CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
TEDDY
“You sure about this?” Ryder joined me on the bench in the empty arena. We’d come here for a purpose. A handful of people were congregating on the ice in front of the bench. Mr. Mac was there, surprising us all in skates. He said his granddaughter had been teaching him how not to fall on his ass.
All four coaches.
Ryder and Sydney.
Me.
Sydney was filming the video and editing it to post on social media, to put all of this to rest. The media had been hounding me for interviews, pestering the team’s front office. Our general manager, L.A.’s assistant GM, forbade us from granting them. If the goal was to help the team and Frankie both, this had to be on our terms.
He was right.
And I was ready.
Frankie skated alone at the far end of the ice, lost in thought as she did crossovers, back and forth along the goal line. I watched her, wondering how I’d ever looked at her before and not known it. Not felt it. How absolutely fucking perfect she was. Her long copper braid swayed down her back, and it felt sogood in my fingers. Her strong legs, made for skating. Arms that always moved with purpose, whether she held a stick or was just walking down the street.
There was a powerful grace to the way she moved.
Fingers snapped in front of my face, and I looked at Ryder. The idiot was grinning. I think I preferred the serious, glum friend, not the cheerful guy my sister turned him into.
“Earth to Ted.” He laughed. “You still in there?”
“What?” I shoved his hand away. “Yeah. Yes. Of course, I’m sure.” Surgery was scheduled for a week from tomorrow. I’d met with the GM and coaches about my exit. My agent was working on the retirement paperwork. It was done. I was out.
And it felt fucking great.
I bumped my shoulder against Ryder’s. “Come summer, after your last game, we’ll just be a bunch of old retired men.”
“Speak for yourself. I already have an interview at a high school in San Jose.”
“A high school?”
“Coaching.”
That was fucking brilliant. Ryder would make the best hard-ass coach. It made sense for him, that path.
I didn’t know what came next for me, and it felt glorious.
“I’ll miss waking up early on the road for morning skates.”
“No, you won’t,” he snorted.
“All the bland food we have to eat.”
“Right.”
I didn’t have to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes. “Summer workouts. Getting fucking crushed into the boards. Oh, being able to fight legally. I’ll definitely miss that.”
“Okay, that, I believe.”
Sydney walked across the ice from where she’d been talking to Mr. Mac. “You two ever going to get out here?”
Now or never.
My knee screamed at me the moment I stood, but I could ignore it for this. I stepped onto the ice and used my long strides to propel me toward the unsuspecting Frankie. My arms were around her waist before she saw me.
