“You okay, Coach?” Linc tossed his equipment bag into the open belly of the bus and walked toward him. “There’s a weird thing going on with your face.”
“Holy shit, is he…smiling?” Russ smacked Linc’s chest as he dumped his duffel, too.
“Do we need to call someone, Coach?” Linc reached a hand toward Elliott’s forehead. “Do you have a fever?”
“Someone needs to check that hell hasn’t frozen over, man. This is pretty serious.”
Linc paused at the bottom of the steps to the bus. “I don’t think that grin is because of our epic comeback on the ice tonight, Russell. That grin is for a woman.” He shook his head slowly as though it were a terminal affliction. “Coach, is there a chance you’re wooing a lady?”
Russ snorted. “No one says wooing anymore, Linc. You need to get your head out of those historical romances you’re buddy reading with Cleo, man.”
Shrugging, Linc wagged a finger at his friend. “I won’t let you smut shame me, Russell Stewart.”
Russ chuckled. “Is it true, Coach? Is this…” He waved a hand at Elliott’s face. “Is this because of…?” He dropped his voice to a theatrical whisper. “A woman?”
Linc sang “dun, dun, duuuuuun” before dissolving into laughter.
Elliott couldn’t help but laugh with them, talking to Clare had brought a levity back into his life he hadn’t felt for so long. It wasn’t surprising his guys were picking up on it.
“In fairness, he’s been less…y’know…for a while now.” Linc looked everywhere but at Elliott.
Elliott folded his arms. “Less what, Lincoln?”
Linc held his hands up. “You know…” The kid’s face was starting to sizzle.
Russ shoved Linc’s shoulder. “Idiot. Stop talking before you end up skating your legs off doing laps at practice. What he means to say is, he’s glad to see you happy, Coach. Whoever she is, just don’t fuck it up. We have enough going on with Will and his woman right now.”
How the hell could he fuck it up when he hadn’t even gotten whateveritwas with Clare off the fucking ground? It was easy not to fuck something up when you couldn’t see each other. He couldn’t wait to see her. He was almost embarrassed by the flutter in his stomach, but that kiss had invaded his dreams every night for the past two weeks, and he ached to repeat it.
Linc pointed a finger at Elliott’s lips. “There it is again. She must be something special.”
“Are you taking her to prom?” Russ waggled his eyebrows. Will Morrison had masterminded a prom night as both a fundraiser for a local charityPippa’s Placeas well as a grand gesture to win back his girl. It gave everyone in the Snow Pirate’s circle an excuse to glam up and let their hair down for an evening. It felt like it was all anyone was talking about.
“If she says yes.” He shrugged. “Get your asses on the bus.She’swaiting for dinner.”
The two players whooped and hooted. “Atta boy, Coach. Virtual date. Romantic. I didn’t know you were the romantic type, Coach. I like it.” Linc nodded approvingly. “Are you sending her dinner?”
Elliott gave an almost imperceptible nod as the rest of the team pushed past the three of them and clambered into the bus.
Linc winked and cocked two finger guns. “Send her dessert.”
He hadn’t thought to send something sweet. But on the ride back to the hotel he ordered food for them, including dessert and picked up a couple of beers from the bar on the way up to his room.
Even with his chipper mood, his players knew better than to fuck around with curfew, but he checked and double checked that they were all in their rooms before taking his food from the DoorDash delivery guy and retreating to his room.
Clare: You sent a lot of food.
Elliott: What you mean to say is: thank you Eli.
Clare: No. What I mean to say is: you sent a lot of food.
Clare: Also, thank you.
Elliott: You’re welcome. I wasn’t sure if you had Mase and Cat this weekend, or if they had other plans. I didn’t want to leave them out.
Clare: You totally knew I was alone.
Elliott: Okay, fine. I figured sending enough to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
