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“Oh,” Mom had eventually said. “Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Does Michelle know? Not that it would matter. I don’t think.”

Eli didn’t think so either—his sister was engaged. Why would she care who Nolan dated now?

It might make for awkward family get-togethers though. From Michelle’s perspective, her ex was now dating her brother. Was there an etiquette handbook for that?

“She doesn’t know,” Eli had said. “I’ll tell her eventually.”

At some point. Later. In the far-distant future. On his long-ass to-do list, it was selfishly waaaaaaay down at the bottom.

Currently, he was trying to win against Seattle, so he wasn’t sure why he was thinking about his sister in the first place. Apparently, his ability to compartmentalize had abandoned him last season along with his skills.

Swell.

The Trailblazers were down by two in the middle of the third period, which the home crowd was absolutely loving. In goal, Matty Coates was beyond furious—at himself and at his D-men, but mostly at Seattle’s strong forwards. The Trailblazers weren’t playing badly by any means.

Seattle was just better.

“Go ahead,” Eli heard Matty Coates yell at one of the Seattle players. “Try it. Just try scoring on me again, you punk.”

Eli laughed as he rounded the net with the puck. Punk? He was going to tease his teammate about that so much.

Eli passed to Deeley, determined to get the puck through the neutral zone and away from his goaltender. Deeley promptly lost it, but Michael Hughes got it back.

The puck landed on Eli’s tape again, and—holy shit! He had an opening.

This breakaway was his.

Fueled by determination and his teammates at his back, Eli flew down the ice.

And tripped.

Right over the blue line into the offensive zone.

The puck went wide.

Eli’s stick went in the other direction.

And he wanted to cry.

Over the course of his career, he’d had many moments of self-doubt. But for perhaps the first time in his life, he wanted to find a hole and hide.

He could only imagine what people would say about this further proof of his sophomore slump.

Eli Parker forgets how to skate.

Double swell.

He was, evidently, the only one dwelling on his lackluster performance, because when the game ended with a loss for the Trailblazers, no one mentioned Eli’s slip or the fact that he’d fucked up a perfect scoring opportunity. They just went about their business like this was any other loss, which, in its own way, was refreshing.

In another, Eli just wanted someone to call him out on his mediocrity. Maybe he’d feel better about it all if someone yelled at him.

Showered and back in the locker room, he dressed before grabbing a snack from the post-game meal spread that had been laid out on a folding table in an adjacent hallway.

“Bus leaves in twenty minutes,” Deeley told him. “Are you riding with us?”

“I am, but I’m getting dropped off at Departures. I get to fly commercial to Vancouver.”

“Fun.”