“You don’t have to do that.”
“Of course I do. You’re my girlfriend, remember? I got you two tickets right on the glass behind my net so you can watch the best player in action,” he boasted, that grin still firmly in place. He really was like a puppy.
I was strangely excited to go to the game tomorrow night and also anxious as hell. This would be our first time really in public together. I mean, we wouldn’t actually be together since he’d be on the ice and I’d be in the stands acting like the smitten girlfriend, but still.
I tried to shove that out of my mind and enjoy the rest of my dessert.
TUCKS
I focused on the small rubber ball bouncing off of the wall in front of me, one hand to the next, even breaths, never taking my eyes off of it. It was part of my pre-game routine. I’d finishedan easy jog on the treadmill an hour ago, made sure to eat my lightly seasoned veggies, chicken, and pasta, and completed all of my stretches twice. We had ninety minutes until warm-ups and all of the guys were milling around, taping sticks and doing their own short rituals. Consistency was important; it kept us focused and ready to go.
So I bounced the ball, catching it three times in my right hand, then three times in my left, then repeated that four more times.
“Soccer?” Dom asked when my ball hit my hand again. It was nice of him to wait for me to finish my circuit before interrupting me.
“I’m in.” I pocketed the ball and moved into the circle with six of my teammates as we kept the soccer ball from touching the ground, kicking it from one guy to the next, perfectly in sync. I wished that synchronization would translate to the ice, but it didn’t always.
Tonight was our final preseason game. Our opening night roster was almost complete and our first regular season game was in three days.
And tonight Dani would be in the stands, right behind my net. I was probably more anxious about that than the actual game. I wanted her to like hockey and enjoy watching me play, even though we weren’t really dating—something I’d had to remind myself more than once in the last week, especially after our surprisingly successful date last night.
We’d ended it with me kissing her cheek. She’d said we could kiss for real tonight when we had an audience, and that comment had rankled more than it should’ve.
And then I was mad at myself for feeling that way. This wasn’t real, but last night had been so enjoyable getting to know her, watching her laugh and finding out what made her tick.
I’d also enjoyed seeing Jenzy’s pissy comment on my Instagram post. Fucking idiot was so predictable. Hopefully,tonight would further drive home the fact that Dani had moved on. After the game, we were going to get our first real practice hanging out with the team—and in the public eye—at Tipsy. Trial by fire.
It would be fine.
***
I stood in the hallway, ready to lead the guys on to the ice for warm-ups. We’d done all of our chest-bumping goofy shit, and we were so ready.
The music pumped through the arena when we hit the ice. I did my standard lap around our half of the ice, nodding to Utah’s starting goalie as I passed him doing his own lap, then skated behind my net. The seats for Dani were empty, and I would have been lying if I said it didn’t feel like my stomach was falling. Did she decide this was too much? I’d messaged her before I headed out to the arena, just to double-check, and had ended up interrupting her volunteer work at the teen center.
The woman was so fucking impressive, counseling kids at her job and volunteering with LGBTQ+ kids during her free time. I was already planning to talk to Meredith, our head of PR, about setting something up to get tickets for the kids to come to a game and maybe getting the guys to come with me and volunteer at the youth center. I wasn’t going to say anything to Dani until I got approval from Meredith, but I knew Cora was ready to help out. Cora was the sister of one of the owners and also our captain’s girlfriend, and I’d briefly mentioned it to her and Tally after Dani and I had been texting about how she liked to spend her weekend. Cora helped run our team foundation.
“Tucks, you ready?” Micah asked, playfully bumping into my shoulder before I slid into position in front of the net.
“Dani isn’t here,” I muttered.
He leaned in. “What?”
“It’s nothing. Just, Dani was supposed to show up for the game.”
He grinned. “And so it really begins.” Then he took off one glove and did the two-finger motion from his eyes to mine. “Don’t get distracted.”
“Shut up, I won’t. I’m in the zone and ready to stop every puck you let through,” I teased.
“Oh fuck off, man. Sometimes I let them in so you don’t get bored just standing there.”
I chuckled. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, man.”
Skating into position in front of the net, I shifted from side to side in my crease, scraping the ice with my blades. The guys starting firing warm-up shots on me, which I easily deflected. I moved through all of the motions that I did for every game, dropping down in a butterfly, lifting my glove to catch a puck, and kept my eyes focused on the guys, on any tells they had before they took their shots.
Moving out of the blue paint, I did another half lap on our side of the ice and then dropped down near center ice to continue stretching, while trying not to look at the seat where Dani should be. Then I skated to the bench and snagged the water bottle that Booksy held out for me. I squirted the liquid into the air twice, took a sip, and squirted it once more into the air. Then I dropped the bottle back into Booksy’s hands and headed toward my net. Timmy had just finished clearing out all the pucks so the guys could start taking shots again.
Warm-ups ran just like normal, and after twenty minutes, we were heading back down the tunnel to our locker room.
