Page 156 of Slap Shot

LOL. iPhones are dumb. No one ever wants to say ducking. It’s always fucking.

Me

We play Denver soon, right?

G-Money

March 14th

I think?

Me

Speaking of women in action doing cool things, don’t forget we have Pilates scheduled with Lexi. We said we’d be there, and attendance is mandatory.

Sully

Still holding out for that trade.

February bleedsinto the beginning of March.

The weather gets warmer, the sun stays up longer, and that sad winter glow that likes to hang around disappears.

We’re winning games and sitting pretty at the top of the league standings as we move through the second half of the season. Maverick was one of the NHL’s Three Stars for February. I’m getting more comfortable with signing, and our book club is thriving.

Things aregood.

I’m taking my dad’s advice to heart: I’m letting myself be happy, and it’s a nice change of pace.

And Madeline? She makes me really fucking happy.

We spend every night I’m home together, falling into each other’s beds before one of us sneaks out in the morning. I feel like I’m back in my early twenties when she sends me a photo of her in one of my T-shirts while I’m away, always sending one back of my hotel room bed and writingwish you were here.

I’m falling for her.

Hard.

It was bound to happen, something I couldn’t have stopped even if I tried, and every minute I spend with her and Lucy is the best minute of my fucking life.

“Are you going to do that knife thing?” I ask Madeline, watching her chop up a tomato and drop it in a glass container. She uses her elbow to turn down the anthem blaring from herphone, and I grin when I hear David Bowie crooning from the speakers. “It’s been a while.”

“Doesn’t it lose its shock value if I do it a hundred times?” she asks.

“Nope.”

“Fine,” she relents, spinning the knife in her hand. “Happy, hockey guy?”

I grin. “Very, knife girl. You’re prepping dinner already?”

“Just the veggies. This part of the process always takes so long. Since Lucy is at school and I have nothing on the agenda, I figured I’d get a head start.”

“What if you put something on the agenda?” I grab a water bottle from the fridge, setting it on the counter. “I’m doing Pilates with the team, Piper, and Emmy. Lexi teaches a at a studio downtown, and we’re going to support her. Want to come?”

“The last time I tried to do a split, I pulled a hamstring.” Madeline adds a dash of salt to the tomatoes and covers them with a lid. “I should sit this one out.”

“Come on. None of us are good. Liam complains the whole time, and Ethan is afraid of ripping his shorts. He did that once, and it was the funniest fucking thing. We’re worse than beginners, I promise. There are going to be tears,” I assure her.

“You’re joking.”

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