Page 33 of Yule Know It When You See It
Chewing my lip, I approach her and extend my hand. The sudden stranger appearing from nowhere has the kids stopping shyly, crowding around their mom. “Hi there. My name’s Theodora Hackett, and I’m a column writer for Celestial Magazine.”
“Wow. I’m used to hearing Sports Weekly or one of the local newspapers. Not a contemporary magazine.” The woman shakes my hand, her kids gradually inching out from behind her. “My name’s Ramona Malone.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Ramona. I’m working on a holiday short story romance revolving around hockey. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?” I motion to the seat across from her.
“Romance? In hockey?” She snorts and nods at the seat.
I sit and rest my bag on the table. One child reaches for it, and the mother snatches his wrist, frowning and wagging a finger. “Well, how did you and your husband meet?”
“College.” Ramona smiles as she stares absently at the table as if playing out the moment in her head.
An idea immediately sparks—a second chance romance for former college flings. Let’s call them Amanda and Kyle for now. They’re brought together again by hockey when Amanda attends a game with a date. The only reason they’d separated was Amanda’s move to another state to get her master’s and eventual doctorate degree while Kyle was drafted to the NHL and moved to Canada. They haven’t seen each other since.
“I’d love to know details if you’re willing?” Offering her a friendly smile, I let the tip of my pen rest on the notepad.
“Oh, sure. I’m just not used to these kinds of questions. It’s refreshing, honestly.” Ramona adjusts in her seat and crosses her legs. “I was a cheerleader.”
I tilt my head to one side like a dog trying to make sense of a silly human word. “There are cheerleaders in hockey?”
She chuckles at this, her eyes lighting up. “No. I mean not exactly, not in the sense you’re familiar with.”
I suspect she’s not used to this sort of attention because her husband is typically the one interviewers surround for questioning.
“I was a basketball cheerleader.”
“Wow. Now I’m even more curious about how you two met. In a class, maybe?” I doodle hearts of varying sizes in the margins of my legal pad.
“Nope. He was a year above me and a different major, so none of our classes overlapped.” Her cheeks turn red, and she lets her face fall in her hand, laughing. “We met in a men’s locker room.”
I gasp, over-exaggerating it. “Nuh-uh.”
“Yup. It was my first year, and I didn’t know my way around.” Ramona chews her thumbnail. “Thank God Charlie was the only one in there.”
This makes me pause, thinking about me and Axel’s “meet cute”—the elevator incident, a mysterious new project forcing us into proximity, and the deliberate mistaken identity performed by yours truly. It’d make for quite a fun story to tell grandkids, that’s for sure.
“And were you two together ever since then?” I’m now filling the hearts in with black ink.
“Yes. College sweethearts. He proposed to me before being drafted. I had one more year, and we had another thing keeping us tied together.” She ruffles one of the kids’ heads, a boy with a mop of black hair and glasses. “I was pregnant with Charlie, Jr. here.”
“Ew, Mom,” Charlie whines, batting her hand away.
Smiling, I debate my next words carefully. “I imagine the perks of being a hockey family are obvious to most. But what specifically do you find the hardest?”
Ramona sighs after securing the glasses on Charlie’s nose that are sliding off. “How often he’s not home for weeks or months can be tough. But holidays are especially troublesome.”
I add more to my growing idea for a story: Kyle schemes an elaborate holiday surprise at the rink that includes ice skating. “Do they schedule games on holidays?”
“No. The NHL is good about giving Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas day off. But it’s as if he breezes in and whisks right back out.” Ramona frowns, looking at her children. “If it were just me, I could deal with it, but watching their disappointment, that’s what makes it difficult.”
“I get that. But it could be worse?” I one-shoulder shrug when she snaps her gaze to me. “You could be a football wife? They have games on ThanksgivingandChristmas day.”
Her eyes do a sort of fluttery blink at this revelation. “I’ve never thought about that. You’re right.”
“Has your husband ever done a grand gesture around the holidays?”
I can’t help myself.
“Oh, yes. He’s dressed up as Santa more times than I can count. Surprised me once during a hockey game right before Christmas Eve by doing the giant poster board message deal fromLove Actuallybehind the glass in full hockey uniform in between periods. And he’s baked cookies and wrapped presents with the kids while I had a spa day.” Ramona’s eyes glisten. “Last year, he bought this Disney Funko Pop Advent Calendar. I thought it was for the kids, but he got it for me. IloveDisney.”
