Page 163 of The Home Game

“Oh shit, really? Congrats!” Antoni said, beaming.

“Thank you. We are happy. This is it though,” she said. “Anton got snipped when we found out two months ago. We figured best to do it while he was out with his hip stuff anyway.”

“Smart,” Matty said with a nod. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, pretty good,” she said with a sigh. “I’m a pro at this by now.”

Matty chatted with her for a little bit before she got distracted by something Kayla said and he turned back to Antoni.

“At least that’s not something we have to worry about, eh?” Antoni said with a smile.

Matty laughed. “No, I’m definitely not going to knock you up.”

Antoni snickered. “Good. I’ve got enough on my plate right now.”

But Matty wondered. Did that mean Antoni might want more kids later? They were definitely going to have to talk about that at some point.

They watched Eli pass by one of their teammates and Matty hummed and said, “Eli has some good speed.”

“Yes,” Elena agreed, rejoining the conversation. “They’re good on their skates and the stick handling will come in time.”

“God, I feel like you two speak a different language. I still have so much to learn,” Antoni said with a sigh.

“That will come in time too,” she said with a grin.

After a few more rounds, the drills wrapped up and the coaches got them organized to play sharks and minnows.

It made Matty smile, thinking about La Bouche. The team had gone through a rough spot a few years back with their goaltender, Noah Boucher, coming back from knee surgery and the team dynamics getting skewed.

Noah had always been the heart and soul of the team and Dustin had … well, he’d struggled with his leadership. He’d been the captain—partly because goalies couldn’t be captains—and partly because everyone could see the potential in him.

Unfortunately, Dustin had gotten in his own way for a while but he and Noah had straightened it out eventually. And Noah’s suggestion that the team play some sharks and minnows at practice to break up the tension and get everyone relaxed and having fun together again had worked.

Smiling, Matty watched as the kids lined up at the goal line as minnows. The three coaches became the sharks and their job was to stay between the blue lines.

The object of the game was for the minnows to skate past the sharks and make it to the other end of the other goal line without getting touched by a shark.

Anyone touched by the shark turned into a shark and it grew progressively harder for the remaining minnows to get past them.

Matty cheered as Eli dodged the sharks for several rounds. They were eventually tagged by a shark and didn’t win, but Matty still cheered for them and for the kid who was the last one standing on her skates.

Eli was pink-cheeked and smiling when they were finally released from practice.

Some of the kids headed for the locker rooms where there were designated and vetted parents to oversee the kids, but some kids, like Eli, went straight to the benches to change.

“I’ll wrangle Eli’s gear if you get Alexis,” Matty offered.

Antoni nodded. “Sounds good. Meet you back here shortly. Thanks again for dropping the kids off today, Elena!”

“Oh sure, no problem,” she said with a wave as she helped one of her boys. “Any time!”

With a quick kiss, Matty let Antoni go and walked over to Eli who was struggling with their skates, the laces a tangled mess.

“Did you see me, Matty? Did you see me?” Eli asked, practically bouncing in their seat as Matty helped work the laces loose.

“I did! You’re so speedy! I’m really impressed.”

“Yeah?” Eli’s eyes glowed. “It was super fun at the end there.”

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