Page 91 of The Puckable Playbook

My phone vibrates, and I stare down at a text from Zaiah.Almost there.

I rub the back of my neck, wondering what the vibe will be when they arrive. The Bulldogs lost. Sixty minutes of sloppy play and missed opportunities. Plus, the other team performed better. The Bulldogs got beat off the puck and on the puck. It was a hard game to watch.

My dad used to take the losses home with him. He’d be miserable, and he wasn’t even a player. The disappointment would bleed into our everyday lives. Hockey dictated everything.

I don’t know if I can take more of that.

A peal of laughter makes me jump, and I peer over to the other side of the diner where the football players hang out, their tables packed with girls and teammates. I recognize the starting lineup because of all the research I did for the exposé I wrote. The tall one is the quarterback, and the big one—West, I think his name is—is touted as an All-American and expected to go pro shortly after he graduates.

They look like they have it all.

The bell over the door rings, and I look up to find Zaiah, Adam, and a few of their teammates walking in along with a lone girl. I scoot out of the booth to greet Zaiah, who’s staring at the floor.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey, sweetie.” He offers me a small smile before wrapping his arms around me, his fingers curling into my back.

“Tough loss,” I murmur into his ear, echoing what the other men in the box used to say to my dad after a defeat. They would line up to give him placating pats on the back, and afterward, I would hug him like this, but he didn’t squeeze me like Zaiah does.

“Thanks,” he replies, sighing into my hair. He steps back, frowning when he takes me in. “No jersey?”

“I wouldn’t want to wear your jersey either after you fumbled that puck in the corner,” Adam teases.

Zaiah laughs it off, but the stress lines around his mouth deepen and a furrow in his brow starts.

I reach up onto my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “I didn’t want to get anything on it. It’s right there. Do you want me to put it back on?”

He shakes his head quickly and then waves his hand in the direction of the booth, so I slide in again. “Did you order yet? Sorry we took so long.”

“No, of course not. I was waiting.”

The tension in the air hangs heavy. The teammate and his girlfriend are pushed all the way inside in the opposite booth, talking softly to one another while Adam sits next to them. Zaiah follows after me so we can fit another teammate on the end of our side. These booths are big when normal-sized people are sitting in them, but not stuffed with large hockey players.

No one talks when the waitress brings over the menus. Our sad party is such a contradiction to the ruckus that’s happening on the other side of the room. Cade, the wide receiver for the football team, is telling a story animatedly, waving his hands in large gestures that has everyone in stitches.

Zaiah peeks over, and the tension on his face increases. He turns away, the vein in his neck protruding.

I lean into him, pretending to look at the menu. “What are you getting?”

“Not sure if I’m hungry,” he states, shutting the menu and sliding it away from him.

“A big guy like you just expended all those calories. You have to eat, Zaiah.” I place my hand on his thigh. “Don’t make me call your mother.”

A smile plays over his lips again. “What did they say?”

I shrug. He probably wants a play-by-play of what we thought during the game, but I’m not going there. The sooner he forgets the loss, the better. “They said they’d see me next game. I bought some clothes earlier. Your sister helped me pick them out.”

“Oh Lord.”

“Did you know she’s into fashion? I had no idea.”

“Yeah, she has a sketchbook.”

“So cool. She put outfits together that I would’ve scoffed at on a hanger, but I was so impressed.”

His grin stretches a little, even though it still looks fake and his eyes are hollow. “Can’t wait to see them.”

Acting like Positive Polly isn’t getting to him, so there’s nothing I can do to make it better. I sit back, order, and talk when I’m talked to, but the next hour goes by excruciatingly slowly with only Adam attempting to make this a social gathering.

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