Page 3 of Hitting the Goal Line
She looks at me for a long minute, before eventually letting out a sigh. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Because official charges have been filed against your boyfriend, he has to stand in front of a judge. But if you are pressing charges against the other person, there is a chance of him being releases with no penalty, more so if you have evidence.”
Evidence.
I have evidence. I was going to show it to the officers when they were arresting Blake, but so much happened in so little time that it completely went over my head.
Now I can use it. If I want to help Blake and not ruin his hockey career, I have to use it. I have to do what is absolutely necessary to take care of him, to protect him, like he has done countless times before for me.
Because I love him, in more ways than I comprehend.
Like I did when I walked into the station, I square my shoulders and give the officer a nod. “Then I would like to press charges, and I have evidence.”
The officer gives me a small smile as if to tell me that she is proud of me.
“Go ahead and take a seat, I will go get another officer to take your statement.”
I give her a curt nod and follow orders.
As I wait for the other officer to come talk to me, I touch at the locket around my neck to calm me down, but as I sit here, I can’t help to wonder how we got here.
How did almost eighteen years of friendship, a friendship filled laughs, hard times and memories, get us to this point?
My mind goes down every single memory we have built together to find the turning point.
CHAPTER TWO
SOPHIA
Five years old
I lookout at the ice and move behind mommy. It looks cold out there and slippery. I already broke my arm once while I was playing on ice, I don’t want to do it again.
“Sophie, it’s okay. It’s just like the skating rink we went to when we went to visit grandma and grandpa, remember?” My mom tells me, pushing back my curls.
“It doesn’t look like the one with grandma and grandpa,” I tell her, hiding deeper behind her as someone bangs against the wall.This place is bigger and it has a lot more people than the ice rink that grandma and grandpa took us to.
“This one is just bigger,” my mommy says, moving so I’m no longer standing behind her and so that she could now be the same height as me. She gives me a smile that daddy says looks like mine. “Are you scared of going out there?”
I give her a nod.
“Because of your arm?”
I give her another nod.
“You weren’t scared when you and daddy went skating two weeks ago. What happened between then and now?” she says, smiling at the mention of my daddy.
Water starts falling from my eyes. “He’s not here.”
“You don’t want to go out there because your daddy isn’t here?” Mommy asks, giving me another smile but this one looks sad.
I nod. “He said he would be here, but he’s not. What if I have to go to the hospital again? He won’t be able to find us.”
“Oh, Sophia,” mommy say, wiping the water from my face. “Daddy will always find us, mi amor. And he is going to be here, he just going to be a little late. But he will be here before you finish.”
“How do you know?” I ask, feeling my mouth shake as I ask the question.
“Because he told me. Now how about we get your skates on and then you can join the rest of the kids out on the ice, okay?” She holds up my white skates that I wear all the time, shaking them a bit in the process.
I narrow my eyes at my skates, remembering everything that happened the last time that I had them on when daddy wasn’t with me.
