“Well, yeah,” he said. “My family doesn’t know yet. I’m planning to come out to them soon though. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend?”
Connor nodded, taping his stick with sure, deft motions.
“I hate having to wait to do itandhaving to do it over a video chat but, you know, it’s hard with all our schedules. I figured on Thanksgiving when my sister, Cory, and her fiancé, Brody, are there, I might as well rip off the bandage. I’d like to take Thad as my date to their wedding In December and that’ll give everyone like a month to adjust to the idea of me bringing a guy, you know?”
“How do you think it’ll go over?”
“Ehh, fine,” Graham said. “I mean, Cory will be happy I’m happy. Brody will be supportive because he loves Cory and he’s generally a good dude. And Mom and Dad … I think they’ll be fine too.” He dropped his voice even though Thad was still in the hallway talking to a couple of the equipment managers and not paying him any attention. “The only real friction I can see is maybe Thad being wary of my mom being a prosecutor, you know? He’s not super fond of them, understandably.”
Connor snorted quietly. “Yeah, makes sense.”
“So … I’m thinking they’ll maybe take a while to find some common ground,” Graham finished. “I don’t know. I guess we won’t know until we do it.”
“Well, good luck. If you need anything, let me know.” Connor slapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks. I will.”
Graham reached for his skates as he heard someone say, “Is this area off-limits to me now?”
Graham glanced up to see Bobby Tucker in the doorway wearing an ugly suit and the same scraggly facial hair he’d always had.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Crawford drawled, gesturing for him to come inside.
One of the security guards stepped forward like he was going to tell him no—opponents generally weren’t allowed in the locker room, even if they were former players—but Connor waved him off.
“How are you, asshole?” Crawford asked. They gave each other big, backslapping bro hugs and several other guys crowded around to greet Bobby.
Graham had never been a huge fan of the guy personally and had been more than happy when Gavin traded Bobby, a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft and a conditional second-round pick in the 2026 draft, for Rafe, but he still stood and greeted his former teammate with a handshake, not wanting to be rude.
“How’s it going in Minnesota?” Connor asked after he’d followed suit.
“Oh, pretty good. I’m getting some decent minutes on the third line.” Bobby shrugged.
“Nice.”
There was the usual round of hockey small talk, discussions of golf games, before Bobby looked around.
“So, what’s new around here?” he asked. “I can’t believe it’s already been almost a year since I played with you guys.”
Connor shrugged. “Not much. It’s been fairly quiet, to be honest.”
Graham nodded, agreeing. There hadn’t been any major roster or head office changes lately.
“You knew Rafe and Mickey were dating, yeah?” Connor asked, gesturing to them.
Bobby snorted. “Yeah, I saw the shitshow from the press box with Rafe’s ex when you guys were visiting us last season.”
Both Mickey and Rafe got sheepish looks on their faces and Graham laughed quietly at the reminder. That gamehadbeen a shitshow.
“It’s all good now, I promise,” Rafe said with a laugh. “We’re meeting him for dinner tonight.”
Bobby whistled. “Couldn’t be me, having dinner with an ex like that.”
Crawford scoffed. “Yeah, becauseyou’venever been with anyone long enough to have an ex.”
“Neither have you!” Bobby protested.
“That’s because I don’t want to,” Crawford said with a grin. “You couldn’t get a woman if you tried.”
