Page 23 of Goalie Interference

I hardened my heart and went out the door. I heard the growling as I went down the steps. This was okay, I reminded myself. I was allowed to go out to dinner with a friend. The door to the workshop was closed and there was no sign of Sophie, so Beast shouldn’t disturb anyone even if he did make a fuss.

I reminded myself of that while I followed the directions the truck GPS provided and pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant Hanny had found. He was waiting outside, hands in his pockets, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, sandals and a snapback. Like me, he’d avoided any team logo clothing. We were new to the team, so less likely to be recognized, but better not to call attention to ourselves.

“How’s the truck doing?”

I glanced back at the truck as I chirped it. “It’s handled the trip from the carriage house to here. So far so good.”

He nodded. “What did you do with your own truck?”

“It’s in long-term parking at the Winnipeg airport. I’ll find someplace to take care of it when we play there next month.”

We got a table in the bar area—this was a wings and burgers kind of place, which was fine by me. Once I had my grocery order delivered, I could worry about eating properly. We ordered beer, burgers and wings, and sat back to catch up. Hanny had been in the playoffs last season, though he’d only gone as far as the second round. He’d been traded to the Aces over the summer.

I hadn’t made the playoffs, so there was less to share.

“So how is the housing situation going? And what’s Otts’s wife like as a roommate?”

I held up my hand, because this seemed like an important difference. “Not staying with the ex-wife. It’s her brother’s place,and I’m in an apartment over the carriage house? It’s where Sophie has her workshop. She never said where she lives.” But she hadn’t parked a car at the workshop. So maybe she was at the main house?

“Right. Sophie is her name. What kind of workshop has she got? She do sewing or something?”

“No, she works on guitars.”

Hanny put down his burger. “You’re shitting me. She’s a luthier? That’s impressive.”

I nodded. It was. Kind of cool. And something Hanny knew more about than me.

“Is she any good?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know shit about guitars.”

“Mine got a bit knocked up on the drive down. I should have her take a look at it. What’s her business called?”

“I’ll ask.”

He picked up his burger. “Weird that the team put you that close to Otts’s wife. You two never got along that well.”

“Ex-wife. He never got over World Juniors. But he has to know about this, right?”

Hanny looked off to the side, considering. “How else did you get hooked up to stay there?”

Exactly. I didn’t need to worry. Ottsmustknow what was going on. I didn’t want to upset the guy who had control over my season. Even if my main role appeared to be babysitting a hotshot rookie, I was still playing. I was still part of hockey.

Chapter 11

It’s kind of a toss-up

Remy

Hanny and I finished catching up. I was able to vent a bit about the Lappy situation. Hanny reminded me that anything could happen, and if I played nice, I might still get my chance.

We left the restaurant early. Training camp always took it out of us, no matter what the team had us do. You could keep in shape over the offseason, but it didn’t replace on-ice workouts with other players.

I was partway home when I got a text. The truck media screen posted it and read it out.

Your dog is barking.

The message was from an unknown number, but there was only one person I knew who would hear Beast, so it must be Sophie. My finger itched to hit the call button, but if Beast was bothering her, I’d do better to get back ASAP and stop his barking. I drove as quickly as I could, missing a turn once when the GPS was a little slow. Would I have to leave the coach house if Beast threw a fit every time I left him? Staying home all thetime just wasn’t possible. I’d have to speak to the doggy day care about more time there.

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