Maddie squeezes my hand harder as we walk down the corridor.
She leans closer to me, eyes wide as the sound grows louder.
“Can you hear it?” she whispers, like the noise itself is something magical.
The crowd is already roaring inside the arena. Music thunders through the walls. It's all vibrating through the hallway.
“I can definitely hear it,” I say.
Maddie grins.
“Daddy loves this part,” she says knowingly.
Of course he does.
We reach the usher near the family section entrance. Maddie walks up to him with complete confidence.
“My dad’s a winger,” she tells him, pointing toward the ice like the evidence is obvious.
The usher chuckles.
“Is that right?”
“Yep.” Maddie nods proudly. “Gabriel Shelly.”
I ruffle her hair before she can start listing statistics.
“Best seat in the house then,” the usher replies, waving us through.
The arena opens in front of us like a bright, roaring bowl of noise.
Lights blazing.
Ice glowing white under the spotlights.
Fans everywhere wearing navy and gold jerseys.
A surprising number of them saySHELLYacross the back.
Maddie spots it immediately.
“Look!” she says. “Daddy jerseys!”
“Lots of them.”
Her smile grows bigger.
We slide into the family section seats. Annabelle is already there, scrolling through her phone, and Mia sits a few seats down sipping from a cup.
Annabelle looks up and smiles.
“There they are.”
“Hi!” Maddie says, climbing into her seat and swinging her legs.
Mia leans over.
“Ready for the game?”
