Page 26 of Power Play

My eyes drift to Gary and Linda, who are listening a little too intently for this being an A and B conversation. Levi smiles and clears his throat, and they both scurry away.

“Let me make up for last night,” he says with a boyish smile that makes me bite my bottom lip. I raise an eyebrow. “I got invited to the Drifters game downtown tomorrow night. I have enough tickets to bring you and your brother. I got us all hotel rooms down there so we can drink and not have to make the drive back home.”

My heart quickens behind my chest.

“You’re going to a…Drifters game?” I ask, confused. Admittedly, I don’t follow hockey closely. I don’t follow sports in general. When Levi got drafted, though, I paid a little more attention. I’d check the scores of the Storm games on my phone while I was working. I’d stop and watch in the living room when my dad had them on. And I had frozen in place a few weeks ago when I watched him get knocked out cold on the ice. I’d waited frantically while my brother called around, trying to get in touch with his mom, trying to get any information. And I’d breathed a sigh of relief the next morning when Levi had called Tyson to tell him he was okay.

And admittedly, I’d breathed another sigh of relief when the Storm’s publicist announced that he would be retiring after the final game of the season.

Tyson had told me how low Levi was about it. How he was beside himself.

But I just had that flashback, that memory of him lying there, lifeless. Still as a stone on that ice. A chill runs through my body.

He smiles.

“I have a job offer for after Iretire,”he says, putting the word in air quotes and rolling his mouth. “For this sports show. And some of the producers will be at the game tomorrow. They want me to come down.”

I nod.

He has a job offer…here?

“Oh, I, uh…well, Harper…” I start.

“Yeah, I mentioned that to your brother. He said your dad would be happy to stay home with her.”

I’m not sure what to say. I’m out of excuses, and Ireallywant to go.

Did he mention a hotel?

“Did…did you say you got hotel rooms?” I ask.

He smiles as Linda hands him his bag of food and walks away. He pushes himself up, leaves a hundred-dollar bill on the counter, and looks at me.

“I did. Yours is next to mine, but you don’t have to use it,” he says, that sly smile still pulling on the corner of his mouth. He starts walking backward slowly toward the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He says it like a statement, not a question. And normally, I’d want more of a choice, but in this scenario, Levi Buck seems to know exactly what I want. And teenage me isecstatic.

“Thanks, Gar. Thanks, Linda,” he calls as he pushes the door open. Then his eyes fall back to me. “I’ll be back.”

The next night, I’m feverishly digging through my closet trying to findsomethingto wear. I have no Drifters gear, but I do have a rookie Buck jersey—which I absolutely cannot wear while I amwithBuck.

“Just pick something red, and go with it,” I hear Demi say from my phone on my bed. I love my sister. She is the no-bullshit, career-focused, self-care sort of sister. She’s the one who reminds me to relax now and then. She is the one who taught me everything when my mom died and who never expects anything back. She is the calm to my anxiousness. She is the sense to all my nonsense.

I sigh and grab a little red jacket out of my closet. I yank the skinny jeans up over my hips and close them, then pick up my phone.

“I have nothing else,” I shrug, holding the phone out so she can see me.

“Look, hon, I know you’re going out with, like, a legitimate hockey star, but you’ve known him your whole life. Relax. It’s just Levi. And our stinkin’ brother. Just take a breath. You look fine. It’s a hockey game. Everyone is going to be wearing jerseys and getting shitfaced.”

I smile. She’s right. I don’t get out much. I’m going to try and make the most of it. It’s just hard when the dreamy hockey player, who is best friends with our brother, fucked me better in five minutes yesterday than I have been in my whole life. And tonight, I’m going to be with him. Again.

I walk downstairs just as my dad and Harper are coming in from the backyard.

“Mommy, we saw lightnin’ bugs!” she says, thrusting her cupped hands into my face. I pretend to peek inside and feign amazement.

“Wow,” I tell her. “The most beautiful lightnin’ bug I ever did see.” She smiles up at me, beaming with pride, and I melt. For a second, I don’t want to go to the game anymore. I hate leaving her. Even when it’s for work, the mom guilt sets in hard. You feel guilty about working to make money to give your child a good life. And then you’d feel guilty if you didn’t. There’s no winning sometimes. But before I can change my mind, the front door bursts open, and in walks my brother, howling like an idiot.

“Let’s doooo this,” he says, an open beer already in hand. I laugh and shake my head as Tyson walks through the foyer, Levi following close behind, also shaking his head.

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