“Huh.All right.”Coach pushed back his chair and stood.“We’ll leave it at that.Get out of here, Vally.Come back tonight and score me some fucking goals.The Foxes have won our last three match-ups.I want to beat them here at home this time.”
“Yes, sir.”I pivoted and ducked out the door before he could change his mind.
Momentum carried me down the hall and out to my car where I dropped behind the wheel and sat there, breathing hard.I wasn’t sure if that meeting with Coach was good or bad.Some of each, maybe.Was the demand that I score goals a warning to perform or be cut, or just hockey talk?The Sacramento Foxes were our rivals.We always wanted to beat them.
I put my forehead on my arms, clutching the steering wheel, and breathed some more.
A sharp rap on the window by my head made me jump.I squinted up, recognized Bubs, and powered the glass down.“Hey.Yeah?”
“You okay?’he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“I saw Coach calling you to his office.That go okay?”
I made an effort to sound cheerful.“Yeah.Him and Nery are behind us trying to rein in the shit-talking in the room, as long as we do it as a group and don’t try to turn the players into choir boys.”
Bubs barked a laugh.“As if.”
“Right?”
“He was okay, with you?”
“Yeah, fine,” I lied.Although it didn’t seem like Coach Frazier would let his personal opinion affect his coaching, which was all I asked.
“Hey,” Bubs said.“You want to come to my place for lunch?My wife’s working but she usually leaves some really fucking good food for after practice.I’m sure there’s plenty.”
I was going to bow out, but Miles would be at work till after I was due back at the arena, and if I went home now, I’d just stew about all the things I’d said to Morty and Coach, and all the things I should’ve said.“Sure.If that’s okay.”
“About time.You’ve been a hard man to get to know.Follow me, and then you can head home for your nap afterward.”
I realized that for all we’d hung out in public over the years, Bubs was right.I’d never accepted an invitation to his place, never had him at mine.That deliberate distance looked so cold, in retrospect.“Sounds like a plan.”
Bubs had his phone out.“My wife says lemongrass chicken and there’s plenty for two.I’ll see you there.”
“Okay.Thanks.”
Bubs gave me a little salute, two fingers tapping his temple, and strode off toward his electric-blue SUV.At least I wasn’t likely to lose him in traffic.
I texted to Miles.~ Came out to the team today.And my coaches.Went okay.I’ll tell you about it tonight.
Setting my phone in the cup holder, in case there was a reply, I waited till Bubs backed out of his space, then put my car in gear and headed off behind him.Lunch with a friend shouldn’t have been a novelty, but I was really looking forward to a meal and idle conversation without ever having to censor myself.That part felt like freedom.
Chapter 12
Miles
The crowd rose to their feet, cheering, as the Gryphons got a three-on-one breakaway.Stackman crossed the blue line, dropped the puck for Logan who cut behind him and passed to Buchanan over on the other side.Buchanan’s one-timer beat the goalie high on the stick side.The light flashed; the goal horn sounded.
Down on the ice, Logan hugged Buchanan and gave the rookie Stackman a pat on the helmet.Buchanan skated along the team bench collecting fist bumps, while Logan and Stackman got off the ice.My face hurt from grinning so wide.
A different line came on for the face-off, and as play resumed, the announcer reported, “Gryphons goal scored by number seventeen, Dave Buchanan, assisted number forty-six, Logan Valliere, and number eighty, Luke Stackman.Time of the goal, seventeen-twenty-six.”
The crowd yelled again.At least, what crowd there was.The Gryphons hadn’t started the season well, and a Tuesday night game didn’t pull in the numbers.Playing the Foxes, the Gryphons’ archrivals, probably helped some, but the stands were barely a third full.Those of us who had turned up were being treated to a show, though.The Gryphons led seven to two, with less than three minutes to go in the third period.
Logan had a goal and two assists on the night.His line had been on fire, and I was so glad.He’d texted me about coming out to his whole team, but we hadn’t had a chance to talk, with my basketball kids running late.Logan probably hadn’t even read my congratulations back, but going by how he and his lineys were connecting on the ice, his reveal hadn’t messed with their chemistry.Bubs Buchanan had been one of Logan’s few friends, back when we were together, and I was so relieved that they were still connecting.
Play went on, with scoring chances at both ends of the ice.The Foxes didn’t bother to pull their goalie, down five goals at that point, although the poor bastard probably wouldn’t have minded being done.Logan’s line came out for their last shift of the night and Logan got a shot on net that echoed off the crossbar.I groaned with all the rest, though another goal would’ve been adding insult to injury at that point.
