Page 92 of Hockey Bois
“I do believe that means he’s out for the game,” he said innocently. “Such a shame.”
Terry looked back and forth between them with wide eyes. Not in fear,becausehe knew damn well neither of them were upset athim, but with sheer excitement that one of them was going to get their ass kicked.
Her eyes narrowed. “You knew about this.”
“Bra—” He shook his head and belatedly corrected himself. This was a hockey rink with their team around, after all. “Jensmighthave mentioned something.”
Jenna noticed the change, raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “When?”
“A couple days ago.”
“Before or after we planned on coming to this game?”
Nick bit the inside of his cheek and kept his tone solemn. “Might have been just before.”
“Nick! You butt! You know what, fine. I don’t need to meet him. I don’t evenwantto meet this guy. I will watch and be supportive during your game, and this just removes unnecessary distractions.” She then turned on her heel and walked toward the rink.
Terry stared after her, clearly terrified of the prospect of having to sit next to Jenna all game but also impressed that Nick had managed to pull this off.
“Good luck?” Terry said tentatively.
“Thanks. And sorry. Didn’t mean to make it awkward.”
Terry looked constipated as he shrugged it off. “Honestly, this might be less awkward? Because she won’t have someone to shout at during the game except you?”
“And you.”
“And me, yeah.”
Donno gave him a bewildered look when he walked into the locker room, clearly in the middle of describing the angry blonde monster that had cornered him on the way in.
“My cousin is…” He trailed off, unable to find the right words to adequately encapsulate all that was Jenna Duffy. “Tenacious?” he tried.
“No fucking kidding there, bro.” There was a slight tremor in Donno’s voice, and Nick wondered how long the inquisition had been going on before Nick had shown up. “She reminds me of my grandma, except taller, younger, and way more likely to smack me if she doesn’t like my answers.”
“I automatically like her,” Gail said. “You better score tonight, Nicki. Family’s in the building.”
“Not much chance of that,” Nick grumbled. About a third of his goals were assisted by Brady, and anyway, he wasn’t feeling it. It was some combination of bad luck and the pressure of being watched, but it seemed more likelyhe’dend up in the back of the net tonight than that he’d put a puck there.
To be fair, Jenna and Terry would probably find that more entertaining.
Nick took his time getting ready. He wouldn’t say he wasnervousabout having family in the audience, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t, either. It was some weird accountability thing. When he talked about his games, he could color them any way he wanted to. He tried to be fair in his self-assessment, as objective as reasonably possible because that honesty was the only way he could actually improve. But that didn’t mean his own interpretation didn’t color his play-by-plays.
Now he’d have outside eyes looking in. Whether they were painfully blunt about his playing or sugarcoated it, simply having them there meant someoneelsewould know if he played like garbage. Would they think he was wasting his time with this hockey thing? All those lessons and hours of practice for nothing?
The short answer, the one he knew both Jenna and Terry would give without hesitation, was no, he was not wasting his time. He was enjoying himself doing something he loved, and that time could never be wasted. His actual ability to score goals or help his team wasmaybetied to how much fun he had during any individual game, but his overall love of the sport and pride in coming so far weren’t negated by bad plays or off nights.
Still. Theymightsay he should quit, and he wasn’t sure he could take the blow no matter how unlikely it was.
All the worrying made him the last one out of the locker room. Even Mags, who’d arrived a good ten minutes after him, was long gone by the time Nick finished lacing up.
Not a great start, but hopefully nothing a good warm-up couldn’t fix.
He nearly lost it right at the door into the rink. Jenna was leaning over the bleachers and talking enthusiastically to Gail, who was still on the runway between the locker rooms and ice. Nick was shit at reading lips, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were talking about.
Whothey were talking about.
He stood there dumbfounded for a good thirty seconds before Gail noticed him. She gave him a huge Cheshire Cat grin, turned to say something to Jenna, and then disappeared out onto the ice.
