Page 67 of Dirty Puck

“Same,” Jones answered. “We’ll have them conference.”

“This was easier than I thought it would be. I’ll call my lawyer and we’ll get this thing set up.” I was stoked. We were about to help so many kids.

“Sorry to break up this tea party, ladies,” Coach yelled into the locker room. “But I need you on the fucking ice.”

Nothing Coach said would get me down today. I felt a hundred feet tall.

Time to stop those pucks.

CHAPTER

TWELVE

BREE

Ihad no words when Reece came home after practice to tell me that the Copperheads were going to make sure kids like Benny got the help they needed. I burst out crying. He held me, kissing my head and laughing at my antics, but it meant so much to me.Hemeant so much to me.

As much as I loved hanging with Jaycee Bishop, as she’d become a very good friend, Reece was my best friend. I made sure he understood what his kind act meant to me that night. Well, several times that night.

That had to be over a month ago now. Today, we were heading to the library for Cookies with the Copperheads. Char felt good enough to join us. Since Reece had to be there way before us, Claudia and I helped her into my car. I hooked Benny into his car seat and then the four of us set off to meet up with Jaycee.

The line of parents and kids waiting to see the team stretched down the block and wrapped around the corner. I’d never seen anything like it. Instead of joining the crowd, we slipped around the back of the library to a service entrance. Jaycee knocked, and a young man I recognized as one of the library pages opened the door. He was expectingus. Jaycee and LJ stepped in first. Claudia guided Benny inside, holding his hand. I turned and backed Char’s wheelchair carefully over the threshold. Once we were all in, the page closed the door behind us. I shifted forward again, guiding Char through the employee hallway toward the main room.

It felt like when Dorothy first stepped out of the farmhouse into Oz. All the bright, colorful Copperheads decorations hanging from the walls, and resting on top of the tables and bookshelves. Then there were the treats that Jaycee and her staff had prepared for this event taking up several tables. The tables with drinks sat along a different wall. They’d put a lot of thought into the arrangement. Each of the Copperhead players had a sitting room or a conference room to get as many children to hear their favorite player read to them as possible.

And yes, I saidJaycee’s staff. The badass woman was now a chain. Since she spent half the year here in Charleston, she’d somehow found the time between keeping up the books for her first store, taking care of LJ and being the doting wife of Grant Bishop, to open a second location for her patisserie, Treat Yourself. The flagship location was back in her hometown in Michigan. I loved to cook, but I think I’d grow tired of it if I turned it into a career.

At go time, the men walked in a line to the front of the main room, standing behind the children’s librarian, who talked into a mic connected to a lectern.

“Welcome!” she said excitedly. “I’m so excited to see all of you here today.”

The kids started cheering as the parents clapped.

Grant Bishop, who’d become the unofficial face of the Copperheads, stepped up to the mic. “First, I want to thank all the parents for bringing your kids here. Books unlock children’s imaginations and imagination leads to dreams. Children who dream become adults who change the world. Ibelieve in the potential for every single child here today. So who’s ready to get our story time on?”

Children’s shrieks filled the room. Thank goodness Claudia had Benny’s ears covered with his headphones so the volume didn’t hurt him. Once again, I was so lucky to have Claudia helping me out. Between having to aid Char and taking care of Benny, I’d have surely messed something up.

They lined twenty children for each Copperhead reading. LJ went in with his dad, but a total shock to me, Reece walked over to pick up Benny.

“Want to come with me, bud?” he asked.

My boy smiled, his eyes darting to the floor then to look at Reece’s nose, but it was clear he wanted to go with Reece, who bent down to kiss his mom on the cheek before heading back to his group of twenty.

“Everyone, sayhito Benny.”

The kids were all so cool, sayinghito my son, and then followed Reece into his storytime room. Parents were allowed to go. The door stayed open for any kids who needed to leave.

“Can I get you a drink?” I asked Char.

“That would be nice. Could we watch him read? Is that allowed?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I answered, then I turned to Claudia. “You want to come too?”

“I think I’ll stay with Jaycee.”

“Okay. We’ll be back, then.”

Before wheeling Char into the room with the kids, we stopped to get a cup of punch. We found a spot along the back wall with some of the other parents and Char sniffled. I bent down to her.

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