I spin around and grin as my Uncle Cade approaches, his arms outstretched.
“So everyone keeps telling me,” I say as I step into him and let him wrap me in a hug.
Like always, Cade is wearing a backward Bolts hat, a pair of black track pants, and a light blue Bolts long sleeved T-shirt.
“Thought you planned to actually enjoy retirement. Decide you want to keep tabs on me instead?”
He chuckles. “Nah, we all know you’ll put the rest of the coaching staff, past and present, to shame.”
Cade married my mother’s brother Declan and became my uncle when I was young. I don’t really have any memory of Uncle Declan without Cade. The two of them are also married to their wife Melina. Maybe their situation was scandalous at one point, but they’ve only ever been my aunt and uncles.
“Any last-minute words of wisdom?”
He reaches for the door and pulls it open. “Be on time.”
Laughing, I step inside. The moment the air hits me, I stop and close my eyes, then breathe in deeply.
Ice. Cold. Rubber. Cleaner.
Home sweet home.
When I open my eyes, Cade is smiling at me. “Feels good, right?”
“I’m going to have to work on my game day face so it isn’t obvious to everyone that I’m walking on a cloud today, huh?”
Chuckling, he drapes an arm over my shoulders. “Nah, it’s good to be excited. Best job in the world.”
It’s not. Being on the ice as part of the team would be better. But Cade never played professionally, so I won’t point that out. Already, I miss the rush of the game. As a goalie, I was usually on the ice through all three periods. It’ll be an adjustment not being in the crease, but I made this choice when Gavin came to me and floated this idea. I was still playing in the PWHL at the time and until that day, I figured that’s where I’d stay. The NHL has never seen a female goalie coach. Taking the job would allow me to blaze a trail along with the few other women holding assistant coaching positions. That detail alone made it impossible to say no.
It’s not easy. It’s mostly still a boys’ club. Even in Bolts Arena, where my uncles and my father have worked hard to make all of their sports teams inclusive.
In a sport dominated by men, still watched mostly by men despite the increasing number of female spectators, I didn’t take the offer lightly.
This is my opportunity.
Most assume nepotism got me here, I’m sure. And maybe there’ssome truth to it. Langfield Corp has employed the majority of our family members. That just means I have to work harder to prove that I deserve to be here because of my talent. That I can add value to the Bolts organization.
As we make our way around the rink, I take in every detail as if I didn’t practically grow up here. The jagged lightning Bolts adorning the boards around the rink, the dusty blue seats, theLangfieldscrawled across the score board. My uncles’ jerseys hanging from the rafters alongside the banners for their Stanley Cup wins.
Aiden, my dad’s youngest brother, is considered one of the best to ever play. He’s an assistant coach now, but he played until he was forty, winning three Stanley Cups during his tenure. When he retired, the organization retired his number too.
“Guys should be out soon,” Cade says as he guides me toward to the team bench. “While there will be a few goalies from the AHL and junior team here to practice with us for these first couple weeks, JJ and Sidney are our likely starters.”
None of this is news to me. JJ and Sidney are our veteran goalies.
“But,” he continues, “there’s a chance that we’ll have an undiscovered new hotshot in our midst, so don’t rule them out.”
I snort. “You’re saying there’s a chance I get to send Hanson back to the AHL?”
Cade side-eyes me, blue eyes sharp. “I know you two have a history, but I figured since he’s living with you?—”
“He’s not living with me,” I huff, the noise a little too loud in the empty arena. “You know how my father is. He offered him a room after I’d agreed to move in.”
Cade’s lips twitch like he’s trying to hide a smile. “Yeah, your dad does shit like that.” He chuckles. “Better watch out. He might be trying to set you up.”
A short burst of laughter escapes me. “Yes, my dad is known as the weird matchmaker, but I assure you, he’d never set me up with a married man.”
Cade isn’t wrong. My father has a habit of claiming responsibility for the coupling of just about anyone he knows. He even took credit when Cade got together with Declan and Melina.
