Page 24 of Dreams
The coaches gathered the team around them.
“Push the last week from your minds, Gentlemen,” Coach Peterson said. “Get home and get rested. You have tomorrow off, and then it’s back to work. We’ve got three days until our next game, and we’ve got plenty we need to work on. Practice is at nine on Tuesday. Tuesday night, we’re doing the annual coaches’ dinner. Coach Scott is hosting this year. We’ll have a team meeting there at four, and then we’ll eat. I expect you all there on time. Now, get out of here and go see your families.”
Dinner at the Scott house. Josh wondered if Taylor would be there. Coach rarely mentioned her to the team. His youngest, Evie, had been around the locker room a few times during training camp. The guys on the team adored her, but he wasn’t sure many of his teammates even knew Coach Scott had another daughter - one who was beautiful, with a heartbreaking smile, sad eyes, and the softest lips.
He shifted his bag higher on his shoulder and pulled his phone out of his pocket. The screen lit up, and he scrolled through names until finding hers. His thumb hovered above it in hesitation then pressed down lightly. There was only one ring before her voice-mail came on. He hung up and climbed into Mack’s truck.
“So,” Mack started before stifling a yawn. “What are we doing with our day off?”
“I have a training session with Carter.” Josh shrugged.
“What training session?”
“Boxing.” It wasn’t just boxing. Josh started working on his fighting over the summer. It was a training program specifically for hockey fights. Fighting would always be part of the game and Josh wanted to be whatever kind of player his team needed. As a grinder, it was his job to provide energy. Big hits and fights did just that. He didn’t particularly like getting punched, but he’d do anything to stay in this league.
“Come on, Josher,” Mack faked a whine. “Blow it off and let’s have some fun.”
“Stop it, Mack,” he snapped. “You have no idea, do you? You have this enormous amount of God-given talent. You don’t have to work yourself to death just to keep your head afloat. If you don’t play well, you might lose a few minutes of ice time. If I suck long enough, I could be finished.”
“Whoa, dude. Calm down.”
“No. I’m sick of you not taking this seriously. We get to play hockey for a living. Don’t you get that? They pay us to do this. I’ve had to work harder than most to get here. I didn’t coast on my talent. I don’t have the option of blowing it off. If I don’t constantly improve, the young guys coming up will pass me. Look at what happened this week - I let myself get distracted and I played like shit.”
“Everyone played like shit,” Mack said quietly.
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
Mack drove in silence for a few minutes. Josh doubted anything he said would actually sink in to his friend’s thick skull. He’d never understand.
“Who is she?” He finally asked.
“What?” Josh responded.
“I assume a girl was the reason you were distracted.” Mack grinned sideways at his friend and everything was back to normal between them.
“No one. It’s nothing.”
“The Josh I know doesn’t let anything affect his game.”
“It’s complicated,” Josh paused, considering if Mack was the right person to talk to. They’d been close since he made the team, so he continued. “Her name is Taylor. You remember that kid on the Winterhawks who died last year?”
“Of course I do. It really freaked me out.”
“Yeah, me too. She was his girlfriend.”
Mack’s breath whistled out. “Shit.”
“She’s still pretty broken because of it.”
“I’d imagine she would be. And you want to be her knight in hockey pads to help her finally get past it.”
“Something like that.” Josh sighed.
“Want my advice?” Mack asked.
“On girls? No.”
Mack ignored him. “There are loads of girls who would kill to go out with you. Ones that aren’t a mess.”
