It was important to him and he feels bad. Really, really bad.
Uncrossing my arms, I grab his hand with mine.
“Is she okay?”
Connor squeezes my hand and then leans back in his own chair. “She is. But that’s all I can tell you right now.”
His tone is final. I know even if I asked a million questions, he’d never give in. Connor may be serious and closed-off, but he’s always loyal. He’s proved that time and time again with Luke. He’s also extremely close with the captain of theBobcats, so much so that he dressed up as a Frozen character for his daughter’s birthday.
Connor might be an enforcer on the ice, but inside he’s a softie. It doesn’t surprise me he’d drop everything to take care of someone in need.
“I’d love to hear about her one day. Whenever you’re ready.”
It’s not much, but Connor nods once. A smile splits across my face which causes him to roll his eyes.
“That day is not today, Charlotte. Now why don’t you tell me how you’re feeling about tonight’s game.”
Luke has his last curling match today before the semi-finals start for the men tomorrow. They’ve already qualified but a win today would secure a top seed for them. Both our teams are absolutely crushing it.
We beat Switzerland in the quarterfinals and moved on to beat Finland in the semis, which means we get our rematch against Canada just like we’d hoped. It just so happens our gold medal game is also tomorrow. Talk about a big day for Team USA.
Liv is joining me at Luke’s matchup today against Italy. Connor is visiting one of his teammates from Sweden so he’s unable to be here. Honestly, I’m grateful for the distance because Luke and I still haven’t told him about us.
I know what you’re thinking: what the fuck is taking you so long? But it’s more complicated than just blurting it out.
Luke pretty much has a matchup every day and when he doesn’t, I’ve had a game.
Say what you want, but we’ve trained our entire lives to be here, and the Olympics come first. No matter how important our relationship is to both of us.
We find our seats and my eyes immediately find Luke where he stands at the back of the house while his team practices before the match begins.
“Okay, so do they get points for each rock thingy that lands on the target? Is it kind of like darts?”
I chuckle at my best friend’s complete lack of knowledge for the sport of curling. Not that many people really know much about it. At least not in my circle of hockey friends.
“Nope. Scoring is a bit different. You know the bullseye in darts?” Liv nods so I continue. “Well in curling, that’s called the button. At the conclusion of an end-”
Liv’s head tilts and I can tell I’m already losing her so I decide to make this short and sweet.
“An end is a round, Liv. There are ten ends. At the conclusion of each, whichever team is closest to the button, scores points.”
Her face softens as she takes in the information. “So do the rest of the rocks not count then? Only the one closest to the middle?”
I shake my head. “The one closest does count as a point but additional points can be scored too. If Luke’s team has one right on the button, but they have other stones that are also closer than their opponents, they’d score points for those too.”
My lips quirk as I watch my best friend’s eyes light up once she finally gets it. “I got it! So if Luke’s team has three stones closer to the button than any of the other team’s, then they get three points?”
“You got it!”
Liv falls back into her seat, her eyes glued to the men on the ice sheets below us. “I’m basically an expert now.”
“Yeah, totally an expert.” My words are laced in sarcasm, which Liv totally picks up on. She elbows me then nods to Luke’s teammates that are directly in front of us.
“Any of them single?”
I huff out a laugh. “Figured out the sport so now you’re interested in the athletes?”
Liv shrugs then points to the ice. “I wouldn’t mind if that one let me take a mustache ride.”
