“No worse than the rest of me.” I pulled off my practice jersey and tossed it toward the laundry carts.
JJ stopped by on his way to the showers. “My sister liked your girl. Said she was nice.”
The grin that the kiss had started came back. “Thanks. I appreciate your sister talking to her.”
“So, is she your girl now?”
With my skates off, I started working on my pads. “Hope so. She kissed me last night.”
The guys who were around me oohed and whistled. I threw my socks at them, but I didn’t really mind.
“Just a kiss?” asked Oppy.
“It was a great kiss.”
Guys started chirping. JJ leaned down. “Better to take it slow and get it right than rush and mess it up.”
I nodded and he left. Conversation moved on to muscles sore from practice, plans for the night, and I started to worry. JJ might have thought I was taking it slow, but really I was letting Katie drive. And I had no idea what speed she wanted. That kiss hadn’t been just a test drive, had it?
When I came back from the shower, I finally found a message from Katie.
Glad to be back on the ice?
I stared at those seven words. What exactly was Katie thinking? Did the kiss tie into that somehow? I’d had a few incidents of misinterpreting texts, so I had to be sure to get this right.
Cooper paused on the way to his stall, towel around his hips. “You okay there, Ducky?”
I sighed and shoved the phone in his face. “What does that mean?”
Cooper took the phone from me and held it back a few inches. “This is from Katie?”
“Yeah.”
“She knows you’re playing again?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I think she’s asking how your first practice back went.” He passed the phone back to me.
“I was hoping there was subtext there. Like, maybe she wanted to see me in person to know how I was doing.”
Cooper shrugged. “I don’t know her well enough to guess on that. Tell her how practice went. We’re leaving tomorrow for a couple of games in New York. Keep things light and friendly till we get back. See how it goes.”
I could do that. I started to text.
Felt good to be back. Leaving tomorrow for a couple of away games.
Katie didn’t reply that day. I was nervous about that as we headed to Pearson Airport to fly out. Fitch drove, and my leg kept bouncing as I watched the city as we headed west. It must have bothered him.
“Do you have to bounce around like that?”
“What?”
“Your leg. It’s almost moving the car.”
“Sorry, man. I’m a little on edge.”
“Why?”
