“Two more.” He stuffs his hands in his coat pockets to protect them from the bitter January wind. “That’s Talia, she’s twenty-five, I think. And Audra is like ... two or three years older.”
“Damn. He must’ve had them young.”
“You don’t know about all that?”
I give him a wide-eyed look. “If I knew, would I have just risked my life by touching his daughter?”
A smile tugs on his lips, now that it’s safe for him to be amused about what just happened.
“Coach was an eighteen-year-old rookie when he got his girlfriend pregnant. They got married as soon as they found out. That was Audra, and then they had Talia.”
His breath clouds in front of his face as we wait for a stoplight to change so we can cross over to the block we’re parked on.
“Even though Coach retired from the Mammoths, he played for the Blaze most of his career.”
“Yeah, I know that much.”
The light turns and we start crossing the street, Carter continuing with the story. “His wife at the time cheated on him with a guy who played for the Coyotes. It was a bad deal; he was the last to know. So they got divorced and he ended up getting remarried to Angie and having two more kids.”
“Holy shit. This would’ve been useful information.”
He scoffs. “Pay fucking attention, man. The rest of us all know.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve only been here for two years. You’re the team captain, you should make some kind of informational packet for the rookies.”
He rolls his eyes. “If you didn’t know Talia existed, you probably don’t know about her and Kyle Macintire, either.”
Just the mention of Macintire makes my muscles tense. That smarmy, mouthy fucker is my favorite to fight with during our games against Vancouver. But Carter already knows that.
“What about him?”
We’ve reached my Range Rover, and I unlock it as Carter talks.
“He and Talia were engaged. They met when Turner coached in Vancouver. Then, earlier this year, everything blew up when Kyle cheated on her with Audra.”
I gape at him. “Audra as in her sister? Coach’s other daughter?”
He nods.
“Jesus fuck, like sand through the hourglass.”
“Pfft. You know hockey’s like that.”
“Yeah, I know, but ... how did I not hear any of this?”
He huffs out a single note of laughter. “Shit, man. You think any of us are dumb enough to talk about any of it in front of Turner?”
“We hang out, though, outside of work. Like at Isaac’s birthday party last week.”
He buttons his coat, his nose bright red from the cold. “No one was keeping this from you, Luce. You can be oblivious sometimes.”
“Oblivious?”
“Yeah, it means?—”
“I know what the fuck it means. I just don’t think it’s true.”
“You know now, so forget it. I haven’t seen Talia in years, so I was surprised to see her in there, too.”
