Grey’s place had a tiny living room with a lopsided couch, connected to a kitchenette where he made us Grey Gourmet Grilled Cheeses, as he deemed them. Upstairs were two rooms- one empty, where he ended up keeping his hockey bag and some weights, and a cot for when friends came to visit. The other room was his. His queen size bed with a plain royal blue comforter took up most of his room. He’d recently added a side table that he proudly made, which had a bible laying on it and a framed picture of us from high school. The last piece of his room was a desk- littered with notebooks and papers from class and barely ever touched.
He had zero organizational skills when it came to classes. School was not his thing- it never had been. I’d practically dragged him through his junior and senior years of high school. He’d told me a million times that school was just a means to an end for him- and his end was to play hockey. The other thing he hated about school, and I knew this was true about him, was that he hated people telling him what to do. In high school, when a teacher said to read a certain chapter, he always had the urge to say- you can’t tell me what to do! His aversion for school was fine by me. I just loved him. I didn’t care what he did- my grandparents did though. So, I tried hard to help him with school and help him from some kind of “back-up plan,” as my grandparents called it, just in case hockey didn’t work out.
“How’s he going to support you?” My grandparents would ask all the time. They didn’t hide the fact that they didn’t approve of our relationship. Every time I stepped out of line or didn’t act in accordance to their definition of the perfect granddaughter it was always Grey’s fault, even if he had absolutely nothing to do with it.
I had a hunch that their dislike of him probably had something to do with hockey and my father, but every time I pushed for more information I was cut off and rudely shut up, so I eventually learned to stop trying. It sucked, but whatever. Grey was my person and had been since sixteen. I knew he would be my forever with a calm confidence I couldn’t even explain.
I made the drive all the way up to Brecklin- about an hour and a half for me- almost every other weekend- pretty much every time the hockey team had a home game or game close enough to drive to. I loved this drive. It was so much better than the long hours that used to be between us when I was at college the last three and a half years. I had wished to go someplace closer, but my grandparents financed it and their only condition was that I attended their alma mater. I did so grudgingly, but finished school a semester early. I had recently moved back home and was just coaching skating. I went to school for education and hoped to be an elementary school teacher… but I’d have to wait until the spring for interviews for the next school year. That was alright with me though because it gave me a little break and I loved being able to see Grey more often- wasn’t as often as when we were kids, attending the same high school and training at the same rink- but for the time being, Brecklin felt like our little oasis.
Pulling off the highway, my music was interrupted by a text. Looking down I noticed it was Grey.
Hope you’re already in my bed when I walk in the door…
I caught myself smiling reading it and I quickly typed back,How about I stop by the store and grab us some wine first?
I slowed my driving, stalling for a bit, wondering if I should continue to his place or turn towards the grocery store, but it didn’t take long for him to respond.
You take me for a rookie, Jules? That hurts. Already bought and ready for you… so bed, yeah?
I laughed out loud to myself in the car and quickly typed back I’d see him there.
Chapter Six: Grey- 9 years ago
Everyone on the bus was ready to get back to Brecklin to party- ride out the high of winning with tequila and dancing… but I was ready for a different kind of high. Jules was waiting on me. Why would I go to a sweaty club to get stupid drunk and meet girls when I had the perfect girl of my dreams already: Smoking hot, absolutely drop dead gorgeous, passionate, kind, hardworking, my everything. The last few years when we’d been more long distance I’d done the party scene because Jules urged me not to miss out on it, but I would have much rather been with her. I’d be graduating this year and hopefully playing somewhere in the AHL or better and I wanted to take her with me. I’d put a ring on her first, she deserved that. If her grandparents objected, I’d steal her away and we’d elope. She’d choose me… I was sure of it. I’d choose her every time if the tables were turned.
Thinking of her laying in my bed, all tangled in my covers with her brown hair fanned out made me rock solid. I had to stop thinking about her at least until we made it off the bus. Max and Smitty were sitting next to me and they’d never let me forget it if I had a hard on over her while sitting on the bus surrounded by a bunch of dudes.
I planned ahead a bit tonight. Bought some Cliff’s pizza, our favorite, and a bottle of Moscato for her and some red wine for myself.
When the bus came to a stop, I fumbled out as quickly as I could. I think I was the first to grab my bag from the bus and tear out of the parking lot.
I could hear the guys teasing me as I walked away.
“Somebody’s wifed up tonight!” Smitty yelled.
“Tell Juju hello!” Max chided in the background.
I smiled to myself. Fuck yeah, I’m wifed up. I’d been wifed up for a while. And they were all jealous.
“Babe! I’m home!” I smiled just calling this out. I loved having her here. I looked forward to her presence all week. She was starting to make Sunday nights pretty damn hard for me. All of a sudden, my bed would feel so empty without her.
We’d never had the luxury of consistent sleepovers. We never dared to in high school- we made it out of that town as virgins, and that was totally okay with me. College was trickier, I was traveling with the team all the time and couldn’t really afford to visit her in my off times. She could afford it but her family wouldn’t finance it- pretty sure her granddad still couldn’t stand my guts even though I’d stood by his granddaughter's side for years now. We’d had the summers together, but this semester was pretty close to my dream come true. I climbed the stairs up to my room and opened the door.
There she was, already in one of my t-shirts, hair in a messy bun- I’d for sure be taking that down- and she was blushing behind a glass of white wine.
“Fuck, babe,” I couldn’t keep a growl out of my voice, “so fucking sexy.”
She giggled and set her glass down, as I bent down to lay on top of her.
Chapter Seven: Jules- present
I stared at the droplets of water running down my glass of Moscato. I couldn’t walk back in that rink… and I couldn’t just leave my child here. I did actually think about calling Kevin to come watch Canyon and take my place, but I was done looking to him for help. He’d just end up using the situation against me… and I knew in the back of my mind he wouldn’t let Canyon play on this team under any circumstances if he knew that Greyson Scott was the coach. He’d 100 percent remember that name. Actually, calling Kevin here would probably end the tryout and bring hell down on me.
So, I was in the rink’s bar. At 1 pm. During my son’s tryout. Jeez, what was wrong with me? Where had my confidence gone?
The bar here had been renamed plenty of times over the years, but the current owners must’ve been around when I was growing up because they gave it back its original name of Benny’s Box.
I always loved Benny’s, it had a small town, cozy feel to it. Coming back to it after all these years, it still felt and looked the same- with signed hockey pictures and jerseys plastered all over the brick walls and Christmas lights hung up in disarray all year round. The new owners seemed to keep tradition as well with the signatures of patrons- it was tradition to sign the bar- in any place, anywhere. The bar counter and walls probably donned the youth signatures of hundreds of NHL-ers who’d stopped through here at some point in their careers.
