“I love him,” I tell her, finally telling someone besides myself. “I don’t know when it happened, but he got into my heart and I can’t imagine a time without him.”
“Good. Now.” She points to Lauren and Rachel coming back. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get a massage or something. He owes me big.” She gets up, walking toward Lauren.
We walk out of the shop with her arm intertwined into mine.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Matthew
We spend three hours doing drills and practicing stick handling. We play a game of two on two, and I love every single second of it.
I show Gabe little tricks, and I have to give it to him; he soaks in every word, following up my instructions to a T and getting into it right away, hungry for more. When we call it a day, he actually groans and moans.
Craig is there when we skate off the ice. “That boy, with a little bit of coaching, could be out of this world. He’s a natural.” He looks at Gabe. “I got one more left in me.” He looks from Gabe to Austin while I smile, thinking that this kid will be better than all of us.
“What does that mean?” Gabe asks, taking off his helmet and spitting out his mouth guard.
I walk to the dressing room, checking my phone while they continue talking. I see that Mom texted me a picture of her and Karrie at the spa. I smile when I think that she will be all relaxed for me tonight.
Gabe finishes before us and goes back to help Craig clean the ice on the Zamboni.
“Kid has the itch,” Cooper says, unwrapping the tape from his legs. “Where is the father in all this?” Cooper knows all about being a stepfather.
“He’s around.” Austin shrugs. “He cheated on her with the kid’s teacher. Found out she’s Camilla the Cunt.”
“Holy shit, no way!” Cooper shouts. “You think you’re ready for this?” Austin has never been around kids, so his answer should be interesting.
“I know that with her comes them. They’re a package deal. The kids are easy. It’s the ex I’m not sure I can deal with.” He suddenly looks unsure. “He broke up with Camilla, so now he’s free. What’s to say he won’t try to get her back? They don’t just have a past, they have kids. Can I even compete with that?”
Cooper throws his ball of tape in the garbage. “Oh, I know what you mean. When I met Parker, her ex was always away. The minute he spotted us together, all of a sudden he had second thoughts.” He looks at me to see if I’m listening. I’m listening, and I just nod my head and agree with him. “But I knew that the minute I found out she had kids, I didn’t give a shit. I wanted her, all of her.”
“How do you compete, though?”
“You don’t. You be you,” I add from his side. “As long as Gabe sees that you treat his mom well, you make her laugh, and she isn’t sad anymore, well, that’s all you really need to do.” I smile at Cooper, thinking back to how he drove Mom crazy at the beginning, but he wore her down.
We get dressed, each of us grabbing our bags to head out. “Okay, buddy, let’s go,” Austin tells Gabe as he walks out in front of him.
“Shit,” I say, “they took the car.”
“It’s okay. I have Lauren’s, and I can drive you guys back to the hotel.” Austin opens the trunk. “It really is a bus.” He winks at Gabe, and he just smiles and drinks the chocolate milk he got from Craig.
The minute he turns on the ignition, the sounds of “Let it Go” fill the car, and Cooper and I both groan. “I take it you guys know this song?” Austin asks us.
“Why is it playing?” I yell from the back, putting my hands over my ears.
“Because it’s jammed inside the player and Mom didn’t have it checked out yet,” Gabe explains, his head moving to the beat of the music. “Dad used to do all that.”
Cooper and Austin exchange a look before we drive off.
We get back to our hotel, and a couple of fans notice us and come up to ask us to take pictures. We sign a couple of autographs and head inside. “You want to have a beer before you go up?” Cooper asks me and I nod.
We sit side by side at the bar, both of us throwing peanuts in our mouth while we watch the SportsCenter playing. They show bits from the last game, including my penalty shot. “You are getting your legs back,” Cooper says to me, taking a sip of his beer while I drink my bottle of water.
“It just feels right,” I say. “It’s almost like I’m centered. Like I’m comfortable in my own skin.”