Page 28 of Her Goal
I hold up my hands. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just heard that you married the coach’s daughter, so you have an in with him but probably still don’t want to get on his bad side.”
Pierre grins. “For the first three months on the team, I only ever saw his bad side. Didn’t know there was another setting to his personality. And that was before I met Cara.”
“Everyone knows that the coach’s daughter is forbidden fruit,” Savage says.
Same as your brother’s best friend.
“He’ll have to tell you the sordid tale sometime,” Redd says.
“The romantic love story,” Pierre corrects.
I’ll admit that the Knights have commitment locked in. Most of the guys are in serious relationships or married, which is a different landscape than I’m used to. I’ve had a few girlfriends, but we always drifted apart. Usually around the same time I’d have a Leah sighting at a game. She never acknowledged me, so I assume she was cheering on the Knights and maybe hoping to glimpse Hunter. But he’s never come to my games. Not a single one.
“Anyone special in your life?” Jack asks, spinning around and slapping the puck into the unguarded net.
I give a non-committal shrug.
He points his stick at me. “Word of warning. Badaszek has a zero drama policy.”
“He means no puck bunnies in the locker room,” Hayden says.
Grady adds, “Heidi and the coach are as thick as thieves. They’ll see to it that you both face public humiliation.”
“Sounds brutal.”
He shakes his head. “You have no idea.”
Vohn whistles for us to huddle up and goes over a few plays with us to fill out the last hour. When the clock runs out, everyone heads to the locker room except me. Vohn and Liam, the team captain, call me over for a word.
“You were decent out there,” Liam says, which is high praise coming from the defenseman.
“Thank you.”
Vohn, as steely-faced as ever, adds, “Less arm movement with your stick save off the post.”
I nod in affirmation.
“I understand you have a lesson coming up?” Liam asks, proving that I didn’t imagine the conversation with Badaszek in my living room. Nor did he forget about it.
Vohn refers to something on his clipboard and then checks his watch. “Should be here anytime.”
From somewhere in the arena, a metal door slams.
Liam and Vohn exchange a look.
The assistant coach says, “We’ll leave you to it.”
I skate to the boards behind them as Leah parades past, wearing a bright pink vest over a black shirt and leggings along with a Knights’ beanie hat.
She smiles and greets the guys. They talk for ninety seconds before she smiles again, laughs, and they move off. Anticipating her spotting me, I count down, not sure what to expect after our strange interaction at the Fish Bowl.
She’s already in her figure skates and nods at me as she passes through the half door and glides onto the ice, stopping a hockey stick’s length away. “You’re warmed up?”
I blink slowly as the words compute. Leah is my figure skating instructor? Well, then, this should be interesting.
“Hello to you, too.”
She lifts her eyebrows.
