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“You see that, Coach?!” Troy yelled at me from across the ice.
“Yeah, buddy!” I called out, feeling myself cheesing hard. He finally nailed the Michigan Shot he and Canyon had been trying all week. The kid was definitely talented, seeing as they started trying it on Monday and he nailed it by Friday morning.
Canyon skated over to me by the boards then. “Dang Coach. You’re gonna have to show me something cooler now.” He let out a little chuckle, but I could tell he was feeling pretty bummed. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get this one,” he admitted.
I tapped his helmet. “You’ll get it. You just gotta keep trying.”
He pushed his helmet up a bit and cringed. “I don’t know…”
“Try again.” I nodded to the goalie. “Flick your wrists a bit faster like this.” I motioned to him.
As soon as Canyon skated off toward the net, my buddy Reggie, who was also assistant coaching for Grey, skated over and hopped up to sit on the boards next to me. He’d been playing for an AHL team in Texas for the past couple years and was back up here for the summer in order to coach and visit his family. He asked Max for a job a couple days after me. He was probably trying to escape his house because he forgot what it was like to live with three little sisters again.
“How’s it goin, bud?” he asked. He reached for a water bottle and squirted some in his mouth.
“Could be better. My toes feel like they’re going to freeze off.” That was the only part of my foot the cast didn’t cover. I needed to buy a fat person’s sock or something to be able to fit it over the whole thing.
“Sucks man,” he chuckled. “Is your head feelin’ any better at least?”
“Yeah, a bit,” I sighed. “I’ve stopped getting the spins which is a nice development.”
“Good to hear. So, you up for a drink later? We all go to Bullfrogs on Fridays.”
“Uh… who all goes?”
“All the instructors and some Ice Leaguers who’ve come back to hang with their parents for the summer. If you rounded up everyone around here for the summer, you’d probably be able to put together a pretty decent NHL team,” he snorted. That was probably true. The hockey world was small, and the high-caliber hockey world was even smaller. Almost everyone we played with growing up ended up in a pretty decent hockey position, whether that meant they were still playing or if they moved on to scouting or coaching. Now that the season was over, everyone was back here just hanging around.
While catching up with some of the boys sounded like a fun night, I looked down at my bum foot. “Uh… Can’t,” I responded.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Your foot is stopping you from sitting your ass on a barstool and drinking a beer?” he deadpanned.
“Nah, it’s stopped me from driving my ass,” I corrected him.
“Yeah… that must suck. Couldn't have broken your other one, eh?”
I side-eyed him, feeling annoyed.
“Okay, okay. I can come by your house and pick you up. It’s a date,” he winked at me. “What do ya say?”
“Yes!” I threw my arms up and accidentally dropped my crutches. Canyon finally nailed the shot. I heard kids’ cheers from across the rink, and Canyon did a little show of bowing toward me… The first thing that popped into my head was that I couldn’t wait to tell Claire about this little coaching triumph of mine after practice today…
Every day this week, I waited for her to finish up practicing with that douche-canoe to be able to walk out with her. I felt a weird vibe coming from him and didn’t feel comfortable leaving her in the rink with only him. While I knew the coaches were usually around, there were times when the two of them were alone… and something in the back of my brain just nagged me to stay… Plus, I’d been living for those few minutes when we could chat every day. We’d swap funny stories of the day, and I loved when she threw her head back laughing just like she used to…
Reggie chuckled next to me. “How does it feel to be the favorite Coach?”
“Nice consolation prize I guess.” I looked over at him. “And yeah, a drink could be good if you’d be willing to drive.”
After leaving the rink every day, I’d just been locked up in my parents’ house and pretty much dying of boredom and fighting myself over calling up Claire. I wanted to hang out with her so bad… but I didn’t want to complicate things. We had a nice friendship going, and I didn’t want to lead her on. I wouldn't cross that line with her again. I wasn’t a relationship guy, and I didn’t want to confuse her and end up hurting her all over again… Even though I’d give anything to be up in the work out room with her right now…
“Dude.” Reggie shoved my shoulder. “You’re supposed to be watching the ice, not the workout room.” His eyes traveled up to where I was looking, and I felt like pretending to have another dizzy spell just to distract him. No way did I want him to realize how hung up I was on her…
“Shit…” He gave me the side-eye. “Her again?” He laughed and shook his head.
“Shut it,” I grumbled defensively.
“You’ve got to be shitting me, bud!”
“What?”
