Page 96 of Ice Darling
“I don’t think a fistfight is going to solve this.” Gunner punches one hand into his gloves. “But I’m down to try.”
“I don’t mean a fistfight. What does everyone on the team have in common?”
“Shockingly…all their teeth?” Chance supplies.
“A terrible taste in pranks?” Gunner offers.
“Hockey.” I give them both “what’s wrong with you?” looks. “This is the only stadium in Lucky Falls. And if they haven’t been here, they haven’t been playing. I bet they miss it. I know I would.”
Chance lights up. “We get them on the ice, and they’ll cave.” He taps his stick, indicating the ice beneath our skates. “She’ll argue better than we can.”
“The problem is…how do we get them to gear up when they won’t come near the stadium?”
I look at Gunner. “We need an excuse that none of them can resist.”
“How about Gordie?” Chance asks.
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“I’m not offering my daughter as bait.”
“Theilan and Watson would die for Gordie. There’s no one on this team who can say no to her. If she wants to see her uncles play a game, they’ll gear up no matter how they feel.”
“You make a good point.”
“Great. I’ll set it up,” Chance says, grinning wildly.
“McLanely, Kinsey, Renthrow! You guys painting your nails over there? Let’s go!” the new coach yells.
The three of us break our huddle and get to work.
But, just before we start our drills, I pull Chance aside. “Hey, I want to make a slight change to the plan.”
“What change?” he asks.
I look through the door where Cordelia’s childhood friend walked out a few minutes ago. “I want to add one more player.”
I pick Gordie up from school around 4 p.m. As usual, I watch her face carefully. Ever since “the incident,” I hold my breath when I join the school pick-up line, wondering if something triggered an episode during school hours.
Thankfully, she hasn’t gone into that state since the day Cordelia joined her under the table. Today, she seems like her normal, upbeat self.
“Daddy, Ihaveto do my booklet today.” Gordie pouts. “Please, can we go to the garage?”
“You have an appointment, sweetheart. You need to talk to Mrs. Raina about how you’re feeling this week.”
“But I feel fine,” Gordie grumbles, sinking into the backseat.
“Daddy wants to make sure youcontinuefeeling fine.” I glance at her in the rearview mirror. “But I’ll take you to the garage after.”
“Yay!” Gordie cheers, and then she plays with the motorcycle toy that Cordelia gave her and chats with me all the way to the hospital.
I remain outside the counseling room during the session with her therapist.
After, Mrs. Raina calls me inside.
“How’d it go today?” I ask, leaning forward.
Mrs. Raina pats the coloring book that doubles as Gordie’s journal. Everything inside me wants to flip through the pages,but the psychologist cautioned that having a private coloring book is good for Gordie, so I can’t see it yet.
