Page 48 of Zero Pucks

“He probably did, yeah. Something about his brother?” I shook my head. “The memories are really foggy.”

Ford grimaced. “I’m going to let him tell you that story. It’s not really my place. But I can say that he was in a really bad way. Bodie and I were really, really starting to worry about him, but he came back different.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

Ford reached out and seized my shoulder, squeezing tight. “Different in a good way. Confused, yeah. But the moment he set eyes on you again, something shifted. I’m not saying this is, like, star-crossed or whatever?—”

“I hope not,” I blurted. He frowned. “Star-crossed means fated to die young or be apart forever.”

“Oh shit. Yeah, so I didn’t do the whole college thing,” Ford said with a sheepish smile. “I meant, like, soulmates or whatever. I’m not really a fate kind of guy. But I don’t think the two of you are bad for each other. Maybe you met at the right time. Whatever else happens…” He trailed off, waving his hand.

Whatever else happens, I repeated to myself. Looking through the windshield at the rental, I sighed. “See you tonight, right?”

In my periphery, I could see Ford smiling. “Give them your name at the box office. You’ll get good seats.” He squeezed my shoulder once more, and I knew that was my cue.

It was time to go. Whatever this feeling in my chest was, I could think about it later. For now, I would finish my work, ignore any attempts for Bryce to contact me, and hope that when it was all over, I wasn’t in more pieces than I had shown up in.

CHAPTERELEVEN

TUCKER

“Goalie head bumps! All of you!”Standing back, I watched as the kids all formed a line to knock their helmets into Cadence’s. She had a shit-eating grin behind her mask, her little body rocking back and forth with each tap on her bucket.

It was our fourth loss of the season, but this time, we lost in OT by a single point. Sure, the score ended up 0-1, but hey, we still kept them out of our net until the very end. That definitely called for ice cream.

“That was rough, man,” Jonah said, leaning against me. “You think there’s going to be crying? I cannot do kids crying today?”

“There’s always going to be at least three kids crying,” I reminded him. I’d been doing the peewee thing longer than him.

“So then you’ll be used to it when you come coach us,” he said with a grin.

I elbowed him in the gut, making him lose his breath. “Do I really have to sit before your fucking council?”

Jonah shrugged. “Obviously, there are proper channels. You’ll get an email from Kev tonight”—he was the team’s owner—“with the link to submit your resume, but I highly doubt they’re going to turn down a visually impaired, former NHL player.”

“Prospect,” I corrected.

“Tomato-tomah-to. You were signed,” he reminded me, like I needed reminding of my single moment of glory before it all crashed down around me. “Everyone loves you. Losing Reid sucks, and gaining you will take the sting out of it, but we have to put it up for a vote.”

I grimaced as I watched the last kid file off the ice. Amelia—my second assistant coach—was going to handle post-game since I was kind of a mess, and she could immediately tell from the look on my face that I was going to be next to useless once the game was over.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Ford do it? He’s better at that professional shit than I am. I mean, I was kicked out of the Paralympics.”

“So was he, ya fuckin’ punk,” Jonah reminded me. “And so was Boden, who is practically a Mormon missionary.”

I almost pissed myself laughing at the thought of Boden’s face if Jonah said that where he could hear him. “I will give you twenty bucks to call him that next time you come over.”

Jonah grinned. “Done. But seriously, it’s you, okay? I love Ford. He’s like my brother from another planet, but he’s not blind. He doesn’t get it.”

I wanted to argue, but Jonah was right. It was the whole reason Boden was ready to risk his Paralympic comeback to get this new guy fired. Though there was something about the new coach that I couldn’t put my finger on.

We’d only had a couple of practices with him, but he seemed to anticipate what we needed, what we should do, and what wasn’t going to work like it was a sixth sense. Boden’s assessment of him seemed to be way off. And his anger was a bit intense, even for him.

Which meant we might have to have a chat, and he was not going to like that.

But that was a future Tucker problem.

“When is Reid leaving?”

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