Page 16 of Love of the Game
We finished up practice, with Mac being pleased with our effort, and reminding us of the road game tomorrow, and when we needed to be here to board the bus. This one, thankfully, wasn’t far—couple hours to Harrisburg to play the Pickaxes. It was those trips up to New England or down to South Carolina thatsucked.
One thing I didn’t do was let my eyes wander over the flora and fauna of Drake Williams while in the shower area with the guys. I got myself cleaned efficiently, got dressed and got out of there. I wanted the first time I really saw him naked to be somethinghewanted and asked for.
In the lounge, I grabbed some food and a table. Alfie and Bruda joined me, and before I even had a chance to, Alfie waved Drake over.
“Drake was telling me about this chocolate shop in Pittsburgh that has European candies.” Alfienearly vibrated in his seat. “I think Ebba and I are going to drive in on the off day after the road trip.”
Ebba was his girlfriend. They were so stinkingyoungand so stinkingcutetogether. She was taking classes at the local university, which I utterly admired. “Sweets to the sweet,” I said.
“Shakespeare,” Drake said.
“Exactly so.”NowI looked appreciated the view fully, and met his gaze. “Do you know which play?”
He snorted. “Hamlet.” His expression turned contemplative, and he grunted, as if his mind had just shuffled something into place.
“Jonny likes to think he’s literary.” Bruda said. “He really just watches movies.”
At that, I rolled my eyes and smiled while I flipped him off. “I can read and speak three languages—well, two and a half. My French is—” I rocked my hand back and forth to indicate so-so. “I’m out of practice. We need a Quebecois player.”
“Oh, sure.” Bruda waved his fork at me. “I’ll tell management to getrighton that. A French-Canadian player so Jonny can improve his language skills.”
There was Drake’s stunning smile again. Yeah, that’s what I was aiming for. I could stare at that forhours.
“You spent time in Montreal, right?” Drake’s blue eyes caught mine for a moment before he looked to his food.
“A couple years.” Papa started playing there when I was nine, but I didn’t discuss my father’s career with my teammates. I mean, they knew, of course, but also he was just “Jonny’s dad” on the parents-and-mentors road-trip, and he loved that. “But like a lot of things, if you don’t use a language, it slips away.”
“Some people never had it to begin with,” Alfie deadpanned, and looked right at Bruda.
“Hey!” He flicked a pea at Alfie in response.
And that was pretty much how our meal went. Lots of snark, Drake’s lovely smile, and me trying not to melt into a pile of goo when he turned those baby blues on me.
I couldn’t help notice that he was waiting to leave until I did. On the way out the door, he spoke. “Thank you for last night. I think I needed someone to remind me that I can love hockey.”
The air in the parking lot was cold, and the scent of woodsmoke lingered on the breeze. Clouds had made the sky gray, but there was light in Drake, and that warmed my soul. I’d parked next to his SUV, so I leaned against the back of my truck. “If you didn’t love it, if I didn’t know you loved it, I’d tell you it’s okay to stop. But you have agiftand love, and there’s nothing you can’t do with those.”
He gaped at me. “You think?”
I nodded. Pretty sure Drake would lift a Cup in a couple years. The Lions weren’t quite there yet, but soon. And Drake would be part of that.
His laugh was a puff of smoke into the air. “Feels weird to hear when I’m about to drive back to a hotel room, but—okay. I’ll trust you.”
“Which hotel are you at, anyway?” There were only so many… and none were exactly the high-end I knew the NAPH teams used.
“The Marriott.”
I must have made a face because he raised an eyebrow. “You think it’s bad?”
“The hotel? It’s fine. The location?” This time, I purposefully twisted my face. “Has the ambiance of a stripmall parking lot.” Mostly because itwasa strip mall parking lot.
He laughed again. “Yeah, but it’s that or commute from Pittsburgh, which…” This time he skewed up his face.
That had me blurting out, “I have a guest room at my house. En-suite bath and everything. New players, people coming up or down—I usually offer it, but there wasn’t really a good time.”
He stared at me.
Words tumbled out of my mouth as the temperature of my face rose. “You can say no. You can always say no to me. You can say yes to the room and no to the…” I waved my hand. “Flirting. I can stop that, if you don’t want it. I don’t want you uncomfortable, Drake. Just…living in a hotel room… that really kind of sucks.”
