I turn to face her. “Where did you learn to play like that?”
“My dad,” she shrugs. “He taught me everything I know.”
“He must know a lot. You are amazing on the ice. Do you play for the college?”
She hesitates for a moment before she answers in a soft voice, “No.”
I quirk my eyebrow in surprise. “Who do you play for then?”
“Uh, myself,” she says with a little more bravado.
“What does your dad think about that?”
She’s silent for a moment before she whispers, “He’s dead.”
“Oh, fuck. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“It’s okay. It’s been a long time.” Her eyes drift elsewhere.
“It’s not okay,” I share. “I’m sure it’s still hard.”
“It is,” her voice is soft, and I swear I’ve heard it before. But, where? “But whenever I play, especially like this, I think of him. I bet he’d love to know that I tied Bristol Bay’s third leading scorer in a pickup game.”
I clutch my chest, because before my string of bad games I clocked in at number one. “Ouch.”
“Three is nothing to sneeze at.” She turns and skates away from me, but then spins to face me and adds, “You’ll get back to number one soon.”
Let’s hope so. I’m not sure if I believe that’s true or not, but I can’t help but grin anyway.
Chapter Fourteen
Dallas
I line up the puck and shoot at the net. The goalie lifts his glove to stop the shot, but it sails past the top.
Goal!
The crowd erupts in cheers, and my teammates skate over to high-five me.
“You’re back!” Rosco yells as he pats my back.
“Damn straight!” I scream, pumping my arm in the air.
This is my second goal of the night in my first home game since my epic loss here just a few nights back. And skating with Ella.
Ella.
My mind drifts to her as I wonder if she’s watching the game or stuck working.
Now that we officially met the other night, I find myself searching for her every time I’m at this rink. She’s always here. Bustling around with her petite frame and golden curls, always extremely busy.
I glance over to the snack bar in the distance, but I can’t see anything.
Another teammate yells in my ear, and the energy is high for the rest of the night.
We end up winning 4-2, and it feels amazing.
I’m back, baby.
