She got a sinister smile. “Can’t wait.”
The social media specialist who had been holding Greg let him go, and he galloped toward us, climbing on Annie’s legs to get off the ice.
“Aw, our little buddy,” she cooed, kissing the top of his head between those marble eyes.
“Let’s get your family picture!” the photographer said. I took Greg and helped Annie up, putting my arm around her as we posed.
“Hey,” I nudged her to tip her face up to me. Then there was that smile: green eyes, two dimples, and freckles across the bridge of her nose. The smile that made her unforgettable. The smile that made my stomach dip, that made me feel like I was the most special and important person in the world. “I love you, Annie.”
“I love you, too, bub.” I bent to kiss her, knowing we were being photographed. It had been almost a year since we stopped having to love each other in secret, and it still felt good any time I could claim my beautiful girl in public. It would never get old. Because I was the lucky guy who got to experience the magic of loving Annie Markham.
* * *
On New Year’s Day in the Mile High City, Annie sat on our hotel bed chanting, “Fashion show! Fashion show!”
I shook my head at myself in the bathroom mirror. “I don’t think anything can prepare you for what you’re about to see.”
I popped out into the hallway with a flourish, letting Annie take in all the neon colors on my body. Her hands went over her mouth.
“Oh. My God. Nick,” she said as Greg started barking incessantly at me.
“Do I look legit?” I asked, adjusting the visor.
Each team picks some ridiculous outfit to represent their city in the outdoor games. We’d chosen nineties surfer dude chic for ours. My board shorts were hot pink with an aqua blue tank top with “Los Angeles” written in airbrush letters. But the real point to note was the highlighter green visor with a tuft of fake bleached hair sticking out the top.
“You look far out, dude,” she giggled. “Cowabunga. Hang ten. All of it.”
Greg was still barking. “Greg, it’s me,” I said, taking off my visor. The barking stopped and he lunged for the visor, trying torip out some of the fake hair. “Hey! Hey! I need my hair!”
Later, after all the rigamarole and festivities, I sat in the net, the cool air on my face.
Frankly, these games are supposed to be a friendly of sorts. But somehow, we totally blew it. We started off strong, Beatty getting off a goal in the first two minutes of the first. Maybe it made me lax, because they answered for that goal after the next faceoff, their star center driving it straight for me. I cut left and he went right at the last second. I shook it off like I always do, but for whatever reason, our defense was absolute shit. Did everyone go get drunk New Year’s Eve and not tell me?
There ended up being forty shots on goal, meaning I was wiped by the end. Though the game was a loss, it was still such a fun time. While I’d have loved to have beaten Colorado on their home turf, playing outside with all my friends was a rush regardless of whether we won.
Immediately after the game, Annie, Greg, and I took off up to the Rockies for a couple of nights. Annie’d been working so hard leading up to the new year, and we needed a little break that didn’t revolve around rushing to see our families for Christmas. I overpaid so we could fly to see her family for a couple of days before returning to L.A.
Then my parents came out to L.A. and we had a great time, meeting up with some of the other hockey families. My parents insisted on doing a second Christmas celebration with me and Annie, not wanting us to miss the holidays together. Annie charmed the hell out of my parents, not by doing anything special, but just by being herself.
I thought about doing her big surprise at that second Christmas celebration, but I wanted to be alone. I’d told my parents, and her dad, and I don’t know how everyone kept their mouths shut. Annie seemed none the wiser.
On our drive out of Denver, Annie turned to me.
“Nick, I know I’m really busy with the agency, but there’ssomething else that’s been on my mind.”
“Oh yeah?”
She took a breath. “I couldn’t do it alone, though. I’d need help.”
“Alright. What do you have in mind?”
“I want to start a foundation to help people with medical bills. And to work on advocacy to lower healthcare costs so the bills aren’t so big in the first place. I didn’t realize how much all that was weighing on me until it was gone.” She sighed. “It’s a big job, though. I don’t know if I have the capacity to do something that big.”
“Maybe in the summer I could help with some of it. Plan some fundraisers. I’m sure some of the guys would want to help out, too.”
She flinched. “So it’s not a bad idea?”
I reached for her hand. “No. It’s amazing. I think we should look into it.”
