Page 20 of Christmas on Ice
The announcer's voice took me out of my thoughts.Here we go.Taking a deep breath, I followed the offensive line out of the tunnel and onto the ice. I pushed off my left skate and sailed out to greet the six-thousand-plus fans in attendance at tonight’s game. I had a good feeling about this one. The Utah Arches had had more lineup changes than us during the off-season, and we were favored to win—if we could get it together.
“At right wing, number fifty-six, Rurik Antonov! Centerman, number twenty-five, Maddox Knott! At left wing, number thirty-seven, Andrej Lindt. At your home blue line, number eleven, Trask Emerson, and number ninety-eight, Brendan Trotter. And in goal, the captain of your Palmer City Voltage, number eighty-eight, Jaaaaaaaaaason Dexter!”
Maddox won the face-off, and Andrej took possession of the puck, weaving through the opposing players and over their blue line. Coming up against a defenseman, he spun around and passed the puck to Rurik, who was open on the left side of the net. Two Utah players headed straight for him, and I skated toward him for backup.
The four of us battled for control of the puck against the wall, and I got an elbow to my rib. As I caught my breath, the whistle blew. We broke apart and moved into position for a face-off. Rurik nodded to me, then set for the drop.
I was ready. We needed the win to tie for first in the points standings, and I was determined to play my best tonight. Rury won control and sent the puck straight to my waiting stick. I skated hard for the net and saw my opening. I slid into position for a wrist shot and hit the puck, sending it sailing towards the net. The goalie caught it in his glove, and I shook my head as I skated back to our bench.
“Good try, Mr. Tiggerman!”
I looked up to see Ryleigh in her mother’s arms, clapping for me. The gesture and encouragement hit me straight in my heart. I grinned and winked at her as I lifted my stick in a wave. I slid through the gate and dropped to the bench next to Brendan.
He lifted his glove for a fist bump. “Nice shot. You’ll get it next time. Their goalie isn’t at his best today. He’s playing hard out of the gate, overcompensating, probably because he’s hungover. He’ll tire out.”
“Oh yeah?” I squinted to look at the Utah goalie. “How do you figure? He looks to be in top form to me.”
Brendan shook his head. “We played together in Juniors. He’s starting out hard. Guaranteed he’ll lose steam towards the end of the second period. He’s new to this team, so they may not realize his tells yet. If they don’t pull the backup in after the second intermission, we can get a good rally going and they won’t even know what hit them.”
True to Brendan’s prediction, the goalie played hard but tired out, and by the third period, the Arches were up 2-0.
“Line change!” Coach barked. “Emerson, Trotter, do not let another shot near Dexter! Antonov, Lindt, Knott—we need shots on goal. Do your job!”
We climbed over the wall and joined the starting offensive line. Rurik got possession of the puck, and Brendan and I followed him over the red line. Rurik passed it to Maddox, who took a shot. The goalie cleared it, but I could tell he was moving more slowly around the crease.
Andrej stole the puck from their winger and whipped it over to me. I saw an opening and took my shot. It slid past the goalie’s skate and into the net. I raised my stick in celebration as the lamp lit up, registering the goal.
Brendan appeared next to me and we jumped at each other for a celebratory chest bump. The crowd cheered as my teammates skated over and patted me on the back. I broke away to skate by Kami and Ryleigh. I owed her a high five.
I placed my glove on the glass, and Kami held her up. Ryleigh hit the glass and giggled. “Do it again, Mr. Tiggerman!” I winked at her, and she blew kisses at me as I skated away.
They were still watching me as I slid back onto the bench. Unlike my last two girlfriends, who’d hardly paid attention to the game, Kami was into it. Every time I looked their way, her eyes were either on me or the puck.
The way that made me feel … I didn’t have words to describe it.
I scored again and repeated the new ritual. High five, wink, air kisses.
Scoring wasn’t the best feeling ever. Having people you wanted to share it with was.
12
Kami
“I’m sorry, Mama. I just can’t manage it.” I huddled in the corner of the bar with Brenna’s phone to my ear.
It was the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. My mother had reached out to Brenna because I hadn’t returned her calls for days. I’d been avoiding this inevitable conversation, regretting to have to tell her that Ryleigh and I wouldn’t be home for Christmas this year, nor would she be home with her dad as planned for Thanksgiving.
Sutton was supposed to have her for Thanksgiving, and he called yesterday to ask if I could take her since he’d been invited to a “thing” with a group of co-workers and no one else had kids. I’d had plans to spend the long weekend checking soil samples and reading journal articles for data comparison. I’d found something that didn’t make sense in the data, and I needed to revisit my sites in the mountains to collect more soil samples before I could finish this part of my dissertation.
Luckily, Brenna had the Saturday off and said she could stay with Ryleigh overnight. She’d wanted me to tell Sutton he didn’t get to choose when to be a father and when not to be, but truthfully, I wanted Ryleigh with me. I had to work Thanksgiving and would check my soil samples on Saturday, and with Brenna’s help, both were doable. Sutton had been acting stranger and stranger, and the thought of him taking Ryleigh for a long weekend concerned me in a way I couldn’t explain.
“But honey, we want to see you and support you. You know we can’t leave to come see you, or we’d be there in a heartbeat.”
I felt bad. I really did. But even with the excessive tips from Trask and his friends and low living costs, I wasn’t able to afford the trip. The alternator had eaten up the flight money, but it wasn’t just the cost of airfare I had to worry about. My family would want me to stay until the new year, and I’d miss a week or more of work, which was the deciding factor.
My parents were in no position to help me. My family ran an apiary outside Charleston, selling queen bees and packages of bees. They supplemented their income growing and selling honey and exotic greenery from their small nursery at local farmers markets and plant sales. Missing a weekend, especially a holiday weekend, would be just as bad for them as it would be for me if I couldn’t work.
I couldn’t wait until I had a salaried job.
