Page 99 of Goalie Interference

Once I was warm, I checked again. And no sign of Lappy. I asked a couple of the guys but no one knew where he was. I finally went to Otts’s office and told him Lappy was missing.

“Missing? He’s late?”

I shook my head. “His suit is hung up in his stall, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

Otts ran a hand over his chin. “I’ll look for him. You need to suit up. I’ll let Keats know he might be needed.”

I was a lot more worried about Lappy than whether Keats would be on the bench or not. I headed to the locker room but paused before I went inside. Where would I go if I was a young guy feeling the pressure to the point where it got to be too much?

I headed to the showers. They weren’t used much before the game. We had a newish facility and the showers were nice. Separate stalls, lots of privacy.

I paused inside the doorway and heard…something. I went down the aisle, checking each stall. In the last one, I found Lappy.

He was in his warm-up gear, curled into a ball, sweaty and shaky.

“Lappy?” No response. “Laplante? Jacques?”

Nothing. I squatted down beside him, not sure if I should risk touching him.

“Comment ça va?”How are you?

He turned to look at me then, pupils tiny points in wide-open eyes.Shit.This was not good. He pulled in a long breath and then upchucked over the two of us.

They put Keats in the game and got an emergency backup goalie, or EBUG, to sit on the bench. Lappy was taken to the hospital and insisted I go with him. We found pills in his pocket, something he’d taken to try to improve his performance and deal with the pressure. It was stupid, but he’d taken the wrong amount, struggling with the English instructions.

The Aces lost while we were at the hospital. I left once Lappy was sleeping, and the team finally called a French speaker to keep him company. I’d let Sophie know I wasn’t sure when I’d be home and she’d taken Beast. I crashed once I got back to the carriage house.

There was a message on my phone when the sun woke me up in the morning, asking me to report to the team as soon as possible. I quickly showered and swallowed coffee. Sophie agreed to continue taking care of Beast for me, and I met with the coaches again.

“We’re sorry we didn’t take your warning more seriously, Remy. Lappy was obviously struggling and we missed it.” Mack shot a glance at Otts.

“He’s going to be all right?”

“Yeah. Best we can tell, that was his first time using something to help out. Once he’s cleared from the hospital, he’s going to take leave and rest up, talk to some shrinks, ones who can speak French.”

“I’m glad. He’s a good kid—and a good goalie.”

“You were concerned about him, and you found him when he needed someone last night. We’ve got some decisions to makein the next few days before the trade deadline, but we want you here through the end of the season. The team can use someone with your maturity and experience.”

“Uh, thank you.”

“We have some things to deal with but Coach Trent wanted to talk to you.”

Oh.Otts wasn’t meeting my gaze, so I had no idea what was up. But if my job was secure for the rest of the season, then Sophie and I had a chance to make something together that might last after hockey was wrapped up for the year.

I followed Otts to his office.

“Have a seat.” He shut the door behind me and I sat down.

Otts settled behind his desk and rubbed his hands through his hair. I waited for him to decide what to say.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. “I love my dad, I do, but it’s not easy.”

I shifted in my seat. This was not what I thought he’d be talking about.

“The problem might have started with his dad, my grandfather, I don’t know. But once I was born, we were in a competition, Dad and me. He signed me up for T-ball, softball, anything like that, but all he talked about was how he’d done so much better.”

Sophie had mentioned something about this, but maybe even she didn’t understand just how much of an issue it was for Otts.

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