“That’s me.”
“Good luck later!” He gives her a thumbs up.
She laughs a little, then turns back to her friends.
I raise a brow at him in question.
“That’s Tracy Hemp.”
“Yeah, I got that. Who is she?”
“USA Women’s Hockey. What kind of athlete are you?”
“How do you know all this?” I ask, shaking my head.
“Howdon’tyou?”
I shrug, pushing away my empty plate.
“I’m going to get more food,” Filmen says.
“Hey, you better not eat too much,” McVoy scolds. “I don’t need you throwing up on the ice.”
Filmen shakes his head as he gets up to find more food.
My phone vibrates over and over, telling me it’s a phone call, so I grab it.
“I have to take this,” I say, quickly getting up and answering the phone. “Hold on one second.”
I hurry out of the dining hall and into the cold air.
“Hey, Ma,” I say into the phone.
“How’s it going at theOlympics?” she asks, emphasizing the word Olympics.
“It’s great. We have our first game today.”
“We know!” my father says.
“You’re on speaker,” Ma adds. “And of course we know you’re playing. We’re going to watch.”
My parents have been my number one supporters from the very beginning. When I said I wanted to play hockey, there was no push back from them. No complaint on how expensive the gear is. There was no complaining when Dad got a second job to help pay for it all, either. At the time, I didn’t realize that was why, but as I got older, I put two and two together. Between school and hockey, I didn’t have time for a job, which is why I help them out now.
They did everything they could to get me where I am, and so I make sure to pay them back for that. Not that they expect me to, and sometimes they don’t even accept what I give them, which is why I had to pay off their house without them knowing. Ithink my father was actually angry when he found out, but after a while he understood and thanked me. Told me I didn’t have to do that because they’re my parents, and they did what they should have for their only child.
“Why am I not surprised?” I say with a laugh.
“How could we miss our baby’s first Olympic game?”
“Did you tell him our friends are coming over?” My father laughs in the background.
“Ma, really?”
“What?” she says like she can’t understand why I’m asking. “We’re excited, and maybe we want to show off a little.”
I spot McVoy and the other guys stepping out of the dining hall.
“Hey, I gotta go. We have to head back to the arena.”
