Page 26 of The Save

Shar nudged me. "You look like you’re about to puke."

I’d filled the girls in on my meeting with Chase, but as soon as their eyes started to glaze over, I’d skipped ahead to the accidental finger brush, and we’d spent the rest of the conversation on my near panic attack and subsequent highlighter flip.

“I get it, you know. The patterns. Music is math, too.” Sharla threw an arm over my shoulders and squeezed. “It’s like you’re the conductor. You give the best instruction you can and hope everyone else follows.” Her brows pinched. “Huh. I never thought about how stressful that is.”

“Only if you care about the finished product.” Crystal leaned over and took a swig of my smoothie.

I tried to keep my voice casual, but my fingers were clamped so tightly around the styrofoam cup it creaked. “Chase was talking about how this is one of the last opportunities these guys will get to play competitive hockey. That’s sad, isn’t it?”

Shar cocked her head to the side. “It is, yeah. But it’s kind of the same for us. When will I get to play in an orchestra like this again?”

I considered that. “You could audition, couldn’t you?”

“I mean, that’s the goal, but if I don’t make it, I’m in the same boat as the players. Stuck in community groups—not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s not as high level.”

Crystal nodded. “At least you’ll never age out.”

Shar blew out a breath. “That’s true. And my arm hopefully won’t give out as fast from bowing as Rob's knees will from sprinting on the ice.”

The first puck drop had barely hit the ice before I saw it. The third line was starting the shift. Not Rob’s line. Not Axel’s.I clapped a hand over my mouth. Chase had convinced Blakely to roll a lower-energy line first to offset the expected first-period push, that was the only explanation.

"Isn't that new?" Shar frowned.

"Yup," I murmured. "Saving Axel for when the pace drops a hair. Letting the other team burn themselves out against our grinders."

Crystal blinked at me. "I’m just going to cheer and scream at the refs instead of trying to make sense of that, cool?”

I laughed. When I looked up, Chase stood still at the back of the box, his eyes locked on mine. My face lit up, and I pointed at the ice using my arms as sideways exclamation points. Even from here, his head dip was visible as a smile split his face. He glanced back up and gave a cheeky shrug.

Two minutes in, the puck was deep in the Ravens’ zone. Bear scooped it behind their net, passed back to Rob at the point, andbam.

Goal.

"One-nothing!" Crystal shrieked, jumping to her feet.

But I barely noticed the scoreboard change. All I saw was the zone entry timing. Chase had timed the line shift perfectly.

Midway through the first period, Red Deer tried to press back, but every time they attempted a breakout, Nick and Rory collapsed the neutral zone like they’d rehearsed it. I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips.

The second period saw Bear and Rory out longer than usual, and at first, I thought it was a mistake. Then I noticed the staggered pairing. Rory’s stats might not sparkle, but with Bear covering defensively, he had more freedom to play instinctively.

By the time Axel roofed a backhander on a power play in the second period, after one of their forwards drew a penalty crashing the net, we were up three-nothing.

Shar leaned over and whispered, "Your brain is terrifying."

I grinned. "Math, suckers!"

Red Deer finally scored halfway through the third. Their centre got loose after a turnover and popped it glove-side. The Ravens' bench roared. But it was too little, too late.

Chase didn’t flinch. Blakely called for the third line again to slow the tempo. Then Axel and Rob came out and executed the shift Chase had drawn up Tuesday.

Another goal.

Four-one.

When Axel deked past two defenders in the final minute and tapped in a rebound, the whole place exploded.

Five-one.Holy shit.

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