Page 87 of Mann Hunt
Good luck!
He turned back to catch another glimpse of Declan.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Justin asked, as he slid back into the booth.
Charlie snapped his head back around. “The beautiful view, of course.”
Justin laughed. “Yeah. Airdrie—the Paris of Alberta.”
The waitress came by and dropped off a couple of glasses of water. “What would you boys like?”
“An Alley Kat Pale Ale if you’ve got it,” Justin said.
“I do, and you can have it if I can see some ID. From both of you.” They both pulled out their driver’s licenses. Charlie made sure that Justin couldn’t see his, and prayed she didn’t mention how old he was.
“And for you?” she asked Charlie.
“The same, thanks. And maybe we could get an order of nachos, if you have them.”
“Nachos it is,” she said, then left them in privacy.
“So,” Justin asked, “what part of Calgary are you from?”
“Brentwood. In the Northwest.”
Justin paused for a moment. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No,” Charlie replied then took a sip of water. “I fell pretty hard for an older guy, but it hasn’t worked out.”
The waitress dropped off their beers, then left.
“So, how long have you been playing hockey?” Charlie asked.
“My dad had me in skates as soon as I could walk. He taught me how to play on our backyard rink and got me into Atom League when I turned nine.”
Charlie smiled. “You don’t sound too happy about it.”
“Dad lives for hockey.” Justin started to play with his cutlery. “I think he’s always dreamed of having a son in the NHL. He used to tell his friends that he was raising the next Gretzky.”
“No pressure there. It’s gotta be tough,” Charlie said.
He rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. Is your dad like that?”
“He always encouraged me, but he never pushed.”
“That’s probably ‘cause you’ve got talent.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Charlie said.
“No—I watched you. You were fluid out there. Some people got it. I don’t.”
Charlie said, “But you’re on the team. They must have seen something in you.”
“What they saw was a free ventilation system for the arena. That’s what my Dad does. He installed the system for free if I got a spot on the team.”
“So if you don’t like it, why do you keep it up?”
A fly landed on the table and Justin swatted at it.
