Page 30 of Time to Shine

“Are you kidding? First NHL game? There’s nothing like it.”

“If I get the start this week,” Landon said, “of course I’ll be excited. It’s been my dream forever.”

“You know who else will be excited? Me! Because I want everyone to see how good you are.”

Landon huffed. “Okay.”

“I want to see you rob guys who aren’t me.”

Landon nodded in the direction of a man wearing an Outlaws ball cap who was openly staring at them while holding a container of sour cream. “That guy wants your autograph, I think.”

“Maybe he wants yours.”

“Shut up.”

“This time next week everyone will want yours, Stacks. Just wait.” He waved and smiled at the staring man, who tentatively smiled back.

“Sorry,” the man said, “but you’re Casey Hicks, right?”

“Yep. No one else is this handsome.”

“Can I get an autograph?”

“Heck yeah. You want me to sign your hat?”

Casey pulled a Sharpie from his coat pocket—he always carried a Sharpie because this sort of thing happened a lot—and scribbled his illegible signature on the brim of the hat. “You should get Stackhouse here to sign it too. He’s gonna be huge.”

The man blinked at Landon as if he’d somehow not noticed the six-foot-four man standing behind Casey. “Oh. Stackhouse. The goalie, right? You were called up to replace Morin.”

“Yes,” Landon said. “But it’s okay. You don’t need to listen to Casey.”

The man hesitated for a moment, then held out the hat to Landon. “No, I’d like your autograph too, if you don’t mind.”

Landon glared at Casey as he took the Sharpie from him. After the hat was signed and returned to the man, and Casey and Landon were alone again, Landon said, “I can’t believe you just made me ruin that guy’s hat.”

“As if. By the way, your signature is nice as hell. So fancy!”

“I have a long name.”

“It looks like Shakespeare’s autograph or something.” Casey mimed signing something with a flourish in the air.

“Yeah, well. Yours looks like a drunk baby did it.”

Casey cracked up, and even Landon smiled a bit. Casey was struck once again by how handsome he was. How was Landon single? He must have been getting laid like crazy in Saskatoon.

“Are we done?” Landon asked as they got close to the checkout area.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here. This drunk baby needs hot chocolate.”

Hot chocolate bombs ended up being kind of a disappointment.

“That’s it?” Casey asked sadly as he watched melted chocolate slowly sink to the bottom of his glass mug. A few marshmallows bobbed soggily on the top.

“What were you expecting exactly?” Landon asked as he stirred his own hot chocolate.

“I don’t know. An explosion?”

“That would be a mess. Here.” Landon handed him the spoon. “It’ll taste good. Using hot milk instead of water makes a big difference.”

---