Page 47 of Love of the Game
Hell, I’d call her hands-free on the way. “Will you tell everyone at the bar?”
Another kiss, this one lingering. “Of course,” he whispered. “I love you, too.”
“Happy birthday.”
God that smile. The way his dark eyes sparkled in the winter’s morning light. “Score me a goal tonight, eh?”
“Absolutely.” Hell, I’d score him a hat trick, if I had the chance.
Another peck, and he was shooing me into the SUV, and I was on the road. An hour and ten minutes later, I was pulling into my spot at my apartment.
Surreal. Wonderful. Maddening. Jon wasn’t here.
But I was, and I was absolutely determined to prove to the Lions that they hadn’t made a mistake calling me back up. I ran my bags up to the apartment, then headed to the arena for morning skate.
Walkinginto the Lions arena this morning had been a surreal experience. My badge worked, like always. The staff was familiar, and of course my teammates, but my stall in the locker room had been shifted slightly. In my old stall was Gavin Lacey, the kid they’d called up when I’d been sent down, and my new stall was next to his.
Gavin had done okay so far. Handful of goals. Some nice assists. He was fast on the forecheck, as Jon had said, but was a little hesitant when finishing.
I’d been greeted warmly and loudly by the other guys, including Bearsy, who was still around, rehabbing his ankle. “Glad to be back?” he asked.
“Excited,” I said. “Glad for the opportunity.” I paused and added. “The Otters are fun though. Really helped me here.” I tapped my head.
Bearsy nodded. “Good group of guys down there.”
I settled into my new stall and started pulling equipmentout of my bag, then turned to my neighbor. “You’re Gavin, right?”
He nodded and eyed me. “You’re Drake.”
“Duck,” Bearsy added.
I laughed, because I hadn’t heard that in a while. “God, I forgot about that. They were calling me Dragon down there.”
“Dragon?” Bearsy said. “Why Dragon?”
“Because it’s better than Duck,” I replied. “At least, that’s what Jonny said.”
At the mention of Jon, Gavin cracked a smile. “God, he’s the best. How’s everyone doing down there, anyway?”
Over the course of the morning, I filled in Gavin (who’d been given the nickname Silky) on how the Otters were doing, and in turn, learned about all I’d missed the past month and a half. Mostly about different line combinations and changes to the power play and penalty kill.
Morning skate wasn’t a full one, but I had a feeling I’d be slotting in with the bottom two lines, and maybe on the kill. I still wasn’t much of a PKer, but I’d taken some shifts with the Otters PK unit, since Coach Macintosh liked everyone being able to kill penalties. Robinson had me on the PK unit during the morning skate.
“You’ve been mostly on the top line and on the power play in Greensburg, yeah?” Coach asked.
“Lately, yeah. But I’ll play wherever you need me, Coach” I said. “I can do the work.”
He nodded. “That’s what I like to hear.”
After practice, he pulled me aside. “You look good out there, but is there anything new, health-wise we need to know about?”
I started to shake my head, then hesitated. Because sperm-doner was still out there. Coach must’ve seenbecause he raised an eyebrow. “It’s not exactly health-related,” I said. “I had some issues earlier in the season with someone on social media…and my family.” I quickly filled him in on what had happened.
He sat back in his chair. “Well shit, Drake. That’s pretty heavy stuff. You should’ve told us.”
“I know.” I scratched my neck. “I’d thought I’d handled it, but he contacted me again around my birthday.”
“You give us the details, and we’ll make sure security is up-to-date.”
