“Good.” Falon nodded sharply. “Keep up the good work.”
She and Laramie both laughed, and I chuckled to myself as I kept putting on my gear. I’d played with a couple of other guys who also showered their wives with lavish gifts every time their kids’ birthdays came around.
“That woman went through hell with each of our five kids,”Grayson had said after showing us the Rolex he’d just bought her.“This is the absoluteleastI can do.”
There’d been exactly one guy who’d tried to blow off what his wife had been through in delivering their baby, and every dad in the room had eyed him like he’d lost his mind. He’d insisted that“it wasn’t that bad”and“she was made for that,”and we’d all just shaken our heads andchanged the subject. I couldn’t begin to imagine why they were divorced now.
Tonight, we all dawdled in the locker room for as long as we could, hoping for an update from Avery, but none came. The show had to go on, so after making Coach, Falon, and Evan promise to let us know the instant they heard anything, we trooped out to the ice for the anthems and the start of the game.
By the time the puck dropped, I was almost entirely focused on hockey. A few synapses still wound themselves around the need for an update, but for the most part, I zeroed in on the game. My teammates did as well.
Jersey put up a hell of a fight, too, which forced us to concentrate even more than we already were. Their forecheck was well-known throughout the League, and they were dangerous as hell once they had possession.
So… we just didn’t let them get possession. Our forwards and defensemen alike battled hard to keep the puck away from them when we were in their zone. Jersey managed a couple of breakaways, but they didn’t get far. Trews made a highlight-reel steal in the neutral zone, poke-checking the puck right off their star center’s stick, claiming possession, and firing it to Davis, who was just outside the crease. Davis tapped it in, and we were up 1-0.
Another intense battle later, I shot one over the netminder’s shoulder. The celly after that one felt amazing—we were on fire, and I was on the board after two games without a point. Fuck yeah.
We were still up 2-0 when the horn sounded the end of the period, and we all clomped back into the locker room to recharge and rehydrate.
“Anyone heard from Calds or Rachel?” Laramie asked.
“Not yet.” Falon peered at her phone. “Still waiting.”
Coach and Evan also shook their heads.
After I’d stripped off my jersey, I took out my phone to text Avery and check in, both to see how Rachel and the baby were doing and to see how he was holding up.
But there was already a message on my screen. I read it, then held up my phone. “Oh, hey! It’s a boy!”
The team broke into cheers.
“Told you it would be fast!” Eminem said with a laugh.
Baddy craned his neck toward my phone. “Are she and the kid doing good?” That quieted everyone down.
I read Avery’s message aloud to the team: “‘Tell the team it’s a boy, born at 7:19, 7lbs 6oz. Mom and baby are fine.’”
More cheers, and suddenly everyone had their phones in hand, tapping furiously on the screens. I sent a text of my own.
She’s about to get bombarded with texts lol. Tell her I said congrats. How are you doing?
Avery
Yep, her phone just started blowing up lmao. I’m good. Holy shit newborns are TINY!
lol bet Rachel doesn’t think so.
I’m not asking her. (lips zipped emoji)
(laughing emoji) Good call.
yeah yeah. Get back to work.
(saluting emoji)
Chuckling, I tucked my phone away and went looking for a bottle of Gatorade.
Apparently I’d been more distracted than I’d realized, because when I hit the ice for the next period, I wascompletelyfocused. More than I had been earlier. The news gave everyone a jolt of energy, too, as if we weren’t just playing hockey, we were playing to celebrate the addition to the Whiskey Rebels family. For a solid five minutes, no one from Jersey could even make it past the neutral zone into our defensive zone, and we hammered their goalie with shots—one of which went in. They were getting frustrated, too, which made them chippy; that wasn’t good (for them) when we were this dialed in, because they were too easy to distract with checks and chirps, not to mention every time we stole the puck from them.
