Page 49 of Slapshot
“You realize everyone just saw that, right?” he asks with a grin and starts to drop his mouth back to mine.
I put a hand up to stop him. “That was the point. Just so you know, though, I’m not this girl. The one who is going to stand by your side all night long and smile and giggle at whatever you say.”
He barks out a laugh. “No shit, baby doll.”
“And that pet name is gonna have to go.”
“Sure thing,baby doll.” With a huge grin, he kisses me again. “Wanna go upstairs?”
“Later. I have an idea.”
After finding Vivian and Ash, the four of us play a few games of washers and then eventually move inside when the cold becomes too much. I’m sitting next to Lex on the couch, his arm is casually draped behind me.
“I think I’m going to grab a ride home. Are you coming, Kait?” Vivian asks.
She and Ash have been flirting but as far as I can tell neither has made a move. I can hardly blame Ash, or any of these guys, since they’re well aware of her grudge against hockey players. I glance at Ash to see his reaction to her leaving. He looks down to his beer as she stands.
“I’m going to stay,” I tell my best friend.
She grins. “Okay. Call me tomorrow.”
Ash moves to his feet. “Let me walk you out.”
Tate and his girlfriend Maggie stand as well. “We’re going to bed, too. ‘Night all,” Tate says. Maggie waves.
Jonah and Patrick are playing video games. Patrick has a girl sitting beside him, but the three of them aren’t paying any attention to Lex and me.
“Come with me.” Lex stands and helps me to my feet. “I want to show you something.”
He leads me through the kitchen toward the attached dining room. Cups and a few empty liquor bottles litter the countertop. Shot glasses and beer cans set on the old wood table where earlier people were playing cards and quarters.
“This table has been handed down a bunch of generations. It has names of guys that played dating all the way back to the eighties.” Sure enough, there are names scribbled in ink and Sharpie all over. Some are just names, some include the year or their jersey number. In the middle, someone drew an impressive bull mascot in green and black.
“This is really cool. Where is your name?”
“I haven’t put mine on it yet.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure. I started to a couple times, but it feels like a much bigger deal than just scribbling my name in some random spot. Years and years of names. I memorized them all. Looked up the ones I didn’t know. Some of the guys went on to do big things in the hockey world and others didn’t but they’re all here together as this sacred thing. I guess I don’t feel worthy yet.” He grins sheepishly. “I’m romanticizing it, I know. The guys already gave me shit about it.”
“No, I get it. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of.”
He nods and squeezes my hand, then uses his other to point to a signature on the table.
Declan Dalager. #11
My dad. His penmanship hasn’t changed but seeing it here with the others feels surreal. It’s hard to imagine him here just like Lex, and the rest of the guys. All the great things that still lie ahead of him.
“I know you don’t like it when I bring up your dad, but I thought you’d want to see.”
“Thank you for showing me.” I run my finger below it.
“Of course.” He pulls me to him and kisses me quick.
“Wanna go back outside?” I ask him. A decent number of people are still out in the yard sitting around drinking next to a fire pit.
“No. My toes are just now thawed out from earlier.” He laughs. “Are you really staying over?”
