Page 38 of My Brother's Enemy
I heard a sharp inhale around the room.
Meester blinked, and his mouth stretched to a grin. He held up his fist. “Well, all right then. Another reason to celebrate.”
I met his fist with mine, suddenly really looking forward to meeting them out for a drink. I hadn’t been able to enjoy that sort of thing since the trade.
After I was dressed, Rain was still in Coach’s office, and I considered inviting her along. But I knew she wouldn’t go. I doubted any of the coaches would go, and she was considered an extension of them.
I still wanted to see her.
Tyler: Going out with the team for a drink. Can I swing by after?
“Ready?” Brick came over.
Most of the others had left. I’d been stalling to see if I could get a word with Rain, but that wasn’t happening.
I stood. “Yeah, man. All ready.”
26
RAIN
Around the conference table in Coach’s office, we’d run through the logistics of the game like usual—what worked, what didn’t, brief ideas to expand on at a later time, thoughts to ruminate over as we headed home—but now we were getting down to my business.
“Good call on Sunny,” Coach Hines said, nodding my way.
“Thanks. Glad it helped.”
I could feel the other coaches’ eyes on me, but glancing around, I didn’t see any hostility. Thank goodness. I struggled a bit with the beginning part of a new job, where I had to prove myself. Then after that, I’d navigate anyone who didn’t like a girl knowing the sport as well as they did—if not better. I didn’t sense that here, and hope began to rise inside me. That meant good things for the team. They were open to change. That was everything.
“Mind sharing what you told him?” Javier, one of the assistant coaches, asked. He’d played hockey until a knee injury ended his career in the AHL. After that, he began working his way up the coaching ladder, and this was his first year working with an NHL team. Young. Lean build. Brown skin. Dark eyes.He was the kind of guy who was attractive but wasn’t focused on his looks. He was only focused on his job. That made him somewhat intense at times, but it seemed he wanted to learn anything and everything to do the best job he could. I liked that about him.
I relayed a brief summary, and they all stared.
Coach Hines finally cleared his throat. “We should’ve been more clear in our instructions.”
I shrugged. “Sometimes the best thing is just to lay it out for them. That worked today for Sunny, but I don’t think it was mishandled initially. You guys planted the seed. That means some things were unearthed. I just came along and began weeding, in essence.” I added, “The end goal is always to win. Obviously. However, I’ve never subscribed to the method of just telling them to win. I’ve found that when you switch their mindset to competing with themselves, trying to beat their personal records, or making a game of it, that eases some of the pressure. It’s also a bit more fun, and we all know that when hockey players are having fun, generally they’re going to play their best.”
Marken nodded along as I spoke. “Brick loved the exercise you did with him. Meester’s already asked if I’d do the same with him.” None of the other coaches seemed surprised, so he must’ve already shared this with them. “I’m going to be honest; your slap shot is a helluva lot more lethal than mine. You interested in working with Meester on that?”
I gave him a small smile. “Yeah. I’d like to spend some one-on-one time with him anyway. He’s in his head a lot, I can tell.”
Marken nodded. “He is.”
Coach Hines cleared his throat again. “Our first line is working well together. Let’s focus on the second line. Bruge and Markie are struggling. Keeting seems adaptable to both.” He glanced at me before turning to Javier. “If you have thoughtson smoothing them out, I’m open to suggestions. But let’s cover that tomorrow morning. Any more general thoughts about the game tonight?”
It seemed we’d covered things for now, and when the meeting came to an end, I slipped out to use the bathroom. As I returned, Coach Hines was locking his office. The locker room lights had dimmed, so everyone was gone already, except the equipment managers. Games usually ended late, so people liked to get home. I wasn’t surprised to find we were the last ones around.
At hearing my footsteps, Coach Hines looked my way. He waited by his door as I approached. “Did you know that before I took this job, I used to coach at Minnesota? The U of M.”
I shook my head, lying. I did know that about him.
He studied me a moment, and I thought I caught a flash of amusement there. “I did. So I was local for a good long while. I was here when Griffin was a rising star, but there was a set of brothers as well. The Connors brothers. They’re also from around here.”
I tensed.
“Back then, their pop was pretty active, making sure they got the best coaches looking at them,” he continued. “He liked to drop hints about their practice schedules. One day, I was in the area and thought,what the hell? So I stopped by to watch. They didn’t know I was there. I never said anything. Just came in, took a seat in the back, and watched their practice.” He looked at me carefully. “The funny thing is, their dad wasn’t with them. There was a girl with them on the ice, though. She skated just as fast as they did, acted as their goalie at times. I watched them for a full hour. I didn’t intend to watch that long, but I liked what I was seeing. I never knew who the little girl was, because she wore a helmet, but I always figured it was a sister. Maybe a cousin.Didn’t seem like a girlfriend. Neither of the boys was particularly kind to her, or to each other really. They were straight business.”
His eyes grew distant, and he nodded to himself. “After that day, I always thought I’d be hearing about a Connors sister. My daughter played back then. She went to college, got a scholarship, so I had an ear tuned, you know? But nothing. I never heard about a female Connors playing the sport. Always wondered though.” He waited a beat before his eyes found my face again.
