Me.
Jess beside me, her shoulder against mine.
Elida holds my gaze for a moment that feels a lot longer than it is and then she looks back at Skelly and says something smoothly like the two seconds didn’t happen.
Like I didn’t happen.
Jess is talking about the dental clinic. I tune back in and ask her a question. Chen catches my eye across the table for a fraction of a second.
Across the bar, by the window, Elida touches Skelly’s arm as she laughs at something else he’s said. It’s like the guy is a trained comedian as well as a hockey coach.
I finish my beer.
“Another?” Chen says.
“Yeah. Definitely.”
ELIDA
I look back at Jake and he’s mid-sentence about a story about a player from his team and a badly timed penalty, and I smile at the right moment and make the right sound. I’m trying not to think about what I just saw.
Mateo Russo.
And a girl.
The same girl from the bar after the loss - dark-haired and pretty. His shoulder against hers. Her stealing sips from his glass like it’s nothing, like she always does it.
Obviously.
I pick up my wine.
Jake finishes his story. I laugh, and it’s mostly real, because he’s genuinely funny and the story was good. None of this is Jake’s fault, and he deserves my actual attention.
“Your turn,” he says. “Worst coaching moment. Go.”
“I made a freshman skate laps with a yoga block between her knees. She called me a demon. Her edge work drastically improved.”
Jake grins. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Immensely.”
I take a sip of wine, and I do not glance across the bar. I’m not going to glance across the bar. There is nothing across the bar that requires my attention or any part of my cognitive function whatsoever.
Jake has moved onto telling a story involving a whiteboard and a marker that wouldn’t erase and a very important tactical diagram that became progressively more embarrassing. He’s present and funny.
I’m glad I came.
He tops up my wine without asking and says, “so tell me more about your family.”
“What do you want to know?”
MATEO
We leave around ten.
Jess has her coat on and her friends have already gone. It’s the natural end of the night, easy and unforced the way everything with Jess usually is. I hold the door and we step out into the cold. I’m already feeling more like myself.
Then the door opens behind us.
