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He hit the ice like he hadn’t been playing two periods of fast, brutal hockey. So fresh. So ready. He wanted to take advantage of a defense that was getting tired keeping up with them. Novek came out, hockey hair flowing behind him. You could see his mouth moving as he skated past the Sea Titans.
Novek was a golden-tongued trash talker. Even I had to tip my hat to him.
“That’s right, baby. You got this,” I muttered to myself. My palms flat against the glass as if I could mind meld with him. “You own them. Now make them pay for all that hard work you did. You show them what your wife taught you.”
The game started.
Uncharacteristically, Dillon lost the face off, but Skalsberg stripped it right off the Titans. Dillon came back on the ice, accelerated through the line with the puck, passed it to Cody on his right, Cody passed it back out to Novek on the left.
And…I could see it happen. Like a puzzle falling into place. Dillon picked his spot, skated circles around every defender. He found an opening, Novek met him with the puck…
Slapshot and score!
* * *
Dillon
“Where’s my woman?!”I shouted, looking around the throng of family members and friends just outside the locker room, waiting to celebrate with the team.
I didn’t have to wait long before Liv was jumping into my arms.
“I’m not a woman, I’m your wife!” she shouted, as she showered my bearded face with kisses. It was an old joke between us, a line from a movie she got wrong, but refused to admit. “You were badass tonight, babe. A game seven hat trick? Eat that, Gretsky.”
“That third one was for you,” I said, burying my face in her sweet-smelling neck. I’d joined a very small, very elite group tonight and it was some heady shit. I felt like I was floating. “Did you see my sign?”
Liv unwrapped her legs from around my waist and hopped off me. She moved her index finger in a circle, making the turnaround sign. The same sign I made every time I scored for her. I didn’t dedicate every goal to her, otherwise it wouldn’t matter as much. But the special ones… they were all for Liv.
“Show me, babe,” I said.
She turned around, her back to me. The Heart in big white letters on the back of her jersey.
It’s where mine lived these days. Not in my chest, not for the game, my heart belonged to Liv.
The crazy part about the whole thing was that as much as I thought love might be a distraction, it turned out to be the opposite. Liv didn’t take away anything from my game, she only elevated it. Not just with her coaching techniques, which had clearly helped, but her presence in my life.
I was a better man because of her. Which made me a better leader. A better teammate. A better brother. A better friend.
More importantly, I’d just won the Stanley Cup, the greatest achievement I could accomplish in this game that I loved. But sharing it with Liv? Getting to go home with her to celebrate? That was the victory.
Someone should have told me how much fun having a wife was going to be. Guys never talked about that part.
But maybe it was because my wife was so much fucking fun.
“Let’s go home and celebrate,” I said.
“Yes!”
“I’ll let you shave my beard,” I told her.
“Ah,” she said, rubbing my fuzzy face. “I was sort of getting used to you this way.”
“Babe, you just like it when I go down on you with all my scruff,” I whispered into her ear. “I’ll do that before I let you shave it.”
“Awesome idea, Cap,” she said “But you know we’re not doing any of that. We’re headed back to the Gull for a huge party. Wendy has already left to get ready. Half the team, all of our families and most of Calico Cove is planning on being there.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “It’s going to be like the wedding all over again. You need to tell Billy he can’t spend the whole time gaping at Carrie. Or he’s bound to get his ass kicked.”
“On it.”
