Page 108 of Puck Happens

He blinked at me, his dark, perfectly groomed eyebrows lowering like a storm cloud. “What’s in there now?”

Novek was a lot of things, but an excellent actor he was not. He had no idea what was in my desk.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, and for a second I thought about hugging Novek. Not as a guy or a member of the team, but as a human. Because I could really use a hug.

Then I thought of the asshole putting the condoms in my desk and I held myself firm. I wasn’t giving the gossips anything else to work with.

“Great. Talk to you later,” I said with a big smile, and stepped aside so he could walk by. I put my chin up and strode into McKay’s office like it was center ice and I had a gold medal to earn.

“Have a seat, Olivia,” he said, glancing up at me and then finishing what he was typing on his laptop.

I sat and crossed my legs, only to reveal my flip flops and my gnarly feet. Whatever. He could deal with it. His office was nice. Huge. He had a big couch along the wall that faced the floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the rink. The Zamboni was doing it’s snail-like laps, leaving slick ice in it’s slow wake.

Behind him, there were pictures on a shelf. He had three daughters and a round faced wife with a huge smile.

McKay pushed away his laptop and smiled, which was a little bit like seeing a bear smile. It kind of put a person on edge.

“So…Montreal?”

“Yes. Montreal,” I repeated. “Thank you for letting me take the morning to interview.”

He waved his hand. “You have every right to be looking out for your future and I knew about their interest before you did. The GM called me weeks ago and I gave you a glowing recommendation. He knew a coach you worked with on the Junior’s team.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling myself blush.

“But,” he said. “I hope you will give us a shot to make our offer before you make your decision.”

“I’m sorry…what now?”

“I know you had a rocky start with Novek and some of the guys didn’t make it easy on you. More women in the NHL is good for everyone, but there are going to be some Neanderthals on every team.”

The dildo and condoms were on the tip of my tongue.

“But you held your own, Coach Branch. Admirably. You made incredible progress with many of the players and have been a big part in turning our star forward into a team player.”

“It’s been a pleasure,” I said. “Especially, if I may say, O’Rourke. He’s the most coachable kid I’ve ever worked with.”

“Yeah, you’ve lit a fire under him too, and made my job a whole lot harder, because now I might have another mega star ego on the team.”

I shrugged likewhoops,which made him laugh.

“I’ve gotten the okay from management to extend your contract through the regular season.”

It took several seconds to process what Coach McKay said. “Wait. What?”

“Whatever Montreal has offered you in salary, we will match, and knowing their cheapskate GM, they low balled you, so we’ll add ten percent.”

Oh. My. God.

“They…it was a three-year contract.”

“Then so is ours,” he said, and took a pen to a piece of paper in front of him. “I’ve also included a housing stipend so you can move to a place in town of your choosing.”

“Three year contract, same money and you’ll pay for my apartment?” I asked.

“Okay, twist my arm, I’ve seen your terrible car. I wouldn’t let my daughter drive that rust bucket in a Maine winter, we’ll throw in a stipend for new transportation.”

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