Page 130 of We Finished Here

Seeing the way Taylor takes off and ups the ante after he sees me makes me smile even more.

I know he’s got an even bigger spring in his skates because of me, and it makes me feel so good.

He scores off the bat straight away, and another, and another.

By the end of the second period, they’re six-three goals.

When the intermission plays, he skates over to where I’m sitting, and my heart slams in my chest. He rips off his helmet and bangs hard on the glass shielding between us so it shakes. Us girls all shriek.

He doesn’t even seem to care that his parents are right behind us.

“I think Taylor’s trying to say something.” My mom chuckles next to me.

It’s then I stand up and pull my jacket off, doing a quick pirouette to show him I’m wearing his shirt. I can hear mom and the girls laughing on either side of me, and Gillian and Michael behind us.

His face lights up, and I reach forward and hold my palm flat to the glass, and he presses his gloved hand on the other side. The way he looks at me, his sharp, deep blue eyes encapsulate me, and for a moment, it feels like there’s nobody else here in the crowd.

Like there’s not a million screaming fans on the edge of their seats, with the Hawks in front by three goals. It’s like time stands still.

“I love you,”he mouths.

I can’t wipe the smile off my face.“I love you too,”I mouth back.

He grins and pushes off the glass barrier between us and does his signature skate backwards, keeping his eyes firmly leveled on mine.

I could drift away in those eyes and let them take me wherever they wanted to go.

My mom wraps her arm around me as he turns back and skates towards his team as they go into their ten-minute intermission before the third period.

“Someone’s happy to see you.” Susie leans forward, smiling and looking so happy for me as she squeezes my hand.

“My God, Em!” Cindy nudges me in the ribs.

I feel like getting up on the bench and jumping up and down like a lunatic. I feel so happy right now. Like my heart could burst.

This last period is it… then I can see him and we can finish what we started.

I knew it was real. I always knew it.

The ten minutes flies by in what seems like seconds, and they’re back out on the ice again. We’re literally on the edge of our seats like everyone else.

There’s no doubt Taylor is in his element, and so is the rest of the team. You can see Vegas Heat starting to tire, as the Hawks are just unstoppable, and the push is just too great. I don’t even know if the Heat can come back from this.

The seventh Hawks goal comes from Jay in the center when there’s a scuffle close to the net in the first few minutes, and another from the Heat.

Seven-four still has the Hawks well ahead, but the Hawks aren’t getting cocky with it. If anything, they’re more cautious than ever. Things can quickly turn in an instant.

It doesn’t stop Taylor… a few more minutes in, with the entire team down at the Vegas Heat end of the nets, Taylor breaks away and whacks the puck from down the ice, with no one to stop him. The goalie flies to the right, and the puck slices into the left. The crowd erupts again as Taylor raises his stick in the air, waving it wildly, and the team skates up to him to embrace and celebrate. They’re almost impossibly in the lead, with not too much longer to go. I keep watching the clock with my hands clasped together.

I think he was pretty happy seeing me in his colors.

Play resumes as the minutes tick on.

In the final minute, there’s a huge kafuffle down at the net. Taylor takes his shot, but it’s blocked by the goalie and bounces back out. Just as he fires again, the defenseman comes up behind him, trying to swipe the puck away, pushing Taylor down in the process. No one can even see where the puck is, as it disappears under the goalie’s leg. Now he’s on his back, and Taylor is lying face down inside the net with him.

I can see the referee looking through the back of the net as everyone waits to see the replay, and where the puck is, because neither of them can move. The goalie either stopped it under his leg… or it went through under him into the net and he’s lying on top of it. When the goalie and Taylor finally make it to their feet, peeling themselves off the ice, the puck appears straight away from under the goalie’s body; in the net.

The team and the crowd go bonkers.

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