Page 197 of Playing the Pucking Game
We’re almost at the halfway point. All-Star games are next week, giving the rest of us some much-needed time off before we hit the rest of the season hard.
The playoffs are almost in touching distance. We’re going to do it this year. Will we go all the way? That’s yet to be seen, but we’re in a better position than we have been in years.
Much more than I can say about Rett and his team, I discover, when the score from his game tonight flashes up on my screen.
Closing the app, I find my message thread with him, ignoring the guilt that threatens. It’s nothing new; I’ve been battling it for years. Six, to be precise.
Linc: Unlucky tonight, man.
Donnelly: Did you see the highlights? We fucking sucked.
Linc: I already knew that. When are you gonna get a trade to a real team?
Donnelly: Fuck you. At least I spent less time in the box tonight than you did in your last game.
Linc: It was worth it. Hendrikson was asking for it. Did you see the way he was going after our rookie?
Donnelly: Never said I didn’t agree.
Our messages continue for the next thirty minutes, all focused on hockey. At no point does he ask me about Parker, so I can only assume he still doesn’t know where she’s living. Fine by me. The last thing I need is the protective big brother speech.
As Kodie’s snores begin to fill the room, I lower my cell and tip my face toward the ceiling.
I’m exhausted. What I really need to do is sink down into the sheets and sleep. But something tells me that I’m not going to be able to. Not alone.
Lifting my cell back up, I open Brooke’s profile again, and my eyes widen at the most recent post.
It’s a bubble bath in her hotel room, with what I assume are her heels from tonight abandoned beside it.
If she’s back, that means…
51
PARKER
“Yesss,” I hiss as I kick my heels off and gingerly press my feet flat on the floor.
There was a time when partying all night in heels came as easily as breathing, but it seems those days are gone because…ouch.
Abandoning them, I walk across my hotel room toward my still-mostly-packed suitcase. Despite limiting myself to only two alcoholic drinks tonight, I’ve got a nice buzz going on. I’m not sure it’s from the cocktails, though. I’m pretty sure it was the company and the dancing.
For a couple of hours, I left my worries and thoughts at the door of the bar and just let go.
Well, almost all my thoughts.
There was one that never left me.
Even as I was laughing with Brooke and Leah, in the back of my mind, I was wondering what Linc was doing.
Was he also out partying, or was he back at the hotel, being a good boy?
There was nothing on his social media—yes, I admit I checked when I locked myself in a restroom stall fairly early in the evening. But then, that’s not unusual.
I also hadn’t posted anything.
I was tempted. If he knew where I was, then would he come and find me?
Honestly, if the answer was no, then I really didn’t want to be standing there looking over my shoulder all night.
