Page 15 of Halftime

“I hope you can play tonight when she’s in net.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Cooper stood up. “Okay. I just don’t want to do suicides because you’re wound up about our goalie.”

I gave him the finger. He left, and I tried to settle back to my reading. Damn him. I’d been doing fine. Now I couldn’t concentrate. Should I try to talk to Faith? I mean, not to try to get back together with her. A year had passed. I was with Holly now. For all I knew, Faith had a boyfriend. That thought settled on me. She probably did. Why not?

There was no reason that should bother me. I should be glad for her. I was. Really.

I had no idea what the guy would be like, but I knew one thing. It wouldn’t be a hockey player.

5

Sebastien

The arena was full. Hockey was popular here, and this game was for a good cause. Cooper and I were starting for Coach Keller’s team, and Faith was not the starter.

She was playing the second period.

That helped. Once the game started, I could concentrate on playing. It was new playing with other people, let alone women. I hadn’t ever done that. Last year, we’d played against the women’s team. They’d been good in practice, and they were even better in a game situation. By the time we were five minutes in, we weren’t thinking that some of the players were a different gender. They were players, and we started to play as hard against them as they were playing against us.

We ended the first period tied, one all. Cooper and I were usually on the ice playing against the men’s top line, and we knew how those guys worked. We didn’t know the women as well, but the coaches would put out the women’s defense against the women. The crowd didn’t like that as much.

In the second period, Coach started Faith. And when Coach Cray put out a starting line that included two of her women and one of our guys, Coach Keller countered with me and one of the women defense players. Things got a lot more interesting.

The crowd roared whenever the women won a faceoff against the men, or whenever the men stole a puck from the women. I managed to play the way I was supposed to even with Faith around. In fact, we played well together. I found it easy to pick out her voice when she called out comments and warnings. She bounced rebounds my way like she always knew where I’d be on the ice. We used to practice together, and somehow, we’d gotten past the awkwardness and that familiarity had returned. On the ice, at least.

Our team managed a goal that period, but nothing got by Faith. We didn’t give the other team a lot of chances, but there was a breakdown in communication on one play that had Coach cursing. I was glad I was on the bench, because he was pissed. The other team came at Faith two on one, but she handled it beautifully. And that was against their top scorers. It shouldn’t have mattered to me. After all, we weren’t together. We weren’t even friends. But I was proud of her.

Cooper tapped her pads at the end of the period since she was done for the game after that. I thought of doing it, but she moved away before I had a chance, and I had no idea if that was on purpose or not. I didn’t know which option I preferred.

* * *

Faith

I was dreading and looking forward to this party. I’d played well and was ready to celebrate our win, but I knew my time of avoiding Seb was winding down fast.

This time, Penny wasn’t going with me. She had a date with her cross-country guy, but she kept her promise and helped me get ready. Again, she moaned over my wardrobe. The skirt was brought back out, and she lent me some jewelry and helped with my makeup. I’d gone and bought some, partly to make her happy, partly to give myself some confidence for this kind of thing.

The party was at the women’s hockey house. I knew my teammates now, not as well as I’d like, but I wasn’t going into strange territory. We’d had a couple of team get-togethers at the house, so at least it was ground I knew. Maybe next year I’d be living there. This year they were full, and the school liked freshmen in the dorms. Except somehow the men’s hockey players were exempt from that.

Maybe Seb wouldn’t be there. He hadn’t been at the last one. I thought my chances of missing him were good.

They weren’t.

I ran into a couple of teammates climbing the steps, so at least I didn’t arrive on my own. They congratulated me on my scoreless period. I did the same on a goal they’d paired up on. We entered the house together and paused in the doorway while we got our bearings. Our eardrums were overwhelmed by the volume of the music.

The first person I saw was Seb.

My stomach did a weird little roll, seeing him there, wearing a nice shirt with his jeans. I wondered if he’d see me. If he’d think I looked good, too.

Then I caught movement and saw the petite brunette with her arm wrapped around his waist. He had his arm around her as well.

My stomach wasn’t roiling anymore. It flattened like a pancake.

My teammates moved to the kitchen where the drinks were, and I kept tight with them as we moved through the rooms. I carefully didn’t look anywhere near Seb again.

I took a solo cup, cheered with my teammates as we chatted about the game, and in the back of my mind,he’s got a girlfriendplayed on repeat. I shouldn’t care. I didn’t want him, not after what he’d done. I hadn’t been waiting for him, and I hadn’t come here to see him again.

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