“Well it doesn’t matter, Tate’s not engaging,” Tenley remarks and she looks disappointed about it.
The first period goes on after that without a hitch. The Quake score and then the Thunder score. In the second period, the Thunder score early, and later in the period, Nash Westwood takes a penalty for a slash on my brother, who fucking deserved it if you ask me. And that's when it happens. With thirty-four seconds left on the penalty, Tate intercepts a Thunder pass and makes it halfway down the ice before getting slammed into the boards. He somehow manages to hold onto the puck, break away, and take a shot. It sails past the Thunder goalie's left shoulder and into the net.
Everyone is on their feet in the entire arena. Jessie squeals and claps. Tenley punches her fist into the air. Jordan is grinning. He looks down at Dylan who is startled awake by the noise even with his little noise-canceling headphones on. "Dylan, your daddy just beat my record.”
I am still sitting, stunned. Tenley grabs my arms and yanks up to my feet. She hugs me. “He did it! He freaking did it!”
I stare down at the ice. The whole Quake bench is on its feet, leaning over and grabbing Tate’s jersey, hugging him and shaking him, high-fiving him. He’s smiling but he looks as stunned as I am.
They break to a commercial, you can tell because the red lights go on by the benches. On the Jumbotron, they flash to our box. Jordan grins and gives a thumbs-up. I blink when I see myself on the giant screen, Tenley's arm wrapped around me. My eyes dart to the ice. Tate is looking up at the screen. His grin gets deep and he turns, pulls off his helmet, and squints up at the box. I swear he is looking right at me. And his grin deepens.
Chapter26
Tate
Holy shit I did it. I fucking did it. It feels pretty fucking great. But there was still a dull ache in my chest until I saw my family on the big screen above center ice and realized Mallory was with them. Holding Dylan.
Then suddenly it all felt so much better. I owed her an apology. I owed her so much more, but I needed to start with an apology. I didn’t know if I would get the chance to give her one. Crew had said she was pissed and was talking about going home. And then Emmett tried to get me to punch him, repeatedly. I was furious with him, but I was not going to make this worse by punching him. Even though I desperately wanted to. I knew, in the end, he’s Mallory’s brother and she loves him so punching him wasn’t going to improve my situation with her.
I go into the third period on a high, hoping beyond hope that Mallory’s presence here is a sign that she might give me another chance. Nash scores early in the third with an assist from Crew, who can somehow make a perfect pass to his brother anywhere on the ice without even looking. It would be infuriating if they were on the opposing team so I get why the Thunder are irked. They’re fired up, still fighting for the last playoff spot in our division. We are fired up because we want to win this for Landon who is still in the hospital.
So things get chippy in the last half of the third. They get a penalty but we can’t capitalize on it. And then Crew takes a tripping penalty. He’s one of our best penalty killers so having him in the box for one hurts. Coach Braddock points to me as we head out to fight this. “You’re not coming off until the kill is over. Can you handle that?”
I nod. He turns to the rest of the penalty killers. “And you all get the puck to Garrison any chance you get. We are not only going to beat these guys, we’re going to make sure he leaves his dad’s record in the dust. Got it?”
“Coach…” He stares at me, an eyebrow quirked like he’s daring me to talk him out of letting me score yet another shorty, which would mean I’m two ahead of my dad’s longstanding record. “I’ve got this.”
They all grunt out their support. No pressure, I think nervously. We’re only ahead by one goal. If the guys are concentrating on getting me the puck instead of just keeping it away from our zone on a power play, they could get sloppy and the Thunder could tie this up. But Coach has faith I can do this and I should do this so Iwilldo this, I tell myself. And I want to do this for Dylan. And Mallory. For the first time in my life, this isn't about my own ego. I want to make my son and Mallory proud. Because I love them.
“Garrison!”
I have been on autopilot, my brain lost in a fog of new emotions. I didn't see Nash get the puck from the Thunder forward, or shoot it across the ice to me at the center line, but it's a foot from me when he calls my name. There's not one but two Thunder players near me, one to the left and one to the right, and both are skating at me with everything they've got, I deke around one.
The puck hits my stick so hard it almost flies over it. But it doesn’t and I skate like my whole life depends on it. But I won’t make it any closer than I am. I have to take the shot because I know that Thunder player who was on my right is a few short seconds from checking me onto my ass. So just a few feet over the blue line, I narrow my focus on the left top corner of the net, pull my stick back, and let a blistering slap shot go.
It's not the fastest shot I've ever done. It's not the prettiest-looking shot. And I don't even see it cross the goal line because I'm slammed into the boards by the Thunder player and I'm on my back on the ice. But I hear the crowd. They come alive all at once and I swear to God the ice under me shakes.
Someone holds out a hand and hauls me up to my feet. It's Emmett Echolls. He skates away without a word. I look up before the team swarms me, and I see my family. I see my son and I see Mallory. I point at them. At her. I hope she knows it. I hope she knows…
The game ends. We win. And I am Player of the Game. But the announcement isn't the normal one. They bring my family down onto the ice to give me the puck as they announce I got First Star of the Game, and that I just beat my dad's shorthanded goal record.
My dad, mom, and Tenley holding Dylan, walk tentatively in a line to center ice and I skate out to meet them. Mallory is at the edge of the ice, against the boards where my parents entered from. I stare at her, she stares back but motions for me to go to my parents. I stop in front of my dad. “Just a sec, okay,” I say and pause to kiss Dylan’s cheek. He grins at me as I yank off my glove and ruffle his hair.
Then I skate past my family and straight to Mallory. “What are you doing?” she asks, her voice high and squeaky because she knows the cameras have followed me.
“Apologizing,” I say. “Look, I will grovel in technicolor as soon as we’re home, but for now, just know that I know I fucked up. I handled that whole thing in the worst possible way. I never should have left you at that bar. I’m sorry. I will forever be sorry. And you don’t have to forgive me right this minute but if you think you might sometime in the future can you please come out onto the ice right now?”
"They asked for your family to give you the puck," Mallory whispers like we're being eavesdropped on. I have no idea if mics are on us but there is a camera pointed at us over by the boards and I'm sure we're on the Jumbotron. "Just go do your thing."
“You are my family, Mallory,” I tell her. “Maybe not on paper but I love you as much as I love them. You matter to me as much as they do so please. I want you there.”
“Oh…” She blinks. She smiles. She blinks again.
I take that as a yes so I wrap my arm around her tiny waist and lift her up and skate. She lets out a squeak and wraps her arms around my neck. She buries her head against my neck guard as her legs dangle just above the tops of my skate boot. “You are insane Tate Garrison.”
“Maybe,” I admit. “I’ve never been in love before but I guess it makes you crazy.”
“Oh my God stop saying that,” she whispers.
