Page 75 of Actions and Reactions
“But you wear your name on your jerseys, don’t you?” He looks confused and tilts his head in a way that reminds me of Hawk, like a puppy.
“They call them sweaters,” Ally pipes in, and looks proud of herself for remembering.
“Yeah,” I chuckle lightly. “And we have our last names on our sweaters, but really, only the announcers care about those. Even fans call me Eagle whenever they see me out and about, not only my teammates. The only ones who call me Ivan are my parents, and only when they’re mad.” I smirk over at Dad and he rolls his eyes at me.
“So you’re Eagle because you’re fast, right?” Ally asks me.
“No, actually.” I chuckle to get rid of the sudden tension in my chest. “It’s because of how I see the plays and can find the puck no matter how fast it’s going.”
“And it really goes very fast!” Ally tells her son. “The first few games I saw I could barely see it.”
“I had to put some plays in slow motion for her,” Dad says, and I really fucking love the way she playfully swats at his arm.
“So you’re going to be teaching me some too on Monday, right?” Corey asks Dad and then Lex.
They agree easily and then start asking Lex all kinds of questions. All the while I remember that day ten years agowhen I was just doing my thing, but that seemed to be enough to impress our coach and Si, and he gave me my nickname.
And then I gave him his.
Dad,the asshole that he is, wore his own sweater from the Empire to our game against LA, but Ally, Corey, and Lex wore my number and name on their backs.
That wassomethingfor sure, one of those things you never think will happen.
I’ve had other celebrities wearing my sweater at games, and it’s always fun, but yeah... a legend like her, you gotta respect it. Even after spending a few hours getting to know her the other day, it’s still surreal. It’ll definitely take some getting used to.
From what I could glean during dinner, she’s not even a little full of herself. I mean, you can see she knows her worth from how she stands, but she doesn’t seem arrogant.
What I saw that gave me peace of mind, though, was the way she looked at Dad. She clearly respects him on top of liking him, enough that he made her blush a few times, and she laughed at every joke he made—which just goes to show that no one’s perfect.
We eke out a win during overtime then go out to eat, and a few of my teammates tag along. Milkman has done his best to stay glued to me since I told the team about not being in a great place, and so he comes, obviously, andthough most of my friends are fans of my father, they’re all chomping at the bit to hang out with Alaina Newman.
Corey comes along for the ride and ends up chatting with Benny and Bates about comic books all night.
I, on the other hand, spend more than an hour with an impressed Ally. She recaps most of the game back to me, but I actually love it. She seems in awe of us, and really lets her fangirl out with Jules.
They also talk about the game, and then about Sterling—who she says she’s met a few times and loves—and as I watch them I think about Michael.
I’ve never had a conversation like this one with him, and sure, he’s more reserved than Ally, but he’s tried over the years to start conversations like this and I haven’t been great at reciprocating.
Considering Michael also leads an interesting life, and has an impressive job and list of accomplishments, there really shouldn’t be any reason for me to have kept my distance from him, except...
When I met him, I only knew him as the guy who was responsible for my Mom moving across the country.
Sure, I was already in the NHL, in Portland, but LA was so close by I got to see my family pretty regularly. But then she and Lex moved to New York, and I guess I did blame him for that.
And that’s not fair. I mean, Mom’s the one who decided to move to New York, he didn’tmakeher do anything, and I wasn’t mad at her then, nor am I mad at her now.
So I promise myself right then and there that I’m goingto put more effort into having a good relationship with Michael.
And I makegood on that promise the next day when I walk into the hotel room I’m sharing with Milkman in Phoenix.
I FaceTime Mom and she answers right away.
“Honey, you played so well last night!” she cheers.
“You didn’t stay up to watch, did you?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“No, but we saw the replay this morning, and they even showed your interview after.”
