Page 12 of The Grinder

Riley turned to smile at Cary, who’d skated up beside him.

“Hey. How goes it? So you got a date tonight?”

Riley let his head drop back. “Christ, not you, too? Seriously, you’re all a bunch of teenage girls, I swear.”

Cary laughed, a deep sound no one heard much. The guy had earned his reputation as a brawler almost twenty years ago when the game had been a lot different. Now, the skill players got most of the spotlight.

Kids like CJ Young, the twenty-one-year-old forward who’d started the first five games of the season with two points per game. And Robbie Lindback, the nineteen-year-old first-round draft pick from Sweden, who’d probably get called up the next time the Colonials needed a forward.

“At least they don’t scream and giggle. Much. How’s it going? Haven’t had much time to talk since you got here. You need to come over and have dinner again with Lori and me. Does next Tuesday work?”

“Yeah, it should. Thanks.”

“How’s the roommate situation working out?”

Riley had to laugh. “Is this your way of trying to figure out if I’m pissed off at you for pointing me toward Pigpen?”

There was Cary’s laugh again, this time even louder. “Yeah, maybe I shoulda warned you about that.”

“A heads-up that the guy is basically a walking haz-mat spill would’ve been helpful.”

Justin Perry, or “Pigpen,” had been the only guy who’d needed a roommate when Riley had signed. He’d never talked to Justin except on the ice before so he hadn’t known much about him personally.

The guy was really nice and skated like he’d been born on blades, but off the ice Justin was one big accident waiting to happen. Kind of like a twenty-four-year-old toddler. If he held it, he spilled it. If he ate it, he wore it, and if he was walking, sure as shit he knocked something over.

“So you really have a date tonight?”

Riley slashed Cary across the shins, not hard enough to hurt, of course. They had a game tonight. “Why is that such a shock?”

“Maybe because you haven’t done it much since your divorce.”

Ah, yes. He’d almost forgotten he’d known Cary that long.

“Been almost seven years since it was final. I’ve dated a few times since then.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

Okay, maybe more than a few times, but fuck it. He wasn’t married. Not anymore. “Hey, just ’cause you’re old and married doesn’t mean the rest of us should be.”

“Okay, if you’re gonna insult me—”

Luckily, Coach blew his whistle, calling the team in to talk about the game tonight and what they needed to work on.

But Cary’s remark about his divorce stuck in the back of his brain. He hadn’t thought about Ann for months. At least, not since he’d left his parents’ place in June. He’d gone home for a few weeks between the end of last season and the start of training camp. He hadn’t seen his ex the entire time he’d been back, and his parents hadn’t mentioned her at all. But he had seen her new husband, Thad, and their two kids.

He and Thad had graduated high school together. Ann had been a year behind them. They’d been close back then. Hell, Thad had been one of the groomsmen in Riley and Ann’s wedding. Now, she and Thad were happily married with kids and a house and a mortgage.

And Riley still ping-ponged around North America playing a game he loved. A game Ann had come to hate because he’d loved it more than her.

But now…he had to admit he was getting a little sick of never really having anywhere to call his own.

Maybe he needed to think about hanging up the skates after this season.

The problem was…what the hell would he do if he didn’t play hockey?

* * * * *

“So that’s the guy. Damn, he’s huge.”

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