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The puck drops, and Evan gets ahold of it.
“Why is he shooting it back?” I let out my inner hooligan as the puck lands deep in the Monarchs’ zone. Blake, Sid, and Evan get tangled up in a scrum of opposing players along the blue line.
Munns thumps the puck back onto the line, and even though the ice is practically clear, I lose sight of it. Our entire offense is surrounded by opposing players.
A defenseman pushes his way out of the chaos with the puck and skates toward the opponent’s goal from the right. Spears and a few opponents follow him on the left side. The defenseman passes. The camera captures the puck on Spears’s blade. Without stopping the puck, he slams it between the goalie’s legs as the goalie is still moving backward. Spears reacts so quickly that the puck might as well have been a baseball.
The buzzer sounds, and we jump to our feet cheering.
What just happened? The announcer is shouting too. “Seven seconds. Seven seconds. It took them seven seconds.”
“Is it over?” I shout, hoping my body can finally relax.
“They won.” Carly is the only one of us who has any idea what’s going on.
“All that nerve-racking tension, for that one play?” I run my good hand through my hair.
Ricky is jumping up and down, and I stare at the screen, completely dumbfounded. The players on the bench rush onto the ice. Everyone is cheering, the opposing team is leaving the arena, camera crews are coming onto the ice, a sort of stage is being set up. And I’m trying to spot Evan.
His dream has come true.
Tears of joy well up in my eyes. My cheeks grow hot, and I don’t know what to do with all this happiness.
Carly and Ricky hug me. It’s getting harder and harder to hold back the tears.
The camera pans to Blake and Evan, who are shaking each other in a strange, bromantic hug, which makes me laugh.
“They look so happy.” Carly sounds moved.
Nodding, I turn to her. “It’s been their dream ever since they first stepped onto the ice rink.”
In silence, we watch as Blake is presented with the Cup and he raises it high above his head.
The team stands around him, cheering. One by one, everyone wants to touch the trophy, hold it, and parade it around. When it’s Evan’s turn, he looks straight into the camera. It seems as if he’s staring right at me. My heart is pounding so hard that I get dizzy.
No matter what the future holds for us, I couldn’t be happier that this wonderful man has achieved his life’s goal. Even without the Cup, he would have found a way to live a fulfilling life, but not having to wonder what that would be like is a gift.
Slowly, the festivities expand, and family and friends are allowed onto the ice. I recognize Katleen and Valentina.
There’s a bittersweet tinge to this sight.
I’ll probably never be on the ice with him.
Aside from the fact that Evan couldn’t handle his private life being so much in the spotlight, he’d have to win the Cup all over again. The thought makes me smile.
“There’s Joni and Evan’s mom.” I point at Evan, who’s being embraced by his family. What a moment.
The crowd cheers for the team.
“A home win is, of course, amazing,” Ricky exclaims, flopping back down on the sofa. Exhausted, I sit next to him.
“Would you like to be there right now?” Carly asks me.
Shaking my head, I lean back while continuing to watch the screen. “No. It’s too risky for me after the accident. My head’s fine, but I don’t want to put it through that. And besides, what would I be doing there? I’d be at the arena, sure, but . . . ”
“You’re right. It’s nicer here with us.” She nudges me and we laugh.
It was nicer and less stressful here. But the most important thing about this evening is that my man will be coming home to me later. What’s shown on camera doesn’t mean as much to me as what we truly share with each other.
