Page 29 of Time to Shine

Landon ducked his head, but not fast enough to prevent Casey from seeing the way his lips had curved up. “Are you sure your healthy food delivery service isn’t going to send some of that over?”

Casey laughed, both at the joke and from sheer relief that Landon was teasing him again. “I mean, I could ask them.”

“Maybe they have hot chocolate bombs too.”

“Oh shit! I forgot about the hot chocolate bombs! We gotta try those!”

“I think you need to manage your expectations about them.”

“Can’t do it. Already sky-high.”

“Hey, Hicks,” Clint Noseworthy called as he skated toward their defensive zone. “You wanna play some hockey, or what?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He pointed at Landon. “Groceries, Christmas cereal, hot chocolate bombs. Our evening is set.”

Landon waved his giant goalie glove at him. He wasn’t quite smiling, but his dark eyes were sparkling. “Go. Hockey.”

Casey was grinning when he skated away. “Hey, Hoffman. Have you tried the Christmas Cap’n Crunch yet?”

“Shut the fuck up, Hicks.”

Definitely an excellent road trip.

The grocery store only had regular Cap’n Crunch.

“I’m going to ask someone if they have it,” Casey said.

“Please don’t.”

Casey ignored Landon and strode toward a young man arranging boxes of granola bars on a shelf. “Hi! Do you know if you have the Christmas Cap’n Crunch?”

“Uh,” the man said, “you might have to check with customer service.” He pointed vaguely in the direction the customer service desk probably was.

“Thanks,” Casey said, and started walking that way.

“Seriously?” Landon said.

“Sorry, Stacks,” Casey said solemnly. “I need to see this through.”

A few minutes later he was dealing with the crushing revelation that the Christmas version of the cereal wasn’t going to be sold in Canada that year.

“I was just in the States,” he moaned as he trailed behind Landon and the cart. “I could have brought a bunch back.”

“Christmas is ruined,” Landon said dryly.

“It totally is,” Casey agreed as he tossed a container of candy cane ice cream in the cart. It joined the festive M&M’s, Christmas tree-shaped crackers, and eggnog he’d already put in there, along with the milk, bread, vegetables, and other normal foods Landon had selected.

While Landon was inspecting a carton of eggs, Casey nudged him gently and said, “Hey, I think you’re gonna get the start this week.”

Landon’s body seemed to tighten everywhere. “It’s possible.”

“More than possible. We’ve got back-to-back home games and then a Battle of Alberta game on Saturday. Antton is gonna want to be rested up for that one.”

“Yep.” Landon closed the lid on the egg carton and placed it carefully in the cart. “I do know a bit about how goalies work.”

“Are you excited?”

“I don’t know.” Landon pushed the cart ahead and grabbed some cheese.

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