Page 8 of Hat Trick Holidate

“My sister will be here as soon as she can. She just moved, so she has a task list a mile long.”

“Thanks. I have a feeling I need to make one.” I can’t take her into the locker room full of half-naked men. I doknow that much. “Can you stay with her while I change into pre-game, then I’ll come out to lace up.”

“Sure.”

When I come out of the locker room, Jolie and Rustavelli are sitting in the penalty box. It makes me chuckle inside. Based on Jolie’s actions over the past nineteen hours, she’ll never be in trouble at school or at home. She’s so well behaved.

“Thanks, man. I owe you.”

He knocks against the boards and heads into the locker room. I have a feeling he’ll take me up on it at the most inconvenient time.

Once my skates are on, I ask Jolie, “Have you ever been ice skating?”

One blink. No.

What the fuck? If Lukas thought she was his kid, why wouldn’t he take her on the ice?

“Well, let’s go.” I pick her up and put her on my hip, open the half-door and step onto the ice. Jolie holds on tight as I skate slowly around the perimeter of the ice. Pre-game is about warming up our muscles, so this will do the trick for a few minutes until the other guys get out here. I’m always early.

Her little fingers dig into my neck as we take a turn a little lower than I should have. When you’ve played hockey as long as I have, it’s all muscle memory. I do a figure eight. Sharp edges spraying ice is the only noise in the arena.

“Do you like ice skating? Do you want me to teach you to ice skate? You can do twists and twirls like a ballerina but on ice.”

One blink. No.

I rotate on my blades a few times, and her little blue bear drops from her hands. A piercing screech echoes in the mostly empty arena as she cries out.

She’s really attached to this bear.

As I bend down to pick it up, my teammates fill up the ice. Reed comes over, touches the bear, and says, “Hi! I have little girls. Maybe you can come over to our house and play.”

No response. I’m going to have to call Francesca. Why won’t she talk? Is she mute?

Roman motions for me to come to the bench. “My sister is here, so I’ll take Jolie to her. You’ve been summoned to the coach’s office.” He grins at Jolie and says, “Do you want to meet the coolest girl in the world?”

I see a flicker of interest in Jolie’s eyes as I set her on her feet in a pretty little dress, and Roman takes her hand. Shit, I should have held her hand when we were walking in.

Coach gives me instructions and what he expects for our team to accomplish. During warmups, I don’t see Jolie anywhere. Reed skates beside me as we drop to our knees to do our groin stretches. “Don’t worry. Roman’s sister is walking around the concourse or getting her something to eat.”

“I don’t want to lose my daughter on my first day as a dad.”

“Parenting means you are at the mercy of children, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

He pats me on the back as we start our routine and skate our warmups before going back to the locker room to put on our pads. I’m ninety percent focused on the game, but ten percent of me is concerned about Jolie. Not just what Roman’s sister is doing with her, but why she won’t talk.What really happened with Lukas to make him give her up? I can’t imagine if I had a child for five years, not seeing her for four months. Why wouldn’t they take her with them overseas?

When the game starts, the arena is full. I couldn’t pick Jolie out in this crowd unless they were in the first couple of rows. I look around but don’t see her. Okay, get your head in the game. Reed’s my left winger, and Roman is my right winger. When the puck drops, I fight for control and sweep it left to Reed, who takes off down the lane, slicing through the ice.

The Dallas Rattlers defenseman slams him into the wall and gains control of the puck. Reed doesn’t give up and skates around his left side, slinging the puck to Roman. He tries to pass it to me, but the puck is deflected behind the net. Reed swoops in and scores with an impossible angle. The horn sounds, and the crowd erupts as the Jets score a goal.

Our teammates circle around Reed, thumping his helmet with their gloves. “That’s going to be in the top ten plays tonight,” I say. “So glad you landed here.”

“Like old times,” Reed says with an ear-splitting grin. It’s hard to remember Reed with demons and anger.

Roman also scores, but our team defense gives us the opportunity for the shutout.

After the game, I follow Roman to the area where his sister waits, wearing a white baseball cap with a bit of hair sticking out in a bun. She’s crouched down in front of Jolie, who hugs her. Actually, hugs her.

I clear my throat. “Jolie, did you have fun?”

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