Page 37 of Why Not Us?

“So you play tomorrow night?” she asks, changing the subject, but not removing her hand.

I’m grateful for the change. I don’t like talking about losing my dad or my mom leaving right after.

“Yeah. It’s our last game of the winter season. Some players will join another team for the summer season, but Taylor and I and a few others prefer to leave our summers open for riding our bikes.”

“What’s your team name?”

“Puckin’ Aces.”

She laughs and I turn toward her, an answering smile forming on my face.

“That’s an awesome name,” she says. “Way better than Frozen Fury.”

“I can’t take any credit for it. Taylor came up with it, actually. Along with our buddy Zach.”

“What position do you play?”

“Taylor and I are defencemen. We’re usually on the same line.”

She nudges me with her shoulder. “And you guys protect your team.”

I nod, searching her face, wondering how she can understand that so easily.

“Tell me about them?” she asks.

So I do. I tell her how I’ve been playing with the same core group of ten guys for the last seven years. Of those ten, eight of us also ride motorcycles and like to get together on weekends in the summer to go on rides up the Sea-to-Sky, a winding highway that stretches from Vancouver to Whistler along the coast of the Georgia Strait. The rest of our team is made up of ten to fifteen other guys, depending on the year, who are more casual about when they can make it to games. We play on Wednesday nights each week and have a pretty good record this year of 19-3-5, which I then have to explain are our number of wins, losses, and overtime losses, respectively.

It’s so easy to talk to her, something I’m not used to. I’m not only thinking of other women I’ve hung out with, but everyone. They take my usual quietness and have a conversation around me. If I ever want to contribute, they listen, but mostly they just let me not speak. Adalie doesn’t. She asks me questions then waits for an answer. She did the same at the brewery a couple weeks ago, drawing me into the conversation even though Taylor was happy to keep it going. Like she wantsmyopinion, andmyanswers.

We don’t stay for the whole game, leaving after about an hour.

We’re walking to the car when she gets a text message.

“Hm,” she says.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She types out a quick response and turns to me again. “It’s my friends. Spencer and Vic called an emergency owners’ meeting tomorrow morning.”

“Nothing wrong, I hope.”

She shakes her head. “I doubt it. We’ve been talking about expansion, so it’s probably something to do with that.” Then she smiles, the confusion melting away. “So, can I come to your game tomorrow night?”

I chuckle. “I don’t think you’ll be that interested.”

“I want to see you play. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” I say. If I’m being honest, I want her to come, if only so I can spend more time with her. “If you really want to come, it’ll be here at six.”

“I’ll be here. Thanks for tonight, Nate. I had a lot of fun. And it was definitely something I wouldn’t normally choose to do.”

She holds my shoulder, rising onto her toes to place a quick kiss on my cheek.

“Glad I could help,” I tell her, then watch as she gets into her cute little car and drives away, waving to me before she pulls out of the parking lot, leaving me wishing that kiss had been on my lips instead.

Chapter 13

Adalie

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