Tobias stared wild-eyed at where the puck lay in Boston’s net, shocked at the turn of events. Bodies flew into him, putting him in the middle of a group hug with the rest of the Inferno players on the ice, their shouts snapping him out of his trance.
“Holy shit, you madman!”
“That was amazing!”
“MVP, baby!”
Tobias couldn’t tell what people were screaming as the fog cleared from his head.
In his twelve years of professional hockey, he’d never scored a goal. It wasn’t the rarest thing in hockey, but it was up there. It hadn’t even been a regret that he hadn’t scored because it wasn’t his job. But now that he had?
He knew exactly how he wanted to celebrate.
By doing something else he’d never done. Something even crazier than a goalie scoring in an alumni game. And he couldn’t wait until after the game to do it.
28
THE ARENA WAS SO loud, Chase could barely hear himself think.
Tobias scored, and Chase felt so lucky to experience it live.
After seeing Tobias panicking when he thought about playing in this game, Chase laughed as he watched him on the ice surrounded by his teammates after scoring a goal to seal the win for the Inferno. There were still ten seconds left, so technically there was enough time to score, but it was unlikely a group of retired players who weren’t as fast as they used to be could score in so little time.
The crowd never stopped cheering, and Madison had to stand on her seat to watch the final seconds.
As the game horn blew, the Inferno players celebrated, all of them giving extra hugs and stick taps to Tobias and Wolf for leading them in the win.
Chase had trouble taking his eyes off Tobias, but he wanted to share the moment with Madison, Natalie and Grace. Madison and Natalie were screaming their heads off, while Grace watched the scene unfold, tears falling as an entire arena celebrated her son. She sensed his gaze on her and turned to Chase, sharing a soft smile that warmed his heart. That was one proud mama. And it made him miss his own.
Grace reached over and squeezed Chase’s shoulder.
“He couldn’t have done this without you,” she said. “Thank you.”
Chase went to deny it, to say everything Tobias achieved today was because he put in the work, but Grace squeezed tighter, cutting off his argument.
“I’m so glad he found you, Chase.”
He didn’t know what to say, and he wasn’t sure if he could even speak as his own eyes began to water. Instead, he gave her a soft smile and returned his gaze to the ice. The players finished shaking hands with Boston and made their way to the locker room when the announcer’s voice rang out through the arena.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present the three stars of tonight’s game.”
Chase would be shocked if Tobias wasn’t named one of the stars. As the announcer got to the second star, though, Chase started to get nervous.
“The second star of tonight’s game, number twelveand head coach of the Philly Inferno, Reggie Wolf. And the number one star of tonight’s game, from the Philly Inferno, number twenty-seven, goaltender Tobias Moyer.”
The crowd was on its feet, going wild for their Inferno alumni.
Chase couldn’t believe everything Tobias accomplished tonight. Pride didn’t even cover his emotions. He clapped and cheered along with Madison, Natalie, Grace and the nineteen-thousand other fans in attendance.
When Tobias came out to do his mini-victory lap after being named the star of the game, he blew another kiss in their direction, and Chase kept his eyes on him until he disappeared down the tunnel to the locker room. He couldn’t look away, wishing he could see through the tunnel to somehow tell him how fucking proud he was.
Fortunately, Madison chose that moment to remind him that was exactly the plan.
“Can we go see Oby now?” Madison asked, yanking on Chase’s hand to get him moving.
“We sure can, Maddie-moo,” Natalie said, saving him from having to answer. He wasn’t sure if he could formulate words yet, anyway. “Let’s go tell him how great a job he did.”
“He’s my favorite player in the whole world!” Maddie shouted.
