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Captain Hook gains possession near the neutral zone and takes off back the way we just came. He rushes toward the net, but somehow his shot goes wide. Donny is in position for the rebound, but the goalie gloves it. That’s been our luck all game. The goalie isn’t letting anything past him, despite all the shots we’re throwing at him.
We’re on the bench for a breather while another line is on the ice for a shift. Scotty just received a pass from EJ, but my eyes are on Z and one of the Mustangs’s D-men. He’s all over Z, shoving, slashing, and annoying the hell out of him, and they aren’t that close to the play. Z needs to start giving back some of what he’s getting; you can’t let anyone walk over you. They separate a bit just after they cross over the blue line into the Mustangs’s zone and then the D-man is on Z’s heels as the puck ends up coming his way. Not sure how since I wasn’t paying attention to other areas of the ice.
The D-man seems to skate faster as Z is angling to come behind the net. They collide and both go into the boards. The D-man is quick to get up, snatch the free puck, but Z hasn’t gotten up just yet. Bruiser is on that D-man before he can pass a face-off dot, his gloves thrown on the ice, and fists swinging while one ref goes toward Z who is getting to his feet while another goes toward the fighting duo. I glance up at the jumbotron and see a replay of Z’s head knocking the boards. Fuck. Head injuries, even the possible ones, are scary as hell. Zane walks straight down the tunnel; they’ll be worried about a concussion for sure.
Bruiser and the D-man are both put into the penalty box. Time for a four-on-four...where nothing is accomplished. The period continues to wind down and Jeffery Olsen, or Olsey, is the one who tallies our first goal for us with one minute left to go in the period. The energy on the bench has shifted with just that one goal, especially knowing that we might be down a man because of one of their hits.
During intermission, Coach Mike is going over what he wants to see from us in the next period when Z comes into the locker room. Everything must seem good so far if he’s returning for the third period.
“You good?” Coach Mike asks.
“I’m good,” Z confirms before taking his seat next to Bruiser. They bump fists and Z nods to him. Maybe Ian has finally made a friend.
Back on the ice for the third period, the Mustangs win the face-off. They power their way down the ice and Captain Hook gets himself a hooking penalty. Perfect start to the period. Rams and I keep the puck out of our zone, but they turn around and bring it back within thirty seconds because turnover
s are happening.
Our shift just ends and a new line takes the ice when they score. Fucking great. The Mustangs end up scoring two more times for us to lose six-one. What I don’t know is that this is the start of a losing streak.
Elizabeth opens the door looking like a hot mess. Her hair is pulled up into a small ponytail, there’s flour on her face and the shirt I gave her, and she looks frazzled. “Why are you staring at me? I can’t just leave them to their own devices. Come on.”
She turns without waiting for a response. The twins are sitting at her table, which looks like a disaster zone.
“Hey, y’all,” I say.
Elizabeth’s neck nearly breaks, but I just grin. Stephanie looks up and high-fives me with a floury hand and half-shouts a hello while Stella ignores me. I take a seat next to her. When Elizabeth comes back to the table, I grab her wrist.
“Where’s my proper hello?”
Her eyes flick to the girls, but all I’m asking for is a simple kiss. Hell, she can kiss me on the cheek if she wants, but I’m getting a kiss. She hesitates for a good five seconds before leaning down to quickly kiss me on the lips.
“Ewwwwww!” Stephanie erupts. “You kissed Daddy’s teammate, Aunt Lizzy! Are you his girlfriend? Is that why you’re wearing his shirt? You said it was because you liked watching him play.” She eyes Elizabeth with a shit load of skepticism for a five-year-old.
“Yes, I’m his girlfriend, but no, that’s not why I’m wearing his shirt. Let’s focus on getting these cookies on the pan. The others are almost ready to decorate.” Elizabeth takes over to get cookies on the pan, in the oven, and then there are cookies in the shapes of flowers in front of us along with fresh icing in all sorts of colors and sprinkles. She gives the girls plastic knifes and tells them to go for it. “Stella, maybe you should help Marc. He’s not very good at this kind of thing.”
Stephanie giggles.
I start making sloppy work of one cookie, which makes Stella frown. She shakes her head.
“Like this.” She isn’t so careful about putting the icing on, but she takes her finger around the edge of the cookie to wipe up the excess and the licks it off. “Then it looks pretty.”
“You, my dear Stella, are a genius!” I admonish.
“That was my idea!” Stephanie insists.
“Nuh-uh!” Stella fires back.
“Girls, let’s focus on making pretty cookies,” Elizabeth interrupts before they can start bickering.
They’re quiet for only a few seconds. I decide to use the opportunity to win over Stella. “What color sprinkles should I use for the flower, Stella?”
“Pink.” She grabs the bottle and shakes it over my flower.
“Thanks.” I alternate between her and Stephanie, asking for their help, and making sure I don’t show too much attention to Stella, even though I’m doing my best to earn all the brownie points.
Stella surprises us when she asks, “Is Marco having a sleepover too?”
“No,” Elizabeth quickly answers.
