Page 50 of Home of the Brave

“You know, Salt Lake––” Hartman started, but Amelia interrupted.

“Let her eat in peace,” she shook her head with a small smile. “You don’t need to try to recruit her.”

Hartman shrugged. “I was just going to talk about how nice the weather is.”

“And the nature,” Erik added.

“Yeah, great place to live,” Derek joined in.

“I’ve been, remember?” Victoria was grinning. “It’s a very nice place.”

“You should come back,” Hartman encouraged. “Visit the rest of the team.”

She cocked her head. “I’ll try to squeeze that in with everything else I have to do.”

“Yeah, you––”

“What was your goal song?” I cut Erik off to hopefully distract them and give her a chance to escape their weird pressure.

She laughed. “All I Do is Win.”

I froze, “That’s mine.”

“You’re a goalie, why do you have a song?”

“Just in case,” I defended. “I have scored two goals, by the way.”

Erik laughed. “And each of them was pretty epic.”

“Really? Empty netters?’

“One,” I grinned. “The other was pure magic.”

“I’m sure I can find the clip,” Hartman pulled out his phone.

We fell into sharing stories about our favorite goals and impossible passes, eating and laughing rather than focusing too much on any one of us. She fit right in, joking and teasing. I liked seeing her here; it felt as though she belonged.

13

VICTORIA

“You really miss it, don’t you?”

I startled and tilted my head up in time for Josh to fall into the seat next to me.

“How did you find me?” I was purposely sitting in the very back row so I wouldn’t draw attention. Since I got to the practice arena early, I decided to watch the women.

He shrugged, keeping his attention on the ice.

I settled back and finally answered his question. “Every single day.”

“I looked up your stats. You were really good.”

I turned to him, “You looked me up?”

“As if you don’t do the same to all of us,” he smirked.

“Because it’s required for my job.”