“Hell no, it’s my day off.”
Lunes laughed as if Ben had said something funny.He probably loved being on skates even when he didn’t have to be, the weirdo.Hockey players were bizarre people.Lunes skated off toward the player entrance, where Breezy waited with an arm full of hockey sticks and a bucket of pucks he’d gotten from the freezer.
Lunes blew the whistle around his neck, the kids gathered around in a circle, and Ben leaned forward to watch.
He’d never had the chance to be openly queer as a teenager or, more accurately, he’d never taken the chance.But he’d also been a teenager in the nineties, and things had changed so drastically since then.Being visible in the way some of these kids chose to be—with skate laces and hockey tape in the shades of various flags, with makeup and accessories emphasizing or diminishing their gender expression—was amazing and brave.He knew they had all suffered for it, or they wouldn’t have ended up at Pot of Gold.But where Ben had ended up alone, they hadn’t.That had to be worth something.
“Okay, everyone,” Lunes said, “we’re going to try some five-on-five today.Grab your sticks, grab some pucks, we’ll warm up.And remember to be careful with each other.Pucks hurt when they hit you.”He grinned at the assembled kids, and they grinned back.“Also, our coach is watching today, so make us look good!”
He handed out sticks, high-fiving each kid as they got on the ice.Most of them immediately skated over to Breezy and high-fived him as well.
Ben scanned the ice looking for Charlie.He must not have left the changing room yet.Goalie pads did take forever to get into.
“They’re pretty good with the kids, huh?”A woman with the bisexual flag dyed into her hair took a seat next to Ben.
“Yeah.Um, I’m Ben.Morris.The coach.”He would be so thankful when he could finally quit this charade.None of the words he’d just said felt right in his mouth.
“Mara.Head administrator at the shelter.”
“Wow.”
She raised a pierced eyebrow at him.
“You seem young for that role, is all.”She couldn’t be more than twenty-five.
“Yeah, well, in some jobs, life experience is more important than work experience.”
Ben nodded in agreement.He looked down at the ice, where the kids did laps or passed one another pucks sloppily.Breezy kept pace with them, offering tips and corrections.
“I didn’t think they’d be good at this,” Ben admitted.
“Me neither.I was like, am I sure this is worth the money?But they offered us a lot of money, so.”
Ben rolled his eyes.Athletes.“Never met a problem they couldn’t throw money at, I guess.”
“Too bad it fixes so many problems.”
“Mm.It would serve them right to find something they couldn’t achieve with cash.”
Mara snorted.“Don’t you earn basically the same?”
Oh, right.“Um, not quite.”
“Uh-huh.”
Desperate for a change of subject, he examined Lunes handing out neon-orange vests to separate out teams.“Mooney—uh, Lunes, I mean—he’s really gotten into this, huh?”
“Diego’s nickname isMooney?”A look of unholy glee stole across Mara’s face, the universal expression of a person who had found something with which to mock a friend.
“Any chance of you forgetting I said that?”
“Not even a little.Tell me more.”
Ben winced.“I think I’d like to keep the second power play unit intact, thanks.”
“Boo, boring.Please?”
She turned wide, hopeful blue eyes on him, and he almost gave in.But then, the sight of Charlie skating onto the ice with Phil hot on his heels distracted him.
