Page 109 of Hot Puck
Boston is scrambling. They can’t seem to control the puck or keep it. I’ve barely seen any action. Unlike my counterpart who’s been working non-stop to keep us at bay.
It’s not until the crowd starts screaming numbers that I look at the clock.
Eight seconds.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
I stand upright.
Two.
One.
I can’t even hear the horn, the noise in the arena too deafening. My gaze scans the ice, the seats, the bench, before turning to find the team racing across the ice toward me.
There are words, lots of words, but the ringing in my ears makes it impossible to decipher them. When Bex grabs my mask, shakes my head, I concentrate on his lips. Try to read them. And the second I do it sinks in.
I just played a shut-out game in a Cup final.
A game that wins us the Cup.
I yank my head from Bex’s hold and search for the only person I want to see right now.
It’s pandemonium on the ice. In the stands. Chaos of the best kind.
“They’re keeping everyone near the bench,” Gannon yells in my ear with a tip of his head toward it.
When I look, I can’t find Gem or the girls in the crowd. What I do see is carpet. They’re laying carpet over the ice in sections and shuffling people onto them.
Officials in suits, kids in jerseys, held in place by moms, wait for their dads to come over.
And there they are. The twins are jumping up and down, their mouths working so I know they’re screaming. I still don’t see Gem. Or Candace. Worried, I push through the melee and head for Cass and Stell.
Reaching them, I wrap them up in an arm each and pull them against me. I ignore their congratulations and ask, “Where’s Gem? Candace?”
“Well,” Cass says with a smirk. “Candace decided the last minute of the game was a good time to fill her diaper.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
I turn to check with Stell who shakes her head, but she’s grinning. “It seems her big brother making history isn’t as important as pooping her pants.” She laughs then.
“She’ll never live it down,” Cass adds.
“Gem missed the end of the game?”
“No. I certainly did not.” The woman I’m looking for moves next to me. “I handed that girl off to Deanne.”
“Smart.” I grin. “We did it.”
Nodding, she says, “Yes, you did. Now go join your team so you can get your hands on the Cup.”
