Page 104 of In My Hockey Era
But instead, I just stand there.
Helpless.
Watching the best damn thing that’s ever happened to me walk away.
And this time?
I don’t know if she’s coming back.
37
SECOND CHANCES & SHELTER DOGS
Lucy
The smell of clean hay and dog shampoo clings to the air as I tie my apron around my waist, greeting the familiar faces of the Saturday morning volunteers.It’s early, the sun barely peeking through the front windows of the animal shelter, but already the place is alive with the soft shuffle of paws and the occasional excited bark from the kennels in the back.
This is my happy place.
No matter what’s going on in my life, I can always come here, always count on a few hours spent with wagging tails and grateful brown eyes to quiet the noise in my head.It’s why I picked up this shift last minute—because I needed something, anything, to pull me out of my own spiraling thoughts.
“Lucy, you’re a saint,” Danielle, the shelter director, says, passing me a clipboard with the day’s intake list.She’s frazzled as usual, her short blond ponytail already falling loose from a morning spent wrangling dogs and organizing the front office.“We got five new rescues in yesterday, and we’re a little short-staffed this morning.”
“I got it,” I assure her, flipping through the pages.“I’ll take the new guys out for walks first, let them stretch their legs.”
Danielle sighs in relief.“You’re the best.”
I slip through the side door into the kennel area, past rows of eager, hopeful faces, tails thumping, paws scratching at the gates as if to say, Me first!Me first!
I smile, my chest loosening for the first time all week.
I shouldn’t be here right now—not technically.Normally, I only volunteer once a month, but after the last few days?I needed this.The past week has been unbearable—Bennett everywhere, and yet nowhere at all.His name in my texts, unanswered.His face on my TV screen, the highlight reels showing him playing like a man possessed.
And then that disaster at the club.I woke up with the hangover from hell.I’m never drinking tequila ever again.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, forcing the thoughts away.
This place is supposed to be my reset button.And right now, I need it more than ever.
I reach for the first leash and clip it onto the kennel door, stepping back as a shy golden retriever mix hesitantly steps forward.
“Hey, pretty girl,” I murmur, crouching down to let her sniff my hand.“Ready to go outside?”
Her ears flick forward, and after a moment, she leans in, pressing her cold nose against my fingers.My heart squeezes.I love dogs.So sweet.So trusting.Even with their baggage—which is more than I can say for myself.
“Come on,” I encourage, leading her toward the exit.
I push through the back door into the crisp morning air, ready to do what I came here to do—lose myself in something simple.Something good.
And then I see him.
Bennett.
Leaning against the chain-link fence near the exercise yard, hands tucked into his hoodie pockets, watching me.He’s wearing joggers, tennis, shoes and a ballcap pulled down low.
My breath catches.
He looks…
