Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
My grandfather hugs him and then comes over to me. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” I reply out of frustration, and he just laughs at me. “I’m not fine, fine, but I’m going to pretend I am.”
“Well, if it helps,” he says, “you aren’t doing a good job at it.” I can’t help but laugh, and slowly, the room starts to fill with more and more people. When it’s time for the skate, I walk down with the kids standing next to the glass.
He skates out after Cooper, coming over to the side and seeing me, his jersey pushed up his arms. He gives me a chin lift when he sees me and then asks me to turn around, and I can’t help but laugh. I’m wearing jeans and a Dallas jersey, so I do the turn, and when I see his eyes again, he just laughs. “You better be wearing my name.”
The kids call his name, and he makes sure to send pucks over for all of them. When it’s time for him to skate back out, I blow him a kiss, and he just nods at me. I walk back up with the kids, trying to tell myself that he’s fine.
When the lights go off and the music starts, you can hear the whole place roar. The announcer starts talking, but all I can do is stare at the ice. Stare at the door I know he’s going to be skating out of. The home opener is different than the other games. They go through the whole team, introducing you to every single member who makes the Oilers the team they are.
They introduce the coaching staff and then the equipment staff before starting on the players. They introduce the players who aren’t playing tonight or who are injured. I don’t even think I breathe for this. Each player comes out by number, from lowest to highest. I bounce on my toes when the numbers get closer and closer to his until I know it’s his turn.
“Number twenty-two.” The announcer says his number, and the crowd roars even louder than they have been. My feet tremble with their roars. I put my hands together, looking at the Jumbotron screen, seeing his face in the middle. I clap as loud as I can and cheer for him. “Playing the position of right wing.” The fans start chanting Mighty Monty, a nickname Nico gave him when he announced that he was signing with Dallas. “Xavier Montgomery.” The tears run down my cheeks like a stream of water running down the mountains. I don’t even try to hide my emotion as I watch him walk from the tunnel toward the ice. He skates to the center of the ice, holding his stick up to the crowd, who hasn’t stopped cheering for him. He puts his hand to his chest, touching his heart, before raising it to the crowd, who goes even louder. I smile and laugh through the tears when it finally dawns on me that his new number is the day that we met. He mentioned to me this morning that he changed his number which was a surprise. I thought it was bad luck to change numbers but apparently it wasn’t, but this this is so much better.
“I don’t know about you,” my grandfather says to me, and I have to strain to hear. “But that sounds like he found his new home.”
I smile, looking at him skating over to the bench. “You bet your ass he did.” I clap as they introduce the rest of the team. Wilson, Cooper, and Michael each get the same applause. On the other hand, Dylan's is off the charts, but that’s what happens when you’re the best in the game.
The lights come back on, and the music blares out of the speakers. Dylan, Michael, and Xavier skate to the middle of the ice with Wilson.
My eyes stay on Xavier as he takes his place with his stick. Someone from the other team comes over to him and smiles at him. He smiles back as they hit helmets. Dylan takes his place in the middle and waits for the ref to drop the puck.
The ref drops the puck, and everyone finally sits down. I don’t. Having so much energy in me, I can’t sit. I watch Dylan pass the puck to Michael before skating forward and around his guy. Michael passes it back to Wilson, who moves it up the boards toward the blue line. He passes it back to Dylan, who skates into the zone with the puck on his stick, moving it from side to side. Looking and passing it back to Wilson, he winds up and shoots at the net.
The shot is blocked by the goalie’s pad that bounces back toward Xavier, who slaps it up over his pad and into the back of the net. If I thought the crowd was loud before, it’s nothing like it is now. Xavier holds his fists together and roars out with happiness. Turning to look at the team, it isn’t long before Dylan jumps on him, followed by Michael. Wilson comes over and taps his helmet before they skate to the bench and high-five everyone.