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Most of the guys on the team were a decade younger than him, and Elio felt the disconnect. These days, he typically opted to head home after a single celebratory beer or two, letting the young bucks party until the wee hours.
“It’s about time you got your ass back to town.” Elio had been looking forward to this reunion with his old teammate. “Miss your ugly mug.”
“Same,” Alex said, as they sat down. “And I’m glad this first round—which I’m buying—is for a win, and not to drown our sorrows over a loss to fucking Carolina.”
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Padraig Collins, the bartender, walked over to take Alex’s drink order and chat for a few moments.
Elio and Alex had shared hotel rooms together whenever they were on the road during his early days with Baltimore. Then, at the end of one season, Alex had headed to Vegas to attend the wedding of a friend and returned with a bride of his own.
Alex’s wife, Charley, wrote children’s books and for the first year of their marriage, she’d traveled with the team a good bit, able to write on the road. Of course, that was before she got pregnant and had a daughter. After that, Alex hung up his skates, opting to become a full-time husband and father.
When Elio had learned his old teammate and friend was going to be in Baltimore this weekend, one of the stops in Charley’s latest book tour, Elio invited him for a drink after the game. Sitting here with Alex, listening to him and Padraig chatting about hockey, felt like old times.
Originally, Elio’s invitation had sprung from the desire to talk to Alex about life after hockey, curious to see if his friend was happy with the decision he’d made, if he had any regrets.
Now…there were other things he wanted to discuss as well. The problem was, he didn’t want to show his hand in front of Preston, who’d invited himself along at the last minute when he found out Alex was in town. Until Elio made a solid decision about his future with Baltimore, he wasn’t saying a word to anyone on the team. Preston was trustworthy, but Elio wasn’t willing to test it. Hockey players gossiped more than a bunch of old women.
“How’s life going? Those two girls of yours keeping you hopping?” Elio asked, when Padraig returned to the bar to get Alex’s drink. Alex and Charley had welcomed daughter number two a year earlier, and Elio had enjoyed giving his friend shit about his looming future, about all the boys who were going to come sniffing around during the teen years.
“Charley and I were just saying yesterday that we should have stopped with one. Because while the parent/kid numbers are even, we’re still outnumbered. Badly. Of course, it doesn’t help that Olivia was the perfect baby. Our expectations were definitely ill-formed when Katherine came along.”
Elio chuckled. “She still giving you a run for your money? Last I heard, she was resistant to the car seat.”
“Car seat?” Preston asked curiously.
Alex gave their friend the short version of the story he’d regaled Elio with during a phone call a couple months earlier. “She scream-cried in the car for six hours straight when we were driving home from a trip to Niagara Falls.”
“Six hours?” Preston sounded as horrified as Elio had felt when Alex told him about the trip.
“Without a single break,” Alex added. “We kept thinking she would fall asleep, but nope. My girl is made of stronger stuff. And her stuff hates the car seat. Now that she’s started walking, I can’t remember the last time I’ve managed to relax in my recliner for more than five minutes in a row. She’s into everything. I had to repaint the upstairs hallway when she escaped the crib and got her hands on a Sharpie marker.”
Despite everything he was saying, Alex was grinning from ear to ear, and it occurred to Elio, he’d never seen the guy happier. Ever. And they’d won the Stanley Cup together.
“Better you than me,” Preston said, rising. “Hey, give me a minute. I gotta go see a man about a horse,” he joked, walking to the restroom.
“So no regrets on the Mr. Mom gig, huh?” Elio asked, deciding to make the most of these few minutes alone with Alex.
Alex shook his head. “Not a single one. Marrying Charley and having those girls was the best thing I ever did.”
“And you don’t miss the game?”
Alex lifted one shoulder, shrugging casually. “Sure, there are times when I’m watching and wishing I was back out there. Then Olivia comes over, crawls in my lap, lays her head on my chest, and I realize I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. Besides, you’ve met my wife. If I feel the need to get my ass handed to me on the ice, I just head to the rink with her and let her remind me why it’s probably a good thing I retired.”
Elio chuckled. Charley had apparently been quite a tomboy when they were growing up, she and Alex playing on the same youth hockey leagues. According to Alex, she could still give him a run for his money on the ice.
“So it was the right decision?”
“One hundred percent. You know, I’d ask about your collarbone, but I saw you score that goal tonight. That puck was flying fast enough, it should have had a flight attendant on board.”
“I feel great. Back in fighting shape. Although, I must admit I didn’t mind not being on the road with the team the last couple of months. Gets old traveling with a bunch of smelly-ass men, snoring, farting, and adjusting their junk every five seconds.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “What? Did Elio Moretti just say life on the road was getting old? Never thought I’d see the day you’d ever say a negative word about our beloved hockey.”
The old Elio would have picked up the challenge his friend laid down, insisting that there was nothing on earth better than the game. This time, he simply remained quiet.
And because Alex had always been a very good friend, he noticed. “Hang on a second. Are you thinking about retiring from the game?”
Elio nodded. “I’ve been giving it some thought lately.”
