Page 35 of Perfectly Grumpy

I shake his hand. “Thanks for coming tonight.”

“Fantastic game,” he says. “The kids loved it. Especially the way you stopped Chicago from scoring.”

“Was Lauren sitting with you?” I ask, looking to see if she’s around.

“No, she said she had schmoozing to do,” Olivia says. “That woman can’t stop working for even five minutes to enjoy the game.”

“She’s good at what she does,” I say, feeling a twinge of disappointment that she might have missed my best play. Maybe it’s because I wanted her to see the part of me that doesn’t need spin or strategy. The part that’s just me doing what I know how to do—play hockey.

“Kids, over here!” Olivia says as the kids run in circles outside the locker room. “Could you sign their jerseys?” Olivia asks, pulling a Sharpie from her purse.

I crouch down to their level. “Of course. What are your names?”

“I’m Camden.”

I sign my name on the back of Camden’s jersey as his sister steps forward. “And I’m Kaylie.” She has a spray of freckles across her nose and a crooked smile, but her hair is the same shade as Lauren’s.

I sign Kaylie’s jersey next and hand the pen back to Olivia as a little hand tugs at my jersey. “I want to play hockey like you,” Camden says.

“We just started lessons,” Kaylie says. “So he’s not that good yet.”

Her bluntness sounds even more like Lauren, and I can’t help but laugh. “Well, usually, there are some extra kids’ skates stored around here. Do you guys want to hit a puck into the net?”

“Only if it’s not too much trouble,” Olivia says. “Don’t you have to be at a press conference or something?”

“The press can wait a few minutes,” I say, noticing the look of excitement on the kids’ faces.A promise is a promise.When I was eight, a player from the San Jose Sharks took five minutes to show me how to hold a stick properly. Five minutes that completely changed my life.

I root through a storage closet and find some kid-sized skates and hockey sticks. We head to the rink, where Olivia helps lace up their skates.

Leading the kids onto the ice, I kneel to their level. “Okay, first things first,” I say. “When you swing your stick, you don’t want to?—”

Out of the corner of my eye, a blur of a black stick causes me to duck at the last second. I grab Kaylie’s hockey stick mid-air before it takes my eye out.

“Sweetie,” I say, leveling a look of gentle warning. “Let’s not send me to the ER tonight.”

“Oops.” She gives me a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

“Let’s try this again. Without any injuries.”

I take a step back, steering clear of their sticks. “Okay, take your best shot.” I brace myself for wherever this commotion is about to go as they whack their pucks toward the net. Kaylie completely misses, while Camden’s puck flies the wrong way.

I nod. “Nice shots. Just, uh, in the wrong direction.”

Both of them giggle and scramble after their pucks, sliding across the ice with zero control. Olivia laughs, snapping a millionpictures and smiling like I’ve just given her the best present of the year.

“All right,” I say, once again kneeling down to eye level with them. “After you learn to hit the puck, there’s one more thing to watch for. Do you know what happens when you try to score on a defenseman like me?”

They both shake their heads, eyes wide with anticipation. I drop my voice to a playful growl. “I turn into the big, bad defender. And do you know what that means?”

“What?” Camden whispers.

I crouch low, fingers curled like claws. “It means Iwillchase you. And I never, ever get tired.”

They look scared before Kaylie splinters the tension with a shriek. “RUN!”

They scatter across the ice, squealing with delight as I lumber after them in slow motion. When I finally lunge forward, Kaylie grabs on to my leg while Camden tackles my arm.

“Oh no!” I groan dramatically, staggering under their mighty attack. “The ferocious monsters have taken me down!” I pretend to struggle, falling in slow motion to the ice as they pile on me.

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