Page 34 of Hard to Get

“I’ll go check on Mom,” I say with a feeling of dread in my stomach.

10

JAYDEN

Our season started as expected. We lost our home opener and then lost again on the road in Edmonton. Somehow, we managed a win against St. Louis at home. Now we’re on the road again with back-to-backs in Dallas and Chicago.

We leave Vancouver Wednesday morning so we have a day in Dallas for a short practice and then the rest of the day off. It would be a good time to hang out together and do some team bonding, but a lot of the guys disappear to their rooms. Some of them bring their game systems on trips, which is fun but doesn’t help bring us together.

What would happen if the team said no more gaming on road trips and forced us to socialize with each other? Probably a mutiny.

I like gaming, too, but it seems weird to me to do that in a hotel room when there are things to see in a different city. So I corral a few guys—LG, Cammy, and Sammy—into coming with me to a funky neighbourhood where we can wander around. We go into a sporting goods store but, of course, it’s almost all baseball stuff. We browse through a few vintage shops and an art gallery and end up at a barbecue restaurant for dinner. It’s a wide-open, noisy place with wood and brick walls and the menu on a chalkboard, but holy shit, the food is amazing. It’s hard not to overdo it on brisket and ribs and mac and cheese.

LG’s pretty down. He was made captain of the team this year, which caused some ruffled feathers for Abby, who was captain the last three years. It’s been a challenge not only because of our losing record but because LG had to take on a leadership role with some guys who don’t think it should be him.

“Our defence sucks,” he says, looking at the rib in his hands as if it personally wronged him.

“Thanks,” I say dryly.

“At least you show up,” he says. “Our goaltending hasn’t been great either. Fuck, I hate saying it. Frosty was shaky the other night.”

“It’s confidence,” I say. “We gotta play better in front of him. And I include myself in that.”

“Not me,” Cammy says with a scowl. He’s my new defence partner.

“You’re not perfect, man,” I say.

He gives me a disdainful look. His superior attitude because he came from a Stanley Cup winning team to this is annoying. Then again, I can’t totally blame him.

“You played great against the Rams,” LG says to Sammy.

Sammy gives a crooked smile. “Thanks. Not everyone agreed.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You mean Bish.”

He drops his eyes.

“What did he say to you?” I saw them having some kind of discussion as we were leaving the ice.

“Nothing.”

I don’t want to force it, but the fact that he won’t tell us means it was something shitty.

“How’s your knee?” I ask him.

Last year, he played with tendinitis from Christmas break to the end of the season. It slowed him down and affected his performance. After starting the season with fifty-five points in forty-nine games, I think he only managed about twenty points in the last thirty-three games of the season.

“It’s good,” he says. “I needed the time off over the summer. Just needed rest.”

I hope that’s true. He never said anything about the knee until near the end of the season last year and, of course, everyone was on his ass about how he was playing. Especially Bish.

I catch LG’s eye and I know we’re thinking the same things.

“What do we have to do to beat Dallas tomorrow night?” I ask.

“They have a great forecheck,” Sammy says. “We need to use the neutral zone when their forecheck breaks down. Move the puck fast.”

“Finn can do that,” I say.