saidkids, like I know what it’s like to be a parent. She got up to start dinner shortly after, and I’m really trying to figure out when the hell she slows down. When she takes a second to breathe and doesn’t put other people first.
I’m starting to think she never does.
“Do you know what happened to the ex?” Maverick asks.
“Not in the picture from what she’s told me. I don’t get it. Madeline and Lucy are great. Fucking fantastic, really, and I don’t know why someone wouldn’t want that. Wouldn’t want them.”
“Some people aren’t meant to be parents.” Riley hooks his thumb over his shoulder, and I glance down the aisle. Connor, Ethan, and Grant are filming a video for some social media site, and I snort. “Look at Ethan. Dude would be the world’s worst father.”
“The day he has a kid is the day hell freezes over.” Maverick rifles through his bag. He pulls out an eye mask and sets it on his lap. “Time to get some sleep before we land and Coach makes us head immediately to the rink for practice. Fucking sadistic bastard.”
“I’m happy for you, Hud.” Riley puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You seem like you’re in a much better mood these days. Glad you don’t have to stress about the chef position anymore.”
“Can’t believe I was worried about something so small. People in this country can’t afford to eat, and I was complaining about not having someone to make a meal for me.” I pop my headphones back in and sigh. The plane taxis out to the runway, and I close my eyes. “Talk about perspective.”
The Toronto Stingraysare a hell of a team. Even more than that, the energy in their arena is electric. They won the Stanley Cup a couple of years back, and the hometown crowd is hoping they’ll do it again this year. They’ll have to go through us first, though, and we’re on a mission to be back-to-back champs.
“Fucking love away games,” Maverick calls out as we jump onto the bench for a line change. “Especially when we’re playing well.”
And tonight, we are. We have a 2-1 lead with eight minutes left in the third, and it feels like we’ve finally found our groove as a team.
Liam gave up a goal early in the first, but he’s been unstoppable since. Maverick drained a pretty one-timer in the second, and Ethan scored off a rebound at the start of this period.
