Page 134 of The Goalie in Room 1

Cash stopped arguing.

I laughed.

He looked through the glass and flipped me off.

Several minutes later, he came through the door wearing skate guards and carrying his helmet. Sweat dampened his hair, and his face was still red from the cold.

“Well?” he asked.

I stood. “Well, what?”

“How did I look?”

The medical answers came automatically. Cautious. Stiff through the turn. Protective of the right side.

None of them belonged to me anymore.

I stepped closer and cupped his face. “Happy,” I said. “You looked happy.”

Cash looked back at the ice. That calculating goalie gaze locked on the empty expanse. “Yeah.” His smile returned. “I fucking was.”

I kissed him, his hands fisting in the sweatshirt I had on. When he pulled away, he looked back at the ice, then at me. “I love you, Doc.”

“I love you too, kid.”

Matteo yelled, “You can canoodle and suck face later. We’ve got patients waiting at the office.”

EPILOGUE

CASH

The smell of the locker room welcomed me like an old friend and embraced me in a warm hug. I dropped my gear bag on the floor next to the goalie cubby. Stripping off my street clothes, I pulled on my gitch, working methodically, still fumbling a bit as I dusted off the rustiness of the ritual.

Today wasn’t my first day back on the ice since the surgery, but today felt different. Because it was different. I hadn’t been on the ice with anyone else in so fucking long, and today that changed. The treatment team had cleared me for more months ago.

More speed.

More intensity.

More goalie-specific work if I wanted it.

I’d just hadn’t bothered doing much with the permission.

The locker room door opened, and Thad walked in carrying a hockey bag.

“Doc, what are you doing here?” I asked. “How⁠—”

“I have my ways, brat.”

My gaze dropped to the bag in his hand. “Wait. Are you fucking skating?”

His mouth curved. “Maybe.”

Then he stepped out of the way, and my breath caught in my throat.

“Aiden?”

His bag hit the floor in the middle of the room, and he came toward me with a smile. I surged to my feet a moment later, and he pulled me into his arms.