Page 68 of Broken Promises

“They’re expecting me. I’ll pass. Just make sure you’re open.” He nods and skates to the bench just as the ref blows his whistle.

Gideon loses the face-off, but Rogers is quick getting the puck back to him. He misses his first two shots but gets the puck by the goalie’s left skate by a hair. Utah goes from a team playing a clean game to dirty really quickly after that. I get it. They thought they had the win clinched, but we came back and tied it up.

The entire period is full of penalties and wasted power plays. We keep getting the advantage, but they’re aggressive and violent. Martinez got five for fighting. I’ve been in the box twice for two minutes each for charging one asshole. To be fair on therefs, that was a valid call. He started it by tripping Gideon behind the ref’s backs, though.

“No overtime,” Ivanov says next to me on the bench. We’re watching our second line fight for their lives out there. It’s my fault we’re working so hard to claw our way back from an almost guaranteed loss. I start to apologize, but he stops me. “No apologies. No overtime.”

The moment we’re back on the ice, we fight for the puck like it’s the last roll at Texas Roadhouse. Time is quickly counting down on the clock. One minute. Utah has stopped every attempt by Ivanov, Gideon, and me.

I have the puck again, but Gideon and Ivanov are covered. I spot the massive form that is Martinez out of the corner of my eye. Looking at the goalie like I’m about to shoot on him, I fake the shot and slip the puck back to Martinez. He slaps his stick so hard against the puck I barely see it fly past my head. The lights flash and the buzzer sounds. That son of a bitch did it.

I want to drop to my knees right here on the ice. I’m that tired. But we still have twenty seconds to run down before heading directly to the airport. This trip has been long and emotionally draining.

We keep Utah away until the last buzzer sounds. I barely hear Coach going over the game, even though he glares at me a lot. I already know it’s my fault. I already apologized to my team.

By the time I make it onto the bus and collapse next to Ben, I’m ready to sleep. The exhaustion I feel is bone deep.

“One more game, Dec,” Ben says.

“It’s so hard to be away from her when I can’t stop thinking about her being in danger, you know?” I ask him, not expecting the look he gives me. Like he completely understands.

“Call her before we get to the airport.”

I pull out my phone and dial her. She picks up immediately. I’m sure she was waiting.

“Hey, hockey boy.”

“I miss you, Princess. Ask me to retire. I’ll do it right now and come home to you.” She laughs, but I’m completely serious. I love hockey, but not as much as I love her.

“One more game before you’re home. You can handle it.”

“That’s what Ben said.”

“I think Ben and I will get along very well,” she says. I turn and see Ben smiling. He can probably hear her. “Ask him if he wants to come by on Christmas. We’re hosting this year.” I smile at how domestic this is. Discussing a holiday we’re hosting at our house with my wife. It’s everything I never knew I wanted.

“I’m flying out to spend it with my dad, but thank you,” he says into the phone.

“Oh, he has a sexy voice!” she exclaims.

“Hey! My voice is sexier!” I yell, earning a bunch of glares and shushes from the rest of the team. Then I turn to Ben. “No offense, man.”

“I’m gay, Dec. There’s no threat here,” Ben says, laughing at me.

“Oh, right.”

“Darn it,” Willa says. “There go my dreams of a threesome.”

“Princess,” I grumble into the phone, trying to stay quiet.

“Don’t worry. I’m all yours, baby.” I smile victoriously at her words. Ben rolls his eyes and stands. I didn’t even realize the bus had stopped.

“I have to board the plane. I’ll call you tomorrow. I love you, Princess.”

She hesitates like she has been the last few days since I first told her how I felt. “Have a safe flight.”

And just like every other time she hasn’t told me she loves me too, I swallow down the hurt. I know she feels it. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me. I just need to be patient and continue to tell her and show her how much I love her.

We lost last night, but I’m not sure how much any of us care. We know we should, but we all just want to be home with our families. Thankfully, that was the longest trip of the season for us.

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