Page 153 of Pucking Daddy

“Kept us in the game,” I continue.

He taps his stick lightly against the ice in acknowledgment.

“I’m proud of you,” I say. “Of all of you.”

“Coach,” Declan mutters under his breath, like he doesn’t quite know what to do with that.

I let the moment sit for a second.

“I also want to apologize that I couldn’t be there. As you know, I had a very important appointment that day and couldn’t make it. But I’m very sorry I wasn’t here with all of you. And I won’t let you down again.”

Jake clears his throat “You didn’t let us down, coach. You did the right thing.”

I hear murmurs of agreement, Rhys and Marcus nod.

“Yeah,” Connor else adds. “We knew where you were.”

“And why,” Declan chimes in. “You had bigger things going on.”

My gaze sharpens. “That’s not your concern.”

“It kind of is,” Nate says.

I look at him.

He hesitates for half a second, then goes for it.

“We talked to management.”

That catches me off guard.

“What?”

“The whole thing,” he says. “Chicago. You missing it. Vance losing his mind about it.”

My jaw tightens. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Why?”

He looks at me like the answer should be obvious.

“Because you’ve got our backs,” he says. “We’ve got yours.”

Silence follows. I can’t believe they did that. The whole team? And I haven’t even been their coach that long.

“And?” I ask.

Nate glances at a couple of the guys, then back at me.

“They backed off,” he says. “No penalties. No disciplinary nonsense. Nothing.”

I stare at him.

“Vance agreed?” I ask.

“Reluctantly,” Nate admits. “But yeah.”