Page 172 of Beauty
But it’s within our grasp. I’m betting on the Bolts tonight. We’re hungry, we’re in love with the game, and we’re itching to lift that cup over our heads to celebrate the end of a fucking era.
I meet Brooks’s steady gaze. “I’m ready.”
His lips twitch. “I see that.” With a long breath out, he scans the locker room.
War is playing cards with Hall and Snow. They’re laughing loudly, wide smiles on their faces. Aiden is talking with the other center, Keegan, their heads down. Aiden’s no doubt reassuring the kid, who’s playing in his first Stanley finals.
“I think I get it,” Brooks murmurs. “Why you’re done. It’s hard, doing this when I want to be wherever Taylor and Sara are.”
I nod solemnly. I’m not sad about my decision, but I am emotional. I love this game. And I’ll miss it. But not nearly asmuch as I’ve missed my son during every season for the last six years.
I squeeze his shoulder. “You don’t have to make any decisions tonight.”
His lips lift again and his green eyes light up. “Nah, tonight we’re winning the motherfucking Cup.” With that, he slips on his headphones and heads to his locker to get dressed.
I pull out my phone and dial Sienna. She and Ollie are in the owner’s suite tonight, and I want to talk to them before I shut down and give 100 percent of my energy to this team for the last time.
“Look, it’s Daddy,” Sienna says.
Those words on her lips make my chest swell. I can’t wait until she can say those words to a second child. She stopped the birth control, and we’ve been fucking nonstop, so with any luck, it’ll happen soon.
“Hi, baby,” she says to me, her smile a little wicked, like she knows what her words did to me. Like she knows she’s left me tongue-tied. “Ready for your game?”
The lighthearted way she asks, as if I’m gearing up for a little league tourney, makes me chuckle. “Yeah, butterfly, I’m ready.”
“Is that Sienna?” Aiden slides across the bench and leans over until his face appears in the little box in the corner of the screen.
Ollie settles on Sienna’s lap, and a second later, his face fills the screen. “Hi. Aiden, did you do your song yet?”
My friend grins. “Not yet. Want to stay on the line and watch?”
The little guy’s eyes go wide. “Is that allowed?”
“For you?” Aiden winks. “Of course.”
“How ’bout we put it over here so all the kids can see?” Sienna reappears, and then she’s moving. When she props up the device, I can pick out each of the kids in the suite. Mav sitsin my sister’s lap, the two of them wearing matching jerseys. The smaller Langfield cousins are running around with War’s youngest kids. Brayden stopped by the locker room earlier. The kid is sixteen and obsessed with hockey. He has the potential to go pro. Who knows, maybe he’ll be a Bolt one day. Addie settles in beside Sienna, probably excited about Aiden’s song, since she’s just as hockey-obsessed as all of her uncles.
“They’re ready for you,” Sienna says.
Nodding, Aiden jumps up on the bench. “All right. This is a special one,” he hollers, getting the whole team’s attention. “It’s Harry’s last game, which means it’s the last time that this group of guys will ever play on the ice together.” He scans the room, letting those words sink in.
Goose bumps prickle down my spine. The guys around me are all lit up, eyes bright and full of energy. Tonight is it. The last one.
“It has been a ducking honor to play with you.” He winks at the screen, letting them know he’s keeping it PG—the Langfield way—then lifts his chin in my direction.
“Now, for our last song, I give you the Bolts version of ‘Blank Space.’”
By the time he gets to the chorus of the Taylor Swift–inspired song, every person in the room is cheering and dancing with him.
“We’ll make the Bolts last forever
We won’t go down in flames
This season ain’t even over, mm-mm
The Stanley Cup is worth the pain
Three periods till we’re legends
