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West and his father weren't on good terms, and there had been a falling out before he'd made things official with Penn.
"I'm not sure. I imagine he'd fly in from New York for a few games, but he hasn't reached out to West. His mom isn't here today, but she's coming to the next game." Penn gave Holly a curious look. "Do you know anything about Eli's family? He never talks about them."
Holly shifted uncomfortably in her seat and stared out over the ice at the Kingsnakes players taking shots on the net. She'd promised Eli she wouldn't say anything about his family, and it was one she'd keep, even if it meant not being completely upfront with Penn.
"He doesn't talk about his family. He's pretty close-lipped about that stuff."
"Do you know if they're here at the game?"
"I don't think they are."
"You mean he doesn't have anyone here cheering for him?" Penn asked, her mouth dropping open. "That's awful."
"Yeah."
Penn was right. It did suck, and it had to make him feel bad that he didn't have family here in the stands. "Well, he has us, right?"
"It's not the same," Penn murmured. "But yeah, he has us."
San Jose came out to warm up on the other side of the ice, and they were met with vehement boos and jeers from the crowd. The Vegas fans banged on the glass and hurled insults at them as they skated past.
"Wow. Kingsnakes fans don't play," Holly muttered.
"We'll get it just as bad from their fans when we go back to their arena," Zoe chimed in, waving a hand dismissively. "Trust me, this is nothing."
Holly pulled out her phone to take a few notes on the atmosphere for the feature, pausing to study everything that was going on.
Fans huddled around the glass, turning their backs to the rink and taking selfies with players who stood nearby.
She snorted with laughter when Eli photobombed a guy and his girlfriend. He skated up behind them and gave them a huge, cheesy grin.
As the team warmed up, she couldn't help but notice that he was the one who always put a smile on another player's face, either by joking around or with his crazy antics.
He hadn't been kidding about being the guy who kept things loose. Obviously, that attitude carried from the locker room out here onto the ice.
"You'd never guess he was about to start an important series," Holly murmured as he tossed a puck over the glass to a little boy.
"He always picks a kid out of the crowd before a game," Nic told her. "Lots of guys do that occasionally, but Eli does it every single game. The fans know to watch for it."
Eli's face lit up as much as the boy's when the kid caught it. He touched the glass with his glove, and the little boy held up his hand and did the same. It reminded her of their time with Hunter at Castle's Cupcakes. He was so genuine with little kids.
"And then there's my husband," Zoe commented, pointing at Ryder, whose expression resembled a general about to go into battle. "So focused and serious."
"West is always the same, playoffs or not. Same rituals, same everything," Penn told Zoe. "It never changes."
"Because goalies are weird and superstitious," Nic said, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth. "It's their nature."
"I won't argue with that," Penn replied. "Fally looks as serious as Ryder though, Nic. That's unusual. He's usually more relaxed."
"He's worried about this series," Nic confided. "He'll never admit it, though. Not to me, anyway."
"Hello, Penn. You didn't introduce us to your friend."
Holly glanced up into the watchful, light blue eyes of Sam London's infamous girlfriend, Shay, who stood in the row in front of theirs.
Oh, here we go.
Shay gave Holly a quick once-over, her shrewd gaze assessing. She was probably itemizing every article of clothing and finding it lacking.
