Page 135 of The Home Game

Yeah, he could see that happening.

Kate was an amazing woman and Matty loved the sport but he couldn’t ignore the fact that some shady shit went down in hockey sometimes. And protecting the franchise—especially one as valuable as Toronto—was usually the priority.

“I should have told you guys sooner,” he admitted. He probably should have checked his phone this weekend too.

“Have you spoken to your agent?” Kate asked.

“Uhh, no,” Matty admitted.

“Well, you’d better do that ASAP.”

“I will.”

Gilly leaned forward. “What I really don’t like is the shit we walked in on in the locker room earlier. Look, I get it, Carlson. Sometimes there are hot tempers and teammates argue. That’s normal. But it better be on-ice shit you’re beefing about. Personal issues need to stay out of the locker room, especially amongst the leadership. I expect you, Fowler, and Olson to set the tone in there and what I saw earlier was childish, immature behavior. I won’t have it in my locker room and if the three of you can’t get your shit together, I will find leaders who can.”

Matty clenched his jaw. “Understood, Gilly.”

“Good.” He glanced over at Kate. “I have never seen a team like this, I swear to God.”

Kate chuckled. “They do seem determined to send us to an early grave.”

Matty winced. “We don’t mean to.”

She waved it off. “I know. Now, how are we going to address this going forward? I think you better get your agent on the phone if you can.”

After a call to his agent and some strategy talk about how they were going to deal with the media stuff, Matty was finally set free.

He hustled through the halls back to the locker room but Kelsey Lambert—one of the interns from last year who they’d recently hired full time—snagged his sleeve as he passed by at a jog. “Hey, Matty, you need to be dressed in your gear. You’re in the group doing headshots first and you’re running way behind schedule. Don’t get me in trouble for not keeping you guys wrangled.”

“I know, I know,” Matty said, making a face. “Sorry, Kels. I had a meeting with Kate and Gilly.”

Kelsey grimaced. “Yikes. That sounds serious.”

“Yeah, I’m the one in big trouble today,” he said with a laugh. “But it’ll be fine. Give me two seconds to get ready and I can do the headshots.” At least he had short hair so it was already dry and the stylist shouldn’t have much to do beyond smoothing it down a little.

“Go, go,” Kelsey said, shooing him away. “Oh, and congrats on the marriage! Your new family is adorable!”

“Aww, thanks!” Matty beamed as he jogged toward the locker room, the worry fading a little as he thought about Antoni and the kids.

This drama with the gossip site wasn’t great but they’d figure it out.

Matty spent the day posing for pictures, recording silly videos, thanking people for their congratulations and well-wishes, and ignoring the dirty looks Dom kept sending him.

He got plenty of ribbing from the rest of the team when they paused for lunch too.

Dom pointedly didn’t sit near him, instead, choosing to sit with Anton Makarov—their starting goaltender—and their backup, Jesse Webber.

Jesse was new-ish to the team. He was twenty-four and had been called up from the Black Bears—their AHL affiliate team—last season. He hadn’t gotten a ton of starts until the playoffs and he’d had to stand on his head to even get them a shot at making it to the second round.

He also had the kind of square-jawed handsomeness that social media ate up and he seemed to fit well with the team. Following Anton’s hip surgery over the summer and the fact that he was still rehabbing, Matty would bet they saw a lot more of Webby in net this season.

Dom was good about keeping an eye on the new guys and making sure they were handling the transition to full-time NHL players as well as possible, but today, he was definitely making a point.

And Matty was already tired of it.

“So, uh, I’ve gotta ask, what the fuck, Matty?” Colton said while they ate. “No bachelor party or engagement party? Weren’t you the one giving Dustin shit for that last season?”

“Well,” Matty said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I understand it better now. Besides, I’ve been married before. I didn’t need to do all that again.”

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