"One game at a time, Em. One game at a time."
But Jake was thinking it too. They could win the championship. Really win it. The team was playing their best hockey at exactly the right time.
Lucy came to every home game, sitting in the family section with Rei. Afterward, she'd meet Jake in the parking lot and they'd go back to his apartment or Uncle Walter's, decompressing together.
"Your team is incredible," Lucy said after the first-round series sweep.
"They're playing out of their minds. I've never seen anything like it."
"How does it feel? Being part of something this big?"
"Surreal. But also—right. Like this is what I was meant to do. Not play hockey, but help others play it."
"I get that. That's how I feel about the restaurant. Not just cooking for people, but creating an experience. Building community through food."
"We're doing the same thing, just different mediums. You build community through food. I build it through hockey."
"Look at us. Living our dreams."
"Together."
"Together," Lucy agreed.
Jake's second-round series was harder. They went to seven games, the last one decided in overtime by a Owen goal that had everyone in Timber Falls screaming.
"Championship finals," Marcus said afterward, still in his goalie gear, grinning like a maniac. "We're going to the championship finals."
"Holy shit," Jake said. "We're going to the championship finals."
The team celebrated, but Jake's mind was already on the schedule. Finals started March twentieth. Three games in five days. Right during Lucy's soft opening and official opening.
He'd miss her biggest moment to chase his own.
That night, Jake told Lucy about the conflict.
"I'm so sorry. The timing is terrible. I wanted to be at your soft opening, at your official opening—"
"Jake, stop. This is huge for you. For the team. You have to be there. I'll be fine."
"But your opening—"
"Will happen whether you're there or not. Jake, you're coaching your team to a championship. That's incredible. I'm not going to guilt you for that."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Besides, it's not like I'll be able to pay attention anyway. I'll be too busy freaking out about whether the food is good and if people like the restaurant."
"They're going to love it."
"From your mouth to God's ears."
They held each other in Jake's apartment, both feeling the weight of what came next. The biggest moments of their careers, happening simultaneously, pulling them in different directions.
But they'd survive it. They'd made it through Paris, through three months apart, through rebuilding trust.
They could handle a few weeks of chaos.
At least, that's what Jake told himself.
