Page 52 of Her Goal
Resounding clapping and cheering comes from the stands unlike I’ve heard in a long time. It’s almost as if it’s filled with spectators filling the arena when really it’s just a small portion of my family. But my, oh my, did it feel good.
I skate toward the boards, eyes liquid and wearing a smile. Before I glide into my mother’s embrace as I did at every competition, I glance over my shoulder at Hudson. He winks, but in his gaze is a kind of sadness that hits me in the chest with emotion.
I’m stuck there as everyone tells me how amazing I looked, as if I hadn’t retired several years ago. Well, it was a slow retirement as I slid backward away from my dream of figure skating stardom.
Apparently, one slice of cake wasn’t going to cut it. Mami and my tias brought enough food to feed a packed arena and the cousins go bonkers on sweets before hitting the ice in their sneakers. Hudson hangs back for a while, skating with the kids and showing them some skills.
Seeing him out there, wild, free, and having fun makes me want to play along like when we were kids. It’s as if little Leah has been buried under burdens, responsibilities, and heartbreak, just dying to feel the chill on her cheeks and the breeze in her hair again.
“So, we have to talk about location,” Mami says around a bite of what my aunt calls chocolate, peanut butter, and apple dream hand pies.
I pump my hands, “I’m sorry to destroy your delusion, but Hudson and I are not getting married.”
“I found this amazing dressmaker.” My aunt elaborates in great detail.
“I already have a line on cigars,” Uncle Anthony hollers from nearby.
Joaquin jumps up and down. “Can I please, pretty please, be the ring bearer?”
“No, it’s my turn,” Lincoln argues.
“If you guys are going to bicker, Logan automatically gets to do it.” I press my hand to my forehead. “I mean. No. Sorry. There’s not going to be a ring bearer. Talk to Uncle Chuck. He’s getting married soon.”
“Speaking of that, Marisol wants to discuss some things with you. She thought maybe you’d just be a bridesmaid instead of the maid of honor since you’ll be planning your wedding too.” Chuck winces like I’m going to slap him for suggesting a demotion when in reality it’s because there is no such wedding between Robo and me.
Cara calls from her perch by the folding dessert table my dad and uncles set up as if we’re now permanently occupying the Ice Palace, “Margo would be happy to help you plan things if she has an opening in her schedule, and by that I mean, I’ll make sure she does.”
I close my eyes, hoping that when I open them, the room will be empty and this will have been a weird dream.
Mami says, “With everything going on, I think you should move back to Cobbiton so you don’t have to commute so much.”
“My apartment is only twenty minutes away.”
“You can’t stay in that place. You’re going to get shot,” Valentina says.
Hudson is suddenly by my side and gives me a sharp look.
But my lips are pursed and I’m going to throw words if this doesn’t stop.
He clears his throat. “Yeah. Um, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I’m not in a position to get married right now. I have my career and?—”
My mother waves her hand dismissively. “Nonsense. It’ll incentivize you to work on your stats.”
I frown. “What do you know about his hockey stats?”
Wearing a subtle smile, she eyes the guys on the Knights nearby, talking amongst themselves.
I grunt. Are they in on this too? But why?
Abuela says, “You two aren’t getting any younger.”
My jaw lowers.
Jess interprets for Grandma Dolly. “Plus you were meant to be.”
I say the only thing that makes sense right now. “I knocked out Hudson’s tooth.”
The dessert table is abandoned, and we suddenly have an audience.
