“I didn’t forget you.” Carlos poked two candy bars through. “Did I remember correctly?”
“You did. Thank you.” I blew him a kiss.
“You did good.” Hale took his. “Thanks.”
No one was on the ice now but those two. Though someone had set up an elaborate puck tower?
“Watch this. Carlos is always last and he always knocks over the tower,” AJ directed.
Dusty left the ice first. Sure enough, Carlos knocked over the tower of pucks with his stick before leaving. Everyone cheered. Someone in a Knights polo shirt started picking them all up.
“They take pucks off the ice and give them to kids in exchange for candy?” Saoirse held the chocolate bar up.
“Sometimes. Or other things. Dean often trades pucks for bread. Carlos recently traded a stick for a giant squirt gun,” Verity replied.
“Did you buy Dusty the hat?” I asked Saoirse.
“I did. At the festival. I didn’t expect him to wear it today,” she admitted.
“Do you have any good stories about Hale?” I asked Verity.
“So many. He came out causing trouble. Like newborn Hale caused a power outage at the hospital.” She laughed. “Let’s go to our seats. Hale and AJ can grab us more drinks.” Verity led us to another section where I recognized a number of faces from earlier.
We found our seats, which weren’t by Verity and AJ. Mercy, Grace, and Spencer were already there.
“Are you doing okay? Did you get enough to eat?” Saoirse asked me.
“I did. And I have snacks.” I pulled chips out of my purse. “Look at you making a friend.”
“I wasn’t expecting to meet someone in the special forces. Her wife is a forward like Carlos,” she replied.
What I wanted was a team full of those cute little kids in tiny Knights jerseys.
Hale returned with a beer for him and two glasses of wine. “I got it right? Pink and red.”
“Thank you. This is rather nice,” Saoirse said as Hale put his arm around me.
The lights dimmed and the intro started. First was the other team. Then our team came out.
Our team.I liked the sound of it. There was smoke, lasers, music,and the mascot pretending to ride a horse.
They announced the lineup. Carlos had a new jersey on.
“Tonight we welcome local musician BroKen. If you are joining us tomorrow morning for the charity game at Roganfort Center, you’ll see BroKen leading the team opposing the Knights. The Brooklyn Box Munchers is a local recreational team sponsored by the Box Munch Boxer Company. Please stand as BroKen sings the national anthem,” the announcer said.
Dusty skated out, waving to everyone.
“There’s your husband,” I teased Saoirse.
He sang, then they did the puck drop, and they were off.
Even though I’d watched hockey last night, I still didn’t really understand what was happening. I just watched as the players skated around with knives for feet, trying to get the puck in the net past a monster in pillows. Carlos was only out sometimes. They seemed to change often, going in and out without actually anyone telling them. At least that I could hear. There were also fights.
Lots of fights.
The period ended and we were winning. Dusty came out and sang a couple of songs and chased the mascot around the ice.
When he finished, the players came back out again, and it started up.
