Page 13 of Ice Daddy
Things were going great—until the sports fans began to trickle into the restaurant. They were decked out in their blue-and-yellow Fury jerseys and apparel. And that's when Paige knew—it was going to be a long night.
She hated hockey games at The Burger Stand. The restaurant ran a special calledFury Nights,where all beers on-tap sold for a single dollar. Inevitably, she ended up with a section full of drunken hockey fans, gawking at the big-screen TV all night, and ordering nothing but $1 beers.
No food and cheap beer meant a small bill.
A small bill meant a small tip.
A small tip meant …sigh.Better not to think of all the bills hanging over her.
“Couture shoots …!” the TV announcer screeched.
That was another awful thing about hockey nights at The Burger Stand: during Fury games, the restaurant blasted the audio of the game over the speakers instead of music. You could only have sports announcers yelling at you for so long before you ended up with a pounding headache …
“Couture SCORES! His second goal of the night, and that one should put this game out of reach! The young all-star for the Brawlers continues to impress. He's mobbed with hugs from his teammates, and the fans here in Nashville are as quiet as can be …”
The drunken Fury fans in Paige's section murmured, hissed and swore. Someone pounded his fist on the table, and a fork clanged and clattered as it toppled to the floor. A few more $1 beers were ordered to wash down the pain.
The game was finally over. Slowly, the hockey fans tucked their tails between their legs and went away.
Paige left work with $32 in tips and a throbbing headache.
***
It was dark when Paige pulled up to her parents' house. She knocked on the door and her Mom answered.
Mom waved her in. “Hi, sweety, how was work?”
“Fine, Mom.” Paige forced a smile. “How was Irie?”
Mom sighed. “Well, I guess we'll find out when your Dad gets back with her. They should be home soon.”
“Where'd he take her?”
“After you left, Irie kept hitting that ball with her stick, and your Dad wouldn't let go of that idea of his about the hockey game. You know how he gets. Anyway, he looked up their schedule, and got all excited when he found out there was a game tonight. Then he found some tickets online and started calling it asign.”
Paige and her Mom both laughed at the absurdity.
“But I agree with you,” Mom said. “She's justwaytoo young for that kind of environment, you know? The lights, the sounds, people screaming and acting like barbarians …”
Paige had experienced enough of that during her shift at The Burger Stand.
“That game gavemea headache,” she lamented. “Irie and I are probablybothgoing to be cranky monsters tonight.”
“Oh no! Another sports night at the restaurant?”
“Yeah,” Paige said, waving her hand. “But oh well. At this point, I'm just glad to be done. Can't wait to go home and go to bed.”
The garage door began to whir, and Paige and Mom both perked up.
“There they are,” Mom said.
A minute later, Dad entered the house holding Irie against his chest. The child was fast asleep.
“She's completely zonked out,” Dad whispered as he passed her to Paige. An ornery smile creased Dad's mouth. “I took her to the game.”
“I heard,” Paige said. “And so her first hockey game was a loss, huh?”
Dad chuckled. “Yeah, but I don't think she minded. She had a great time. You should'veseenour seats. Front row!”
