Page 184 of Desperate Pucker
“Holy fuck, St. George! Did you just win the Stanley Cup with a slap shot?” Xander hollers.
“I think I did.” I still can’t believe it. It all happened so fast, but it also felt slow motion too. Like I was in a dream.
Thisisa dream. I just scored the winning goal during the Stanley Cup finals.
Emotion lodges in my throat as my teammates scream and cheer. After a while, they help me up.
“Back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, baby!” Theo yells as he smacks my helmet.
“Fuck yeah!” Del hollers.
“All because of this guy!” Sam hollers.
Tears burn my eyes. The emotion in this moment is too much. This moment I’ve worked my whole life for. This moment that almost didn’t happen.
I look past my teammates and see Maddy standing and cheering for me, tears in those beautiful stormy eyes.
I skate over to her and press my hand against the glass. She presses her hand against mine.
She sniffles. “You did it, Ryker. You’re a Stanley Cup champion. The Bashers won because of you.”
I smile and shake my head. “No. We won because ofyou, Maddy.”
Her lips part, and her breath catches.
“Wedid it. You trained us. You helped us play at our best.” I swallow back the emotion surging through me. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
Her smile turns wobbly. My heart skids in my chest. This woman. I love her so damn much.
“Meet me on the ice,” I say.
She hesitates. “Now?”
I chuckle. “Yes. Now.”
She walks out of the stands. I weave through the crowd that’s gathered on the ice as I skate over to meet her.
Del nods at me. “You’re the MVP, St. George.”
“Thanks, man. You played like a madman tonight.” I turn and see Blomdahl. “So did you.”
He pats my shoulder. “Thanks for scoring that goal. I really wasn’t in the mood to head into sudden death overtime to break that tie.”
I laugh. I spot Abby and Emma on the ice hugging Coach Porter.
Emma waves at me. I skate up to her and give her tiny fist a bump. Abby smiles as she takes a photo of us together.
“Want my gloves?” I ask Emma.
Her eyes go wide, and she nods. I hand them to her.
“Mom, can I bring these to show and tell at school?”
Abby chuckles. “Sure, honey.”
I look up at Coach Porter. “Thanks for putting me out there. I just…” I stammer, emotions getting the better of me. “I wanted to make it to the finals so bad for so long. But it felt out of reach.”
“But you’re here. And you earned it,” he says.
