Page 12 of The Home Game

Dom sighed heavily.

“Sure,” Matty said, tearing his thoughts away from Antoni and his kids. “Of course. Whatever you need.”

Dom was an incredible player. In his career, he’d won two Stanley Cups and countless awards. He’d played for team Canada in the Olympics and won Gold.

But his career was winding down and everyone knew it. Last season, he’d been their first line center, then been shuffled to second when it was clear that Colton Yates was out-producing him.

This season … well, no one knew what their lineup would look like. Coach Casey had taken a leave of absence to be with his wife while she was undergoing cancer treatment. Their new coach, Michael Gilbert, was known to be a hardass.

It was definitely going to be a big change for all of them.

Defensemen like Matty rarely took face-offs and even when they did, it was usually a guy like Jonah Brewer or Nico Arents who took it. But Matty was strong and he liked helping his friend, so he regularly practiced like this with Dom so he could get his reps in.

By the time they were done, Matty was damp with sweat and he skated over to the bench to grab a water bottle.

As he squirted water in his mouth, he could hear the noise of some of their teammates in the hallway that led to the practice rink. His captain and top line winger, Dustin Fowler, and Eric Jensen, their other top line winger, were squabbling playfully about who was right about some random hockey statistic.

They skated onto the ice, still arguing, and Matty grinned.

Some things never changed. Dustin would always talk hockey with anyone who would listen. Poor Charlie. His adorable little husband didn’t deserve that.

Felix Hale and Jonah Brewer skated out a moment later, laughing about something else, and Matty smiled at them. They were in their own world—like always—and Matty was glad to see they were doing well.

It had been a really tough end to last season. The team had been eliminated in the second round of the playoffs and Matty knew Jonah still blamed himself.

But Jonah had been defending Felix from an asshole who’d made fun of his alcohol addiction—a seriously low blow—and he’d been totally justified in throwing the punch, if you asked Matty. Jonah and Felix had been in a bad place that night anyway, with Jonah’s grandmother, Ji-Min, in the hospital and both of them worried sick over her.

Felix and Jonah had argued in the locker room that night too. It had been kind of a mess all around.

And sure, maybe if Jonah hadn’t punched Dallas Sutton in the face and half the team hadn’t wound up in the penalty box, they could have tied the game up and gone into overtime.

Maybe they’d have won the game in OT, then won a few more.

But Matty had his doubts.

The team had been struggling all around last season. By the playoffs, their goaltending situation had been a disaster and with Nico Arents out and recovering from a brain tumor, that wasn’t really a recipe for playoff success.

But it made Matty happy to see Jonah and Felix happy now, laughing and joking around, looking at each other with heart-eyes. Pretty cool that they’d gone from being best friends to crazy in love.

Matty was a little jealous. Maybe someday he’d find love like that …

But a whistle brought him back to reality and he joined his teammates as they skated over to Dustin to await instructions. Some days they ran drills, some days they did 3-on-3 scrimmages, some days they did a mix of things.

Today was a mix and by the time they were done, Matty was drenched in sweat and happiness. Hockey always put him in a great mood.

In the locker room, Matty couldn’t resist checking his phone in the hopes that there would be a message from Antoni. Not that he wanted Antoni to have an emergency or anything but he’d kinda hoped he’d at least get a quick little text or something.

Maybe a ‘thanks, the kids enjoyed the food’ or something. Not that Matty had done it because he wanted praise or anything, he just …

He sighed. He’d just hoped that Antoni had wanted an excuse to talk.

He definitely seemed like he needed a friend. And Matty would love to be that for him if Antoni would let him. Something about the guy just tugged at Matty’s heartstrings. Besides, this was who he was. He was the guy who was there to help out people who needed it.

He always had been, always would be.

Lost in his own thoughts, Matty stripped down, half-listening to the guys talking over one another, making plans for lunch.

“You coming with us?” Dustin asked a few minutes later as they ambled toward the showers. “I think we’re going to that new Italian place.”

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