Page 58 of Interference
This will be the first time I’ve had someone in the stands for me. The girl I love wearing my number.
As all the guys filter out of the locker room, Wyatt takes a seat next to me. Coach gives us each a nod before he leaves us alone.
“What is weighing on you?” Wyatt asks.
“She’s out there. She said she would be anyway.”
He nods. “She is out there. Kellan texted with Cora. They are waiting for us to take the ice, so why are we sitting in here?”
I rub my lips together before I can put it into words.
“It doesn’t feel real. I feel like someone is going to pinch me and I’m going to wake up to the night of the injury and all of this will have been some fever dream brought on by the drugs.”
Wyatt leans over and pinches me.
“Ow. What the fuck, man?”
He gives me a knowing look. “It’s real. She’s real. She is pregnant with your child, and she is out there right now waiting on you. She came here for you.”
He’s right. I know he is, but I’m scared.
I’m fucking frightened to death that she is here now, but she won’t always be.
“What if she leaves?” I whisper.
“Then it’s probably because she doesn’t feel well.” He pats my shoulder.
I shake my head. “What if she leaves me? I don’t know if I can handle it.”
He sighs. “You can’t live your life based on things that might or might not happen. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Anything can happen at any time. So stop wasting time and be in the present with her. She is with you right now, man. Do whatever you have to do to keep her happy, and she will never leave. She might not know it yet, but that girl loves you. She has to. I mean, she wouldn’t have slept with you for three years if she didn’t. Girls aren’t like that. They don’t do short-term relationships for the long term if they didn’t care. She might have been telling herself she didn’t, but she came when you got hurt, man. That says a lot.”
I had almost forgotten about that. I was doped up on pain medication, but she came into the room at the hospital, having told the front desk she was my fiancée. I barely remember her being there, but Wyatt told me afterward.
She came for me.
Taking a deep breath, I stand. “You’re right. I want to see her out there. I want her cheering me on.”
“She’s there, man. Don’t be afraid to grab her while you can.”
We head out of the locker room together to the arena, and the sound hits me first. The screaming and chanting as the guys warm up on the ice. I skate out and circle the rink until I find her. Three rows back with Cora and Grace. She has a wide smile on her face as I skate up to her. She turns, showing me my name on her back.
It feels fucking amazing. If God is willing, she will be my wife one day. I can’t wait for that day, but for now I live in the present.
I live right here in this moment with her.
Pressing a kiss to my glove, I press it to the Plexiglas. The fans in front of me cheer like it’s for them, but she knows it was for her.
Only ever for you, buttercup.
She blows me a small one back, making me smile.
That’s my girl.
All my nerves fade away as I skate away from her and do my warm-ups. Then it’s national anthem time before the hustle and bustle of the pregame comes to an end. Then I find myself on the ice, facing off against an angry Honey Badger.
It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll do my best and help my team win this game. It’s what you do for family, but I also want her to see what determination I have.
I will be a good father to our baby and the best partner to her.
