Torn between waking her and letting her sleep, I stand and stare at her for a moment. But the sleep wins. Of course it does.She’s clearly exhausted. Reheated steak might not be as good, but she’ll still enjoy it after she’s had a nap, I’m sure.
Stepping back out, I pull a big, fuzzy throw blanket out of the closet and head back to her room. Gently, I scoop up her legs and tug off her slip-on shoes, then curl her legs onto the bed. Carefully, I cover her with the blanket, smoothing it down so it’s not over her face.
Her eyelids flutter open, and she lets out a groggy, “Wha?”
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “Go back to sleep.”
She hums and snuggles into the blanket, curling her hands under her chin, and settles back into sleep.
Yeah, she definitely needs the rest. Backing quietly out of the room, I close the door behind me, turning the handle and pulling as slowly as possible so it doesn’t click.
I told her that coming here meant she’d be safe and supported. And that starts now.
After eating dinner, I put Hailey’s portion away in the fridge. I’m sure she’ll be starving whenever she wakes up. I’d kinda hoped it’d just be a quick power nap, but one hour turns to two turns to five …
The sun’s long since down, I’ve been watching tape of the new players the team’s getting ahead of this month’s training camp. A few of them are still in the Juniors, so they’ll join us for camp but mostly still play with their teams, only getting called up if we need to deepen the bench due to injuries or suspensions. We also have a few new guys we’re getting from trades.
Coach is determined that we’ll win the Stanley Cup this year, so he’s managed to trade for a few players he’s hoping will fill in for our weaknesses. Since we lost Easton to retirement a coupleyears ago—after having him out way too much on the injured list before that—we haven’t managed to bring in anyone to fill his shoes. Abernathy, he, and I were the power trio. If he hadn’t gotten hurt, we would’ve had the Stanley Cup already.
We’ve managed to get Cohen, another strong winger. He’s fast—almost as fast as me—and his puck handling is the stuff legends are made of, but the real test isn’t so much his skating, it’s how well he gels with the team.
And that’s the part that has me worried. He has a reputation as a hothead who likes to start fights. Dozer’s thrown down with him more than once. He talks shit like it’s his job, getting everyone pissed off and riled up.
Of course, that’s the point. He’s trying to piss everyone off enough that they make dumb mistakes, giving his team an edge.
More often than not, though, it just has people slamming him into the boards or getting into fights. Not sure how well it helps his team score goals—or stops opponents from scoring on them.
Hell, maybe that’s why they let him go so easily. Maybe he’s an asshole to his teammates too, and they’re sick of his shit.
God, I hope he helps and doesn’t make things worse.
Picking up my phone, I shoot off a text to Abernathy.
Thoughts on Cohen?
Abernathy
I’m keeping an open mind
That’s his way of saying he thinks the guy’s a shithead, but now that he’s our teammate, he won’t say it.
What do you think the best way to handle him is?
Like any other new team member. We welcome him to the team, be our usual selves, and hope he doesn’t act like he does on the ice when he’s in the locker room
Didn’t you have a buddy on his team? What does he say about him?
Uh, yeah. All he said was good luck
Oof.
Yeah. But like I said, we’re all keeping an open mind. And don’t you dare tell anyone else I told you that Ben said good luck
My lips are sealed
I tap my fingers on the side of my phone, seeing if he says anything else. When he doesn’t, I go back to the video of Cohen, watching how he interacts with his teammates. He’s a puck hog, ignoring passing options when it’s clear that’s the best choice. Sure, yeah, he also scores a lot. I search his career stats, and he’s actually rated better than I am. But …
Fuck.
