Page 92 of You Had Me at Hockey

“Okay.” Do we need three people to plan a casual outing? Yikes on bikes.

“It’s just that she knows everyone better than I do.” Lilly wrinkles her nose. “I’ve only known Easton since October. She’ll know who to invite.”

“I thought we’d invite everyone.”

“That would be a huge group, but we could totally do that.”

Like, who would we leave out? What do I know, though.

We order our lunch. Lilly has a salmon and spinach salad, and I order chicken dumplings, which is actually an appetizer but looks like enough for me. We talk a bit more about the get-together. Then she says, “I wish Easton and Josh would talk more.”

I give my head a mental shake. Where the hell did that come from?

“They used to be such good friends,” she says with a sad dip of her lips. “And now it’s like they hate each other.”

I sit silently. Then I say, “They used to be friends?”

She nods. Then seeing my expression, she closes her eyes. “Oh no. I’ve done it again.”

I still don’t know what the hell she’s talking about.

She opens her eyes and fixes her gaze on me. “They played hockey together as teenagers. For the Warriors.”

That sinks in and my mind makes the connection and…my jaw nearly smacks the table. “Oh my God. Really?”

“You didn’t know that.” She states it in a resigned tone.

“No! I mean, I know about the Warriors, and the bus crash…Easton was on the bus too?”

She nods slowly. “Yeah.”

I stare at her. Then I press the fingers of both hands to my forehead. “Holy shit.” I take a moment to process all this. “How badly was Easton hurt?”

“He wasn’t.”

I blink. My breath is coming in quick, shallow rushes. I feel hot all over. Why didn’t Josh mention this? “That was lucky.”

“It still affected him,” she says, her tone a little prickly. “His brother died, his dad died, so many friends died.”

“Oh no.” I touch my fingers to my mouth. “His dad and his brother were on the bus?”

“Yes. His dad helped coach the team and his brother played too.” She drops her eyes. “It was pretty traumatic for him. Plus, his mom didn’t deal well with it after.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s terrible.”

“That whole thing was such a tragedy for so many people.”

I nod. “Josh doesn’t even remember some of what happened right after. He had a head injury. Then they didn’t know if he’d ever be able to play again. He spent almost a whole year going through rehab.”

Lilly blinks. “Oh…I knew he’d been hurt, but I didn’t know that.”

I look around the restaurant, then back at her. “I don’t think either of these guys has totally opened up about what happened.”

After a short pause, Lilly says slowly, “Yeah…I think you’re right.”

Some things Josh has said run through my mind. His coach telling him to communicate better with the power play team…one of whom is Easton.

And my stomach clenches remembering him telling me about a friend who betrayed him and how he’s never talked to him about it.

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