Page 119 of Against The Boards

Dad took my gear bag and hefted it over his large shoulder. “Nope, we’ll ride with you. We can talk about all those dropped passes you made in the first period.”

“Hon!” Mom scolded.

I shook my head. Of course, my father, a Stanley Cup winner, wanted to break down all my mistakes in my game. Even though I scored the game-winning goal.

I let Dad talk while we got into my little Honda Civic and drove over to the bar. The rink I played at was on the other side of Philly, which was a pain since the team always went to Eileen’s after a game.

When we got to the bar, my parents sat at the bar and struck up a conversation with Halvard Holmstrom. Despite being the owner, Hal was hands-on at the bar. I think he just liked to talk hockey with all the fans and players who frequented his bar.

I found my teammates in our usual booth in the back. Eddie Mezzanetti gave me a hug. “Let me grab you a beer.”

I grimaced. “Sorry, my parents surprised me, so I’m gonna hang with them.”

He waved me off. “I get it, but let me buy you a beer first for scoring that game-winning goal.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

I introduced Eddie to my parents while he bought me a beer, and eventually, he wandered off back to the team.

“Are you in town long?” I asked my parents while I watched the Bulldogs game on the TV above the bar.

“The weekend,” Mom said.

I nodded. “Okay, let’s do dinner tomorrow?”

Dad nodded. “We can go over what you need to work on next season.”

“Don’t listen to your father. You looked good on the ice,” Mom said.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said and tipped more beer into my mouth.

Dad would be the annoying hockey coach now that I was playing again. I understood why Tristan complained about his pointers now.

“But…” she said and trailed off.

I narrowed my eyes. “But what?”

“You should play professionally!” Dad said.

I shook my head at him.

I hung with my parents at the bar, watching the rest of the game and the post-game interviews. I beamed while watching Benny doing his post-game interview.

A little while later, I saw Dinah and Fi enter the bar with a couple of the other WAGs. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the team showed up. I wanted to be in my bed, but Benny had been on the road all week, and I wanted to see him. I was willing to lose sleep if that meant I got to see him.

When I saw him enter the bar a little while later, I jumped up from my seat. His dark brown eyes honed in on me, and he smiled when I ran over and jumped into his arms.

“Missed you,” I whispered into his ear as I nuzzled into his neck.

He laughed and held onto my hips tightly. “I missed you so much, Rox.”

“You’re here!” I cheered happily.

He pushed my hair out of my face. “I raced out of the locker room as soon as I could. I heard you won.”

I nodded. “I got the game-winning goal.”

He gently put me back down on the ground. “I wished I could have seen it, angel.”