Page 37 of The Puck Decoy

Her eyes are somber and her voice soft as she admits, “They get a little too rough, and I don’t like that.”

I return her smile with one of my own, as I glance over her head and spot the place where they keep all the extra skates. “Want me to fill in for him until he’s ready?”

Her eyes widen, sparkling with excitement in the same way as my best friends. “You skate?” she asks, locking Josh’s phone and finally giving me her full attention.

“I sure do,” I nod, mentally trying to figure out the last time I actually skated, and praying I am not too rusty.

“Are you as good as Josh?” she questions, and it lights a fire beneath me to give her the power to do it for the girls.

“Oh sweetie, I am way better than him,” I wink, and she smiles for the first time as I stand and move to fetch myself some skates.

I wait for her to tie on her own before I offer her my hand, and when she takes it, I lead us to the ice with an adrenaline pumping beneath my skin.

Looks like I am back on the ice with Josh Peters once again.

I’ve been teaching at the community center for over a year now, and what started as getting in some extra practice alone, soon turned into one to one sessions, and then a full on group. I’m here every Monday without fail, and being around these kids reminds me why I fell in love with ice hockey in the first place. I’m deep in teacher mode with the boys when the flash of something in the corner of my eye catches my attention. I spin and watch as Hallie steps onto the ice with Penelope tight on her heels, the two of them holding hands, and from my vantage point I can hear Hallie instructing her gently.

Penelope has been coming to the class for almost a year, pretty much since right after I first started it, and word quietly spread. I know her mom, Callia, from one of the diners in town, and she has always gone out of her way to be kind to me. I’mnot sure what her back story is, but I know she is a young single mom looking after her daughter alone. So when Pen first started coming to the class, and Callia would run late to pick her up, I started offering to take her to the diner instead of her coming here. It took a few more weeks of lateness before she finally relented, but now we have a nice little agreement going, where I not only get to teach a great kid how to skate, but I also get to help out a struggling parent.

It’s been a couple of years since I have seen Hallie skate, and I’m surprised by how easy she still glides around the ice. She is holding both of Penelope’s hands now and is skating backwards with ease, pulling her along. The little girl has a huge smile on her face, and Hallie pretty much mirrors it. I’m not sure how long I stare at the two of them before one of the boys interrupts my thoughts.

“Josh, is that your girlfriend?” one of the little boys asks with a laugh, and I respond without thinking.

“No, she’s my wife.” It falls from my mouth with an ease I didn’t think I would ever be able to manage, but this is Hallie we are talking about, she has always been like family, and I guess in a way she now legally is.

“Ew, you got married, why?” Another boy cuts in, making the rest of them laugh, but before I can answer him, another voice beats me to it.

“Because I am awesome,” Hallie coos, flying around us in a circle with ease, Penelope still being pulled along with her, as she spins them both. “And we all know Mr. Josh here needed some more awesome so he isn’t a cranky pants all the time.” The kids laugh, falling for her infectious smile instantly, in the same way I did, as she adds, “Besides, who else is going to show you how to beat him?”

The kids all gasp, until Penelope gushes, “You know how to beat Josh?”

Hallie rolls her eyes, flicking her stare to mine. “I taught him everything he knows,” she tells them, and their tiny jaws hang open in shock.

This girl.

“You’re going to pay for that, Tink,” I warn her, skating over to the sides to grab two hockey sticks. If she wants to play then we can play.

When I turn back to her and hold them up all she does is smile. “Bring it on, lost boy.”

Skating back over to them all, I toss her a stick and then turn my focus to the class. “Kids, you wanna learn how to score and block a goal?”

“Yes!” They all scream in unison much to my delight, and I quickly grab my phone and set a timer as I look at my wife in delight.

“Then, game on.”

Hallie and I spend the next ten minutes in a battle of wills, flying around the ice with the aim of not letting the other score a goal. The kids are yelling furiously from the sides, in support of my new wife mostly, and every time she manages to slip a goal past me, I see Penelope’s smile get brighter and brighter. As the only girl in my class I have found that I have taken her under my wing more than the others, which I probably shouldn’t do, but everyone has favorites, right?

The score is two to three, and I am sure I am going to win, but just as the timer is about to go off and the kids start counting down, Hallie manages to skate around me with a trick I taught her in my backyard, sinking a goal and making the score even. Screams tear from the kids' throats as they skate towards us both, but all I can do is stand and stare in awe at her.

“I can’t believe you still remember that trick,” I say in surprise, closing the distance between us before the kids reach us.

She looks at me with a frown. “Of course I do, why would I forget?”

“Because it was like a million years ago.” We haven’t played in my backyard since we were both still in high school, but apparently that doesn’t matter, because all she does is laugh.

“Josh, trust me, when it comes to you, I never forget anything.”

Before I can make sense of her words, we are swarmed by the kids both cheering and teasing us, and begging to be shown the trick Hallie just pulled on me, and of course she obliges instantly, picking Pen to be her assistant. All I can do is watch as she digs herself deeper into the world I tried so hard to push her away from, and it’s clear to see that this won’t be the last time she comes here. The kids have all fallen in love with her instantly, and I know I won’t be able to get away with not bringing her back in future.

---