Steven
The valet brought us Ashton’s giant truck. It didn’t blare country music. He was more into alternative rock, which was fine. I listened to just about anything.
“Marilyn did well,” I replied, then looked at my phone. Marilyn had sent me a bunch of messages. I answered simply.
Me
It went well. Taking her out tomorrow.
Ashton had a good time. It was evident in the way his face lit up when the two of them were talking about trees and shit. Which was actually pretty interesting. I could follow some of what they were talking about, having grown up in farm country.
“The whole thing with Kai’s ex and the trip is really shitty. I think we should try to make her time here asspecial as we can. If you’re interested, that is.” I hoped he was. What could we do that she’d really enjoy? I felt so bad for her.
It was clear she wasn’t really interested in country music or line dancing. But there was more to the city than that.
“Also, is tomorrowokay?I should’ve asked you first, but it did seem sort of implied in the whole bet. But it’s also my ass who lost it, so if you need to go do your thing that’s fine,” I blurted.
Ashton really liked to prepare for games. He spent a lot of time watching videos and getting into the right headspace. He was the planner, while I was usually going by the seat of my pants.
But he made me want to be more responsible. Hopefully I made him want to have more fun.
“It’s fine. Where did you want to take Kai?” he asked as he drove back to our place.
I thought for a moment. “Does Nashville have an arboretum? I know we have a zoo. I think Kai would like both of those.”
Ashton nodded. “Good idea.”
Getting on my phone, I looked up our options. Oh, we did have an arboretum. I went online and bought tickets for the three of us.
“If you want to do anything after that, we can always go out to eat or maybe hit a dive bar or two.” Not tourist places but placesweliked. “Or we can always have dinner and then a dive bar the next night. Only if you want to,” I added, unsure how much we really needed to do to satisfy the bet, but not wanting to ask.
Also, I really did want to make this trip special, all things considered.
“I don’t mind taking Kai to dinner one night. I think we have a meeting on Wednesday morning, but no practice. We can always go to the zoo if she likes animals.” Ashton’s fingers tapped to the music on the steering wheel as we sat at a red light.
“True. There’s a bar with plants she might like. We really should get her a ticket to the game. Maybe the aunties can come too. That’s something not everyone gets to do. It’s really nice that Kai has such a good support system,” I replied. I didn’t have one of those. My parents hadn’t even sent a text congratulating us for making it to finals.
Ashton’s family would come to our game in Portland, I was sure. That’s where the Puck Panthers were from. They’d sent us a fucking cake this morning from a local bakery that saidProud of you both.
Yeah, that made me tear up a little.
“Kai coming to the game sounds good. We can get them a shirt,” he agreed.
“Maybe we can get some of the guys to sign it?” I suggested, trying to think of ways to make everything extra nice.
“Perfect.”
Nashville couldn’t compare to Bali, not that I’ve ever been. But I really wanted to make this as nice of a trip as I could. I felt honored that Marilyn gave this task to us and I didn’t want to let anyone down.
We parked and went inside. Ashton and I lived in a condo in a really nice building that was centrally locatedto everything we needed. During the off-season we went back to Washington State and lived in his log cabin by the ocean. Because he was not a lumberjack.
I didn’t really talk to my family. You would think that getting drafted would please them, considering they’d made hockey my life. And me actually getting signed would make them happier.
But no. Because the Scented Scorpions were not a top-ranked team, I was a disappointment. It was a waste of all those years of taking me to hockey, all that sacrifice, all because I couldn’t play for a winning team.
While they’d come to a game during my rookie season, because the team arranged for our families to go, they hadn’t been to a single one since.
Not even when my team played in our hometown.
