Page 117 of Best Man
“It’s Paulina,” he said quietly. “Her water broke.”
That bit of news sucked all the air out of the sewerball circle. After a lengthy silence, Mikey Vedros asked, “For real?”
Niko nodded. “Yeah, man. For real.”
The boys became a chorus of grumbles and swear words.
“Okay. Hold up.” Ryan Cooper, the team’s veteran backup goalie and husband of Molly, tried to calm Niko—and the rest of the team, too—with his experience. “It’s a scary thing when her water breaks, especially when you’re going through this for the very first time. You get all freaked out thinking the baby’s on its way, but I’m telling you, the first one almost always takes a while. So try not to spiral about it, Niko, because you probably won’t miss a thing. Hell, Molly was in labor for an entire day with our first-born. It was number three, four, and five that all came a lot quicker. You got nothin’ to worry about, bud. You won’t miss a thing.”
“Yes. I hope you’re right,” Niko said. He’d heard that from all the classes and all the reading about pregnancies he’d done, too.
“Keep a cool head, everybody,” Hathaway said.
“Eyes on the prize,” Reavo chipped in.
“Tonight, we win the Cup,” Dane said, trying to rally the troops. “Tomorrow morning, your baby will be born—and we’ll bring the Cup to the hospital to meet it.”
The boys cheered.
“Let’s fucking goooooooooo!”
Niko nodded and joined in, hoping there was some truth to the power of positive thinking and affirmations.
***
With two hours to go before the game, the boys convened in the locker room. A tense silence gripped the room as every man prepared his body and mind for war. Dane went through his pregame superstitions, laying out his gear in exactly the same way. Hathaway obsessively taped a collection of sticks. Reavo swayed his shoulders and bopped his head, moving to the music that played in his earbuds. Vaughn stretched in the middle of the room, holding his long legs in the split position.
Niko liked to sit at his stall, close his eyes, and visualize success. He could see the puck snap off his stick like a laser and find its way into the net—
But his meditation was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He reached into his locker and fetched his phone. It was Piper. He answered, but before he could even hold the phone to his ear, he heard Paulina’s screams in the background.
“Um, hey, Niko?” Piper said.
“Is something wrong?” he asked in a panic.
“No, no. Nothing’s wrong, but uh—” She paused while Paulina let out a long and pained shriek. “—just thought you should know, um, she’s fully dilated already, so the baby is, er, on its way?”
“Now?” he asked, jumping to his feet.
“Yup. Now.”
“Piper! You were supposed to tell me when she was in labor!”
“I’m sorry, Niko! We thought it’d take a while, but it’s all happening really, really fast!”
“Fuck,” he murmured. He cast his eyes around the room and noticed every athlete had halted his routine to listen in. “I’ll see what I can do,” he muttered.
“Okay, bye!”
He hung up. The others stared at him, concern in their eyes, waiting for Niko to tell him what they already knew.
“Boys, the baby’s coming.”
“Well, fuck me,” Cooper muttered, blown away.
Dane punched his locker.
“Fuck,” Reavo hissed, running a hand through his hair.
