Page 7 of Sin Bins and Second Chances
Some of my new team mates are players I’ve gone up against in the past. One of them used to be my best friend growing up. I haven’t played with Andrew in years. I’ve missed his friendship.
Andrew Miles and I quickly became inseparable after I moved in with my uncle. I’d met him on his family’s ranch one day when I was helping my uncle with their horses. We’d joked about the latest superhero movie that hit theaters that summer.
He’d invited me to hangout with his friends at the ice rink one day. It shocked me at first. I didn’t think they had anything like that down here. I said no, at first. I hadn’t put on skates for nearly a year at that point and didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of all these kids that I’d be going to school with in the fall. It was one of the hottest days of the summer and the idea of being inside a cold rink reeled me in. Ithought I’d stay off the ice and just see what it was about.
Several of the local kids were there. Part of them playing hockey on one end while the other half had some kids casually skating around. There were several kids just sitting next to the rink and hanging out, no care to step foot on the ice.
I didn’t make it twenty minutes before I was renting skates and stepping onto the ice with them. At first, it was all in good fun, but it was the start of what turned hockey into my passion.
There was something about skating across the ice. It wore me out when I put everything into it. I could focus on getting a puck into a goal or defending a goal. I learned to channel my aggression in the sport because the boys I played with could handle it and dish it back just as much. I needed that outlet.
When I wasn’t working or playing hockey, I was on the Miles Ranch. Andrew’s parents and grandparents took me under their wing. They treated me like family, putting me to work and feeding me. The Miles were good people.
It’s also where I first met her. Andrew’s cousin.
Daisy. Fucking. Miles.
I’ll never forget the first day I saw her—and not because it was the first time I was invited to family supper with the entire Miles family. She’d come running into their grandparents’ house, her wild red hair a mess, as she stormed into the kitchen and complained about her uncle’s insane chickens that chased her across the property.
I couldn’t hold back my laugh. Who would be afraid of chickens? The memory still brings a chuckle out of me. The way she narrowed those baby blues on me and glared. Everyone was laughing, but her feistiness was pointed only at me.
It took a few weeks for her to forgive me for laughing at her the day we met. For the life of me, I never could figure out how I’d managed to spend a few weeks over there, nearly every day, before running into her. After that, I saw her every time I was on the Miles’ ranch.
School began not long after. I remember in seventh grade, trying out every sport available in the school’s athletic program, but none of them compared to the rush I felt with hockey. The coach said I was a natural, but he didn’t know the hours I was already putting into it. I wanted to make sureI was at the top of my performance level before high school.
Daisy was two years younger than me, so I didn’t see much of her outside of the ranch for a couple of years. The sixth graders were even in a separate building from seventh and eighth on that middle school campus. It wasn’t until the start of her freshman year that I saw her at school. Andrew and I were juniors and everyone knew the Miles family.
That’s how it was in a small town. Everyone knew everyone and their business, whether you wanted them to or not.
I always thought she was cute, but seeing her gain the attention of some of the other guys in high school had me feeling… territorial. The flirting and smiles she exchanged with them. I fucking hated it. It’s my fault she never had a boyfriend her freshman year. She thought it was Andrew who laid down the law. Nobody could date her, let alone mess with her, unless they wanted to eat dirt. It was all because of me.
Even looking back on it now, I wouldn’t change a thing. That was a long time ago, but I have since learned it’s not good to hold on to things. It’sprobably why it took a while before I ended up in the penalty box during games. It had to be worth it.
I pull myself from thoughts of the past and focus on the now. My eyes look over the small and tidy house as I finish my coffee. It’s all the same, except cleaner. It was never messy or dirty, but my Uncle John started hiring a housecleaner about a year ago. He’d been toying with the idea for a couple of years before deciding having someone come in once a month to help deep clean would make him sleep better. I didn’t argue with him.
After a second cup of coffee, I place my cup in the dishwasher and get ready to head to the rink. Sage Creek is only an hour to Lubbock, where the Lonestar Bobcats arena is. It’s too bad. In Texas, you get used to driving further for work or making day trips to places that are a couple of hours away. Living out in the middle of nowhere means it still takes twenty minutes to get to town.
That’s what Sage Creek is, a little town in the middle of nowhere between Lubbock and Abilene. Why they even had a rink was something I never paid attention to. The small town surrounded by ranches had nothing else to do. There was agrocery store, two gas stations, the schools, and a couple of locally owned restaurants and bars.
I should probably get a place in Lubbock. The idea of living closer to the rink, especially when I had to be up there for multiple days in a row because of practice and games, was logical. I make a mental note to look into that before the season began. Not that I’d ever enjoy living on top of my neighbors.
Part of me knows it’s because I’m also not ready to see Daisy yet. It’s only a matter of time, considering Andrew also plays for the Lonestar Bobcats. If I get an apartment, there would be fewer chances to run into her than if I stay with my uncle in Sage Creek. It’s inevitable that we’ll be around each other soon and I don’t know how that makes me feel. Part of me is curious about what it’ll be like to see her in person. I just don’t know what it will be like to see her with someone else.
It’s been seven years and I’m still not over it.
Fuck.
*****
I smirkbehind sunglasses as I walk beside a few of my teammates across the parking lot. If it weren’t for Veronica directing everyone, it would feel like the paparazzi were waiting for us, with cameras and phones in hand.
They were getting some early behind-the-scenes footage to start leaking later in the week. I’m one of four new players to the team and the rumors have already started.
The Lonestar Bobcats are getting ready to launch the new branding next week with a large campaign. Everything from the team, the new look, and the new foundation are included. My steps falter as I take in the building in front of me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think we were somewhere else entirely. This doesn’t look like the office I’d come to a few months ago.
The entire front of the building has been updated. It looks sleek and modern. Brand new shiny letters are across the front showcasing the franchise. There’s a spot where it looks like they’re getting ready to reveal the new logo. It just isn’t bolted into position yet.
The windows across the front are mirrored so nobody can see inside. It isn’t until we get closer to the front door that it’s opened for us by the owner himself.
