I wish I wouldn’t have kissed Jules right then. Canyon was striving for any sign of Kevin’s approval, and our actions stopped that. But who knew if the asshole would have even given him any praise? The kid was clearly the best on the team. Even with missing a bunch of shots, he was still the leading scorer by far, and Kevin still wasn’t happy.
I got up from the bench and squatted down in front of Canyon, Ignoring the painful crack in my knees.
I pulled his skate toward me and started untying.
“Did you have fun?” I asked him.
He blew out a breath, “yeah.”
“Did you try your hardest and give it your all?”
He looked at me and chewed the inside of his cheek, “yeah.”
“And you got two goals and two assists. You helped put the puck in the net 4 out of the 5 times this team scored. That’s pretty damn good. Better than what I could do at your age,” I told him squarely.
He paused for a minute, assessing me.
“Actually?” He asked with skeptical little eyes.
“Dead serious, kid. Wouldn’t tell ya that if it wasn’t true. Wanna know what else?”
He nodded.
“I’ve played everywhere. Wanna know where I had the most fun?”
He nodded again.
“Right here.”
He seemed to accept what I’d said and I helped him finish taking off his equipment in silence.
The number of kids in the locker room started to dwindle. I was trying to hurry him up a bit because I didn’t want Jules out there alone with Kevin. I knew that was stupid of me to think because she’d been alone with him for nine years…and Kevin couldn’t hurt her… she was the mother of his child. He had to have some kind of heart… but I had a shit feeling about the way he looked at me and refused to shake my hand. And Jules was mine to protect.
Canyon picked up his bag, struggling under the weight of it. Usually I thought this was a good thing- character building for hockey boys and all that… but I cringed thinking of how this would slow us down.
“How bout I take it this time? Your mom is dying for cider mill donuts and I don’t want her to get hangry on us.”
Canyon smirked up at me and nodded.
I rubbed my knuckles across his sweaty head and grabbed the bag straps from her shoulder and hoisted it up onto mine.
Smitty gave both of us knuckle punches on the way out.
“Take care of my lead scorer!” He called as we walked out.
“You mean my lead scorer?!” I rebutted.
“Jeez, guy thinks he can take over as head coach just because he gives good speeches?” I asked Canyon.
The kid laughed, amusement dancing in his eyes, so much like his mother’s. Probably hearing the title of lead scorer made him feel a little more validated even if his asshole father couldn’t see that.
We walked the locker room hallway chatting about the game. It wasn’t until we hit the lobby and I couldn’t immediately see Jules that I started to really worry.
I scammed over the tables, concession stand, vending machines, and video games… she was nowhere to be found.
Where the hell did she go? Maybe the bathroom?
I checked my phone. She hadn’t texted back.
