I slid her body down my front, catching her at the armpits to kiss her. “That’s more like it.”
Jessie had a devilish smirk as I put her down, that damn dimple that made me crazy popping out. “But I won’t wear the heels.”
She took off running and cackled as I chased after her.
* * *
We were coming to the end of round two of the playoffs. My dad and his girlfriend had come out to watch me play earlier in the series. He and the mom of his other kids had parted ways after the kids went to college. His new girlfriend was pretty nice, though. Dad and I had a good talk about what he expected of me. He didn’t realize the expectations he was putting on me all those years, and felt really bad about it. We weren’t 100% okay, but we were at least talking and working on having a better relationship. I was planning to work through stuff with Mom and Lori when we went to visit in the summer.
It was game six and we could move on that night if we won. I hoped we won that night because we were playing at home, and I’d have loved to be able to celebrate with Jess. She was being a real trooper about coming to my games even on her work nights.
“It’s not every day that your boyfriend is in the playoffs,” she said.
And thankfully, there were no further fights between any wives during away game parties.
I had really big plans for after the game, so I told her not to drive. I wanted to ride home together regardless of the game’s outcome.
The game ended up being a barn burner. Vancouver played surprisingly hard, but we held them down. Obi was unstoppable.Sorrento, Stelle, and Beatty had a killer line, scoring two of our three goals. And for me, there was no sign of choking. I was comfortable, happy, excited to perform, rather than paralyzed by the pressure.
We were tied 3-3 with a minute to go in the third period. I snagged the puck from Vancouver’s forward at center ice and kicked it to Leroy, who had just come in on a shift change. It was just the goalie on our end. This was our chance.
One of Vancouver’s d-men made it between us, but Leroy deked on him and passed it over to me. I went in tight to the slot and cut the puck through the five-hole. The roof could have blown off the place it was so damn loud. So much for Fuck-up Mikey. I’d gone big when it counted. If nothing else good ever happened in my career, I’d have that moment. There were twenty-six seconds to play, and we were able to kill the clock.
Leroy and I exchanged perhaps the longest bro hug ever recorded, then yelled in each other’s faces.
“You’re alright, Mike, you know that?”
That would probably be the closest I’d ever get to a compliment from Leroy, and I’d take it.
The team got to move on to the next round in front of the home crowd.
The home crowd meant Jessie, in her WAG jacket, with her big smile. I had Kitty tell her the post-game celebrations would be at their house to throw Jessie off the scent of what I was about to do. Jessie ran into my arms after the game.
“JOCKEY!!!! YOU WON!”
I spun her around as her legs wrapped around my waist, kissing the living daylights out of her. “We might have won a little bit,” I said with a laugh. “Thanks for coming to see me.”
“Wouldn’t miss you, baby.”
I took her hand and led her to my car. Since she was expecting me to take her to Guy and Kitty’s, she didn’t even flinch that we weren’t going home. She chatted like it was a normal carride, catching me up on her workday and what she and Kitty and Jeanine talked about during the game. I loved her little assessments of the players from the other team.
“That Segel is a real bruiser, huh? I got annoyed every time he stepped on the ice. Like how dare he,” she said, crossing her arms.
“You think your man couldn’t handle him?”
“No, I know you can. But I wanna handle him, too. Slap his stupid face and send him crying to his mama.”
I cackled. “You and Kitty both get so into insulting the other team. It’s hilarious.”
“Excuse me, I beg to be taken seriously,” she huffed. “Hey, I’m kinda hungry. Can we stop at that In’N’Out by their house?”
I chuckled. Like I’d ever say no to feeding her. “Of course.”
We sat in my car, sharing a double-double with fries and a shake. She insisted on feeding me bites of the burger.
“You must be so tired after being such a big strong man on the ice,” she said, squeezing my thigh. When I first met her, I never would have believed how silly she could be, especially when she was so grouchy with me in the beginning. Turns out, she was just unhappy in life then, and she’s happy with me. She’s a real spitfire now. Her hand got closer to my crotch, fingers stroking over my bulge. “A big winning strong man.”
I grinned at her. “You proud of your Daddy?”
