Page 141 of Body Check

“I definitely like the direction things are going. Whenever Kelly and Lindy are home, we talk training and I’m impressed with what players are doing. Both with the team and then off-season work.”

“Yeah, Anders is …” Gavin gave a low whistle. “He never does anything halfway, does he?”

Finn shot him a smile. “He does not. We were sad to lose him here in Boston when the league expanded.”

Years ago, the expansion had added two teams to the mix, one in Evanston, Illinois and another in Portland, Oregon. At the time, Anders Lindholm had been absolutely tearing up the league as a goal scoring center for Boston, and everyone had been shocked that the Harriers had allowed him to be available in the expansion draft.

Then again, with two O’Sheas on their roster at the time, they’d probably decided to roll the dice, choosing to stick with their local boys instead of the Swedish phenom.

It was still a toss-up if that had been a wise move or not. Boston had won multiple Stanley Cups in that time, while it had taken years for Evanston to even manage one. Though Anders would be eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame any day now and there was no question he’d be a shoe-in.

Who knows what Boston could have managed if he’d stayed.

“He’s done incredible work with training since his retirement. That skills camp he’s running …” Gavin whistled lowly.

“I know. I wish I’d had that in my day.”

“Well, the good news is, you can help build that kind of training for the team we have now,” Gavin pointed out.

“Good thing I signed the paperwork this morning, huh?” Finn said with a grin.

“Good thing,” Gavin agreed. “God knows we need you.Ineed you.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “Now who sounds like they’re flirting?”

God, Finn was as bad as his father Declan.

“Ha! I mean I need someone to take over half the workload,” Gavin admitted. “I need to have my attention on drafting, development, and trades.”

“And I get the rest?” Finn sounded amused. “Including training?”

Gavin shrugged. “If you think you can handle it.”

A spark of competitiveness lit up Finn’s eyes, the way Gavin knew it would. “Honestly, I’ve beenitchingfor this challenge for a while,” he said.

He’d said as much during their previous meetings and Gavin was very glad to hear it.

“I can’t say I blame you,” Gavin said thoughtfully. “I mean, going to the private sector, getting involved in investment banking … what the fuck were you thinking?”

Finn huffed quietly. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I thought, ‘well, it’ll be better for my family and maybe it would be good to see what’s outside of the hockey world.’ Turns out, I hated every second of it. Jenna knew I was miserable though and I’ve been toying with some possible options for a while. Your offer came at the perfect time.”

“I’m glad. I’m not surprised you came back though. Once a hockey player, always a hockey player,” Gavin said with an understanding nod.

Finn sighed, surveying the ice below. “Not a minute goes by that I don’t miss playing.”

“Me neither,” Gavin said softly. “And I only got a fraction of what you had.”

Finn’s smile was understanding. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you.”

“Me too.”

“But hey.” Finn nudged him in the ribs with his elbow. “There’s still a chance you could lift the Cup someday.”

In unison, they rapped their knuckles on the railing, even though it was made of metal and not wood.

“Yeah, but first, we’ve gotta whip this team into shape,” Gavin said as he returned his attention to where they were setting up for the faceoff at the beginning of the third period.

“I can’t fucking wait,” Finn said.

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