Evan nodded.
“Oui. Yes.” Carol clapped Perry on the shoulder. “Allons-y.”
Evan paused as the other two slid off.
“What is it, precious?”
His eyes got big at the same time I realized what I had called him over the mic. The crowd noise surged.
I ignored everything but his big, luminous eyes. “Words,” I said softly.
“He never takes the glory shot.”
“He’s taking it now.”
“That’s huge.”
I winked at him, because I’d been reminded I had a live mic on and I could hardly say what I wanted to about fucking the caution out of our boyfriend the night before, but I guessed Evan got the message anyway because he grinned.
“He’s taking it now,” he muttered as he slid away. “Fucking right he is.” His mic cut out halfway through his last word and I chuckled. A bad word here and there wasn’t going to hurt anyone.
Perry’s shot was fast and wild. I screamed for them to curl it until my voice broke. The crowd had gone quiet, like they were all holding their breath, the same as I was.
“Off!” Perry shouted about two seconds before the loudcrackof granite on granite echoed through the hushed building. Our second shot rock slammed into their shot rock, shooting yellow off the rings and sticking red to the button like glue.
“Right fucking on the button,” I muttered.
The stands erupted.
Perry literally jumped up, fist-pumping like he was that relieved to have made the shot he’d said he could make. Evan hugged him, yakking animatedly as they slid towards me.
“Great shot,” I said.
Perry beamed at me.
“All we have to do now is keep it there.”
“We have the hammer and you,” Perry said. “I’m not worried, even if they knock that one out.”
“No pressure.”
“Why would there be?” He took my hand as we stepped off the ice for the other team to take their turn. “We get a medal either way, and we get each other no matter what.” He snaked an arm around Evan’s waist.
“I want gold,” Carol whispered, leaning his arm on Perry’s shoulder and his head between his and Evan’s. “Since I’m still waiting for my happy ever after.”
Evan looked at him like he was completely nuts, and I couldn’t help glancing over at Michael.
“Don’t say it,” Carol warned.
“We’ll get you gold,” Perry promised him. “Then we have another four years for you to sort the rest of your shit out.”
Much as I wanted to pretend I felt no pressure to win the game, I did. I’d worked hard to get here. We all had, and we were so close.
As we watched, the Swiss Skip delivered his stone just short of the hit and stick he’d aimed for.
“You got this,” Evan said as we waited for Perry to place his broom on my first shot of the last end. All I had to do was lightly tap that last stone to one side and leave mine as a guard to our shot rock, making it that much harder for them to take it out.
What if I’d read the ice wrong? What if my release was too light, or my turn too deep?
