Page 60 of Pipe Dreams
“Okay.”
“Hallo, Beak,” Hans said a moment later.
“How’s it hangin’, Hans?”
The German hipster laughed. “That was... something else. It was fun to see.”
“Yeah. Crazy, right?”
“I don’t know what to say. Thanks for taking a stand.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Lot of people would have said something. And now I’m going to be accused of doing it just to gain advantage on the ice. So that’s gonna be fun.”
“Ja?” Hans laughed. “Tell ’em you did it for your gay roommate.”
“Uh-huh. Think of the headlines.”
He laughed again. “Good night. I’ll pry Elsa’s phone out of her hands now.”
“Good luck with that.”
He hung up smiling.
EIGHTEEN
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
MAY 2016
When Lauren got back to Brooklyn, the first thing she did was to push back Nate’s China trip into late June. Her old hockey-watching habits had kicked in hard, and she had a gut feeling the Brooklyn team would win this series and advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
And, weirdly, she wasn’t sure she minded. Maybe she wouldn’t admit it aloud, but it was fun watching her boys win again.
She’d caught herself thinking of them asher boysagain, just like in the old days. For the past two years it had hurt too much to think of the team that way. But lately she felt more relaxed in their company. Now that she and Mike were on speaking terms, it wasn’t hard for her to walk into the players’ lounge in the headquarters on Hudson Avenue, handing out the media kits that Georgia’s publicity office had prepared.
“Hey, Lauren,” Castro rumbled as he took his copy from her hands. “Do I really have to read this thing?”
“It’s a free country, hot stuff,” she said, surprising herselfwith her own cheerful tone. She sounded like the Lauren of years past—the one who teased the players instead of snapping at them. “But if you don’t show up to the right press conference after the game tonight, you’ll have to answer to Georgia and Tommy.”
She even gave Mike a smile as she handed him a copy. And she didn’t let her eyes linger on his darker ones, or feel the heat of his heavy-lidded gaze on her.
Not much, anyway.
The players had spent the morning with the coaching coordinators or with Ari, the massage therapist. The Brooklyn HQ had the feel of a war bunker this week. It was all hands on deck. Meals were catered into the lounge so that nobody had to leave. The publicity office was overrun with calls, which meant support staff of all stripes were pitching in.
The thrum of play-offs fever had reached even Lauren’s frigid heart. From Becca’s desk, she helped out with whatever needed doing, while also keeping tabs on the e-mail chain regarding all the current projects in New York. She and her boss were burning the candle at both ends, looking out for the team’s needs while chatting with their Manhattan colleagues all day.
She kept an eye on the sports headlines, too, even though it wasn’t her job to worry about the Bruisers’ news. There was plenty of chatter about the incident in Tampa. The league had fined Skews for his comments, and the player had issued a stuttering apology, asking for forgiveness from whoever he’d offended.
Twitter lit up with commentary. Much of it was supportive of the sanctions against Skews, but there was a lot of ugliness among hockey fans complaining about “PC bullshit” and favoritism.
There was some taunting to the tune of:Brooklyn can’t win without getting our best players thrown out of the game.
Fans would say anything at all. Lauren was used to it.But around noon on game day she saw a blog post that made her skin crawl. “Tampa’s Best Move Would Be to Take Out Mike Beacon.”
It was on a skanky site—not a real news outlet, and it was obviously click bait. But when the commentary loaded, her blood pressure spiked anyway.
Saturday’s drama aside, everyone knows Brooklyn’s real weakness. Their goal bench is the thinnest in the NHL. Without Mike Beacon they’d be down to Silas Kelly. Kelly was an early-round draft pick that hasn’t panned out. Early last season he had a few good nights, but always chokes as the season progresses. He’s never stood between the pipes during a play-offs game.
