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“Thanks!” I say to him and offer him a hand wave.
We turn our attention to the training. Bobby Banks is a machine and squares off with Chris Brooks quite often. Andrew is mostly doing assists and avoiding being body-checked, which I consider a win no matter what.
“Hey,” I turn to Tamara, only now realizing something. “Where are the other girls?”
She nods to acknowledge my question. “There’s an activity with the mascot in the family room for the smaller kids. All the moms with children are there.”
“Ow, Ali would love it,” I lament.
“She’ll have other chances,” Tamara smiles at me.
“I’m not so sure,” I say, wilting. “Andrew is thinking about retiring.”
“Oh!” now I have her undivided attention. “Because of his injury?”
“He says he wants to settle down with me and Alissa,” I say in a soft voice, and as I do, a wave of warmth goes through me and I can’t help but smile.
“I hope the boys win the Cup, then!” Tamara says, all cheerful. “It would be a nice send-off to him.”
And our boys keep on playing. The coach goes to the sideline, to call for time, and explain to them how he wants things done.
Tamara and I continue to cheer for our men. I hear a child crying and think it’s just somebody from the audience. However, I see Davies’ wife, Anna, sitting behind the players’ box, cradling her crying baby in her arms.
I go to her, leaning close to her little boy to rub his cheek.
“What happened, little guy?” I ask, caressing his thin baby hair.
“The hawk mascot was too much for him,” Anna says.
“Was that big hawk too scary?” I offer the baby my arms. He looks at me and pauses, thinking.
“Go ahead, sweetie,” Anna incentivizes him.
But he shies away, burying his face against his mom’s chest.
“Alissa used to do the same thing,” I say, still looking at him with awe. “I miss having a baby around!”
“Ugh, I look forward to him growing up,” she says, her eyes tired.
“How old is he?” I ask.
“Eight months,” Anna says with a smile.
“It’s nice you can spend so much time with him,” I tell her, impressed. “I had to leave Alissa with my parents at six months because I had to start looking for work again.”
“One of the many advantages of being taken care of is time for your little ones!” she says, a bit smug, but smiles sincerely.
“Yeah, they grow up so fast,” I say, my heart wrenching with how much I miss Alissa.
Anna yells out to her husband, “Keep pushing, babe!” and waves her free hand in the air. Davies turns around to blow her a kiss and shout something back, but he gets hit in the shins by Steinberg and falls flat on his face.
Coach Hanson calls time and I walk down to the sidelines to see if I can steal a kiss, and Andrew has the exact same idea and comes to me eager and happy as a clown.
“How am I doing?” he asks, holding me by the arm.
“Better by the minute,” I say, holding him by the collar.
We don’t get to kiss for long before we are interrupted.
