Page 39 of One More Chance
Screw bedtime she thought. That mitt was one of, if not the only, things that Tabitha had from her mom, and she was going to find it. “Come with me” She let Tabitha directly into the throngs of people leaving the area, and like salmon swimming upstream, they were dodging and fighting against the traffic as they made their way inside. They retraced their steps, but it was tricky to see exactly where they had been sitting without all the people. Charlotte looked for the red line and pictured how Logan looked across the ice.
“Try here,” she said. The two of them headed down the concrete stairs and started looking for the missing turquoise mitten amongst the spilled popcorn and discarded contraband beer cans littered under the benches.
When their search along that set of benches turned up nothing, they tried a row higher.
“Here it is.” Charlotte spied the hand-knit mitten under an empty bag of chips.
Tabitha ran to her, took the mitten and held it to her chest. That’s when Charlotte knew that she’d made the right call, mitten before bedtime. She rested her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder and guided her to the main stairwell.
BANG.
They both jumped as a puck hit and then ricocheted off the boards right by them. Charlotte turned, ready to yell at whatever inconsiderate jerk had just scared her and Tabitha. It was Logan. He had skates on and raised his hockey glove to wave at them.
Charlotte shook her fist at Logan. He wound up and launched another puck at the boards.
“That’s so loud,” Tabitha said.
Logan skated over to them and leaned against the boards, his breath fogging up in the glass in between them.
Charlotte jogged down the stairs to ice level. “You jerk,” she hissed. “What if that had hit us.”
Logan pulled off his glove and rapped on the glass.
“It could’ve gone over.” Charlotte crossed her arms in front of her.
“Do you know how many pucks I’ve shot in my lifetime?” he asked. “Trust me, I just wanted to get your attention.”
“Well, you got it.” If Charlotte had been alone, she would’ve found his gesture cute, but she hated the fact that he’d spooked Tabitha.
“Tabitha,” Logan waved. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Tabitha giggled. “It’s okay. Those pucks must be heavy.”
Logan picked up the puck from the ice and lifted his hand up and down as if weighing it. “Have you ever held one?”
“No,” Tabitha said. “I’ve never even watched a hockey game before.”
“Seriously?” Logan skated to the section of boards without glass and waited for Tabitha and Charlotte. He held out the puck, “You can have this one.”
“You have to get home to bed, missy,” Charlotte said, but Tabitha hit her with puppy dog eyes. She sighed, “Go on,” and pointed to Logan.
Tabitha practically sprinted to meet Logan. He put the puck in her mittens. “It’s not as heavy as I thought,” she said.
Charlotte leaned on the boards so that her elbow brushed Logan’s. She wanted to be close to him. “That was an exciting game coach.”
Logan smiled at her and nudged her arm with her glove. “We have good fans.”
“What are you doing out here?” Charlotte asked.
“Sometimes after a stressful game, I come out here and shoot pucks. It’s the only thing that really relaxes me. My meditation if you will.”
“Well, I need to get Tabitha home to bed. Her mom will have my hide if she sees ten p.m. again.” She put her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder. “What do you say to Logan for the tickets.”
“Thank you, Logan. I had so much fun.”
“You’re welcome kiddo.”
“Hey, Logan...” Tabitha’s voice trailed off.
