Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I have been training for the past two months for this moment, right here. I told myself I would pretend I was okay. I told myself I would treat him just as I had been before that night. I told myself all these things, but everything is out the window when I see him skating toward the glass. He slams into the glass and smiles at the kids as they yell, and then it happens. It’s like I’m standing in the middle of the train track with the train coming full force at me, and I’m not moving. His eyes find mine, and it’s like he’s in shock when he sees me. It lasts one second, or maybe it’s even less, before he skates off.
I swallow down the lump and turn to see Erika. “Can you take Penelope back up?” She looks at me, worried.
“Are you okay?” she asks, and I blink the tears, but one escapes.
“Yeah, just too much seeing the kids with their dads.” I play it off, and she gives me a hug. “I’m going to head out. Can you tell them?” She nods her head at me as I turn and walk out of the arena, leaving my whole heart behind.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
TRISTAN
I knew this moment would be coming. I was bracing for it. I have been preparing for this moment like a soldier prepares for going to battle in the war. But I’m sure, like most soldiers, I was not ready. Looking up and seeing her there shocked me. I couldn’t look at her long without my chest feeling like an elephant decided it would be a nice spot to sit. I quickly turned around and skated off the ice. My heart in my throat, beating so erratically, I almost went to Chase and told him I was probably having a heart attack.
But instead, I just went to sit in my spot in the locker room, my head hanging forward as I replayed that conversation I had with Dylan a month ago when he told me she was pregnant. I tried not to show how affected I was.
“What do you mean she’s pregnant?” I blurted out. My mouth had gone so dry it was as if fifteen cotton balls were stuck there.
“I think it’s self-explanatory. She is with child.” Michael laughed at my questions, and it made everyone chuckle.
“We don’t even know the guy,” Dylan hissed, and I think at that point, I had raised my hand to massage my chest. I can’t explain how my heart shattered in my chest. All I know is I looked down and expected to see my shirt soaked with blood. It was at this point I got up and walked out of the room, not sure I wanted to hear what else was said.
“Hey,” Xavier says, coming back into the room huffing as he takes off his gloves and grabs a bottle of water. “Penelope was looking for you.”
“Yeah, had to use the bathroom,” I tell him, and he just nods as the rest of the guys start filling in the room.
It’s the season opener, which means the home crowd is usually the loudest. There are all sorts of activities outside and even inside. “Okay, we have to line up,” Cooper says, getting up. “Let’s make the crowd happy tonight.”
We all get up, making our way out to the hallway and down to where we are going to walk out. The team is going to be announced to everyone by number. I line up, and I know that whatever I have going on inside now has to be shut off. I have to get in the zone. I focus my eyes forward as the coaching staff is announced. I bounce on one foot and then another as the team is announced. Slowly, we make our way down the line until I’m standing at the door. The arena is in the darkness, only the spotlight following whoever is being announced from the door to the middle of the ice. The crowd goes nuts with every single person. I hear the announcer say my number, and I know they are playing some highlights of me from last year on the Jumbotron.
When he says my name, I walk down toward the entrance and slide onto the ice, holding up my hand to say hello to twenty thousand people. The sound of cheering and clapping is almost deafening as I stop in the middle of the ice, making sure to turn around to greet everyone before I skate back to the bench.
I sit on the bench until the rest of the team is announced. The minute the national anthem has been sung, I close off my mind. It’s the only time I do, and for these two hours, I focus on one thing and one thing only. Making sure we don’t lose our season opener because nothing sucks more in life than losing at home, especially big games.