Page 232 of On His Team

“What thing?”

“Pacing.”

“I’m not pacing.”

“You’ve passed me six times. Gianna.”

Minnesota dumps the puck into Camden’s end.

Rowan goes back for it. I know the way he moves now. Not enough to understand everything happening on the ice, but enough to recognize him before the camera finds the number on his back. He turns his head once before he reaches the puck. Then again. The forechecker comes hard. Rowan doesn’t rush. He pulls the puck behind the net, waits for the lane that isn’t there on the first look, then moves it up cleanly when the second one opens.

Camden gets through neutral ice. The puck cycles back high. Rowan has it again. He sends it across. The next pass goes down low, somebody redirects it toward the middle, and the whole play collapses into bodies in front of the net.

For half a second, I lose the puck. Then the red light comes on.

The room erupts. I scream before I even know who scored. Lucy grabs me from one side, Aspen from the other. Mara jumps up so quickly the pillow goes flying behind her.

On TV, Stanley is over the boards. Camden’s bench empties toward the corner.

3-2. Overtime.

They’re going to the Big Ten championship.

The replay starts.

Aspen points at the screen. “Rowan.”

“I know!”

“No, look.”

I look.

There he is at the beginning of it. His pass starts the sequence. Another angle shows it again. Rowan sees the ice, waits, moves it across, and three touches later the puck is in the net. Primary assist.

I put both hands over my mouth. Then I point at the television like he can see me through it.

“That’s my boyfriend!”

Mara starts laughing. “Yes, Gianna. We are aware.”

“MY BOYFRIEND.”

The broadcast cuts to Rowan on the bench, and somebody is hitting the top of his helmet while he smiles in that small way he does when he is trying not to look as happy as he actually is.

Another win. Another week. More time.

My phone buzzes less than twenty minutes after the broadcast ends.

Rowan: You still up?

I stare at it.

Me: NO, I WENT TO BED DURING OVERTIME!

The dots appear.

Rowan: Okay.