Page 62 of Icebreaker
It was over.
I turned slowly, just enough to scan the chaos. My teammates were hugging, shouting, piling into each other like they were trying to absorb the win through osmosis. A couple of them looked toward me, beckoning, but I shook my head once. Not yet.Give me a second.Let me feel this.
Someone grabbed me from behind—Rafe, maybe—and yelled something about getting over there. I let myself be dragged, finally, stumbling into the scrum of arms and helmets and sweat-soaked hugs.
And when I looked up at the stands, I found Ellie in the sea of screaming fans, but he wasn’t joining in. Instead, he wassmiling brightly with my number plastered across his chest. The rightness of it all settled in my chest like something final and permanent, the last piece locking into place. Tonight was my last game, my last moment on this ice, but the beginning of us.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ELLIE
“Sweetheart,it’s time for the families to go down on the ice,” Brennen’s mom said from the seat next to me.
His parents had been as nice as Daddy B said they’d be, but I was still nervous about meeting his parents in such a public way. Of course his father didn’t remember me from when I took his class, but during breaks in the play, he did ask about areas where he needed to improve. I was surprised a full professor would care what an undergrad had to say, but I appreciated that he asked.
I had Googled that it was customary to bring flowers on senior night, so I’d stopped by the grocery store on my way to the rink. The lady at the counter asked if it was a special occasion, and I told her about the game. According to her, the pink roses looked the best this late in the day. She’d taken them out of their plastic wrap and wrapped them in white paper tied with a raffia bow to make them look fancy. This was the first time I had ever bought flowers for anyone, and I hoped Brennen would like them. I felt conspicuous holding them all night.
“I wish I thought to bring flowers tonight too,” Brennen’s mom said as we stood in the tunnel, waiting to be escorted ontothe ice. “It’s just as well. He’d rather have them from you,” she said with a kind smile.
“I’m sure he’d like them from you too,” I offered awkwardly. I wasn’t sure what to say or even if I needed to say anything, but it seemed worse not to acknowledge her comment. She had a tinkly, if that’s a word, kind of laugh. It was high-pitched and sounded like bells.
“I assure you, he would not,” Professor Tate scoffed from the other side. I wasn’t sure if his comment was a dig until he winked at me. Brennen might look like his mom, but he and his dad shared the same crooked grin. Mrs. Tate playfully smacked her husband and gave him a stern, schoolmarm look.
“We have a little gift for him in the car, so that’ll be fine. I can’t wait to talk with you more at the restaurant. I’ve been looking forward to it all day, ever since he told me you were going to be there with us tonight.”
“Restaurant? What restaurant?”
Maybe it should’ve occurred to me that we would do something after we were finished here, but honestly, it never crossed my mind. I figured Daddy B would have gone out with his parents, but I didn’t expect to be included in the invitation. In hindsight, that probably was pretty silly of me. Daddy B was always considerate.
“The team chose Stone and Ivy. It’s a few blocks from here. Have you been there before?”
“No, but I’ve heard of it.”
“Oh, then you’re in for a treat. The food is to die for. The alumni association rented out the whole place, so it’s going to be a buffet style, but we’ll still have plenty of time to talk with each other.”
The announcer had called for the families to join the seniors on the ice. Thankfully, they laid out a carpet so we didn’t have to slip and slide on our way to the respective players. Daddy Bstood in the line, and pride exploded in my chest. He’d taken off his helmet so I could see his grim expression as he scanned the crowd. When he spied us coming closer to him, a wide-mouth grin replaced the frown that had been there moments before.
When I was within a few feet, Daddy B dropped his helmet, and it clattered and bounced on the ice. He snatched me off the carpet before spinning me around on his skates. My surprised shrieks were louder than I intended. His parents laughed, but not in a derisive way. It sounded like they genuinely thought it was adorable. All around us, Daddy B’s teammates hooted and hollered at his silliness. He planted a firm kiss on my lips in front of everyone. I wanted to twirl and kiss him with my foot kicked up behind me.
“B, I brought you flowers,” I said after he stopped making me dizzy. He set me down and took the offered pink roses. The spin had bruised them a little, but they were still pretty. I bent down to grab his helmet because I didn’t want to polish out the scratches later. “I hope you like them.”
“No one has ever given me flowers before. Ever.” The wonder in Daddy B’s voice sent sunbeams of happiness shooting through me. He liked them, and when he kissed me firmly on the mouth—again and in front of his parents—and took me for another spin, this time slower, on the ice, I had to acknowledge the truth to myself. I more than liked him.
I loved him.
There was no way I’d say it to him because that wasn’t a burden to place on him. He was headed off in a few months to get started on his life, and I wanted that more than anything for him. He deserved it. He was smoking hot, obviously, but he was also kind, considerate, silly, and smart. He’d make someone a fantastic partner one day, and they were going to be darn lucky. Until it was time to say goodbye, I’d keep enjoying every secondof our time together. And I wouldn’t allow that time to be wasted on future sadness.
“Gentlemen, families, coaches, and staff, thank you for being on this journey with us this season. We didn’t end up in the playoffs, but our stats improved in every single category across the board. Every. Single. One. I hope you’re as proud of yourselves as I am of you. Every game you played with heart. You left everything on the ice. You didn’t give up. You played until the buzzer. As a coach, there’s nothing more I could ask for. Nothing. Thank you for the honor of being your coach.”
The room erupted in cheers at the end of Coach’s heartfelt speech. The tears in his eyes that he didn’t bother to wipe away were the clearest signs of how important this team was to him. He was just as important to them.
“Coach, before you go, we have something for you,” Rafe called from his chair. He stood and grabbed a bag that had been stored off to the side of the podium. “The team knows how much you like a cuddle.”
The guffaws around the room shook the rafters. Even the wait staff paused at the ruckus.
“What?” Coach laughed. “I think better when I’m warm.”
“Yes, we know, and that’s why we got you this.” Rafe handed Coach the bag. He wasted no time opening it, and his stunned silence quieted the room. The team had gotten a quilt made from pieces of the players’ practice jerseys. Normally, Coach Hampton was stoic, but he choked up on the stage again.
