Fresh Ice (34 page)

Unimpressed, Kim went to use the restroom and Sarah handed Destiny back the shoes.
“Thanks for saving me back there…with Kim,” Sarah told Destiny.

“No problem.”

“I don’t think you guys are ready to hear about my childhood,” she said lightly.

“That’s cool. The only reason Kim wants to talk about
her
childhood is so she can tell us about all the furrrr coats she had.” Destiny spud around and twirled her fingers in the air. “And how she could
barely
lift her hands because her priceless jewels were just soooo heavy.”

The two giggled
and went to join Peach in the break room.

* * *

The game was in full swing and Peach turned up the volume on the little TV in the break room.

“Hollywood looks so funny w
ith his helmet on!” Destiny laughed.

“Who is Hollywood?” Sarah asked
, squinting at the players on the screen. They moved so fast it was impossible to keep track of who was who.

“JD Mason. They call him Hollywood because he has movie star hair.”

“The best hair on the team,” Peach agreed.

Destiny elbowed Sarah after Nathan made a big save. “Nathan is so flexible!
I
can’t even do the splits!”

Sarah smiled. She was just glad to finally get to see
him play. “Do you have a favorite player?” she asked Destiny.

“Ace, definitely.”

Before Sarah could ask who Ace was, Destiny was already volunteering the information. “Jace McQuaid. He’s a total badass.”

Kim looked up from her phone and scrunched up her nose. “
Yeah, but he’s so
old
.”

“He’s not
that
old,” Destiny defended.

“For a hockey player he is,” Kim argued.

“Oh, yeah!” Destiny jumped up from her chair and Sarah just about spilled her glass of water.

On the screen,
two players from opposing teams drop their gloves and skated around each other in a circle. “What’s going on?” Sarah asked.

“A fight!”

Sarah cringed. “What are they fighting about?”

“
That guy slammed Tric into the boards and The Fist is just sticking up for his teammate,” Destiny explained.

“Fist?”

“Yeah. Pete “The Fist” Fontaine. They call him that for
obvious
reasons,” Destiny said as Fist took a swing at the other player.

Sarah flinched
as the other player punched Fist square in the jaw. Sarah looked away from the screen until the fight was over.

A few minutes later, the other team scored a goal and
the camera focused in on TJ sitting on the bench.

“
If Connors keeps this up, they’re going to put in TJ.”

Sarah didn’t know much about hockey but she knew that would be a bad thing for Nathan.
“How do you know so much about hockey?” she asked Destiny.

“My Dad’s from Detroit and I have three brothers.
Growing up, I had to know about hockey or they would have disowned me.”

The bell on the front door of the salon jingled, signaling the bachelorette
and her friends had finally arrived for their appointment.

“Time to get back to work, girls,” Peach said and shooed them out of the break
room.

* * *

Just because the crowd booed Nathan when he first skated onto the ice didn’t mean he paid them any attention. He was confident he’d give them something to cheer about by the end of the game. When the mask came down over his face, the switch turned on and he was ready to prove them, and everyone else, wrong.

Nathan started to go through the opposing players in his mind but stopped. It was best not to anticipate what a shooter might do. Just react in the moment. Shooters were always switching things up and trying different things anyway.

Right away, the Everblades tested Nathan’s reflexes and shot the puck his way. Nathan stopped it with his stick and it bounced back out into play. Four guys whacked away at the puck in front of the net and Nathan tried not to lose sight of it. An Everblades player got ahold of it and shot it right between Nathan’s legs and scored.

Nathan knew he had to take the game one period at a time and one shot at a time. There was nothing he could do after the goal had been scored, but there
was
something he could do about the next shot. He took a swig from his water bottle and pulled his mask back down over his face.

Nathan rebounded quickly and stopped the next several shots on goal.

Then Mollier, an Everblades player, slammed Tric into the boards. As a result, a fight broke out between Mollier and The Fist.

The players on the bench tapped their sticks against the boards
and the fans cheered. Nathan took the opportunity to take another drink of water.

Cody
stood next to Nathan and chuckled under his breath. “It looks like they’re doing the tango,” he joked.

“Yeah
,” Nathan agreed. “And Fist is leading.”

The fight rejuvenated the team and the Razors rode the momentum
through the end of the period.

The
Razors spent a lot of time in the other team’s end and the Everblades goalie made a few great saves. If the next chance was a breakaway Nathan had to be ready for it. It was crucial to stay focused when the puck was in the other end for minutes at a time. It gave him too much time to think and Nathan couldn’t let that affect his concentration.

The puck took a funny bounce and
an Everblades player took off with it on his stick. It was Leblanc. Leblanc faked right and Nathan tried to anticipate his next move.

Nathan tracked the puck with his eyes, made a lateral move and sprawled out to make the save. He froze, afraid to move because any sudden movement might send the puck over the wrong side of the line. The referee blew the whistle and Nathan
picked up his glove.

The puck lay
less than an inch away from the line. Phew! That was a close one.

Leblanc wouldn’t be getting his hundredth goal today.

When
he felt himself getting riled up again and start to have a bad game, Nathan knew he needed to calm down. He needed to focus. He needed…Sarah. He needed to hear that whisper soft voice of hers.

During the intermission, he slipped into the players’ personal locker room and called
her. “Sarah, hi, it’s me.”

“Nathan, how are you?
Wait, aren’t you supposed to be playing?”

She sounded worried and he hated to be the cause of it. “It’s intermission. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine. Shouldn’t you get back to your team?”

“I will. First I want to know how you are. Tell me about your day.”

“It was just regular salon stuff. Nothing too exciting.”

“Tell me.”

“Okay, well, we just had a group come in to get their hair done for a bachelorette party and…Are you
sure
you want to hear about this right now?”

“Yes.”

“Well, okay. I had appointments all morning and Bean distracted Destiny and me in the color room and we almost swapped color bowls. If I would have used the honey blonde on my client it would have been a complete disaster.” She laughed and Nathan let the happy sound sink into his bones.

As she prattled on about her clients, he felt himself become calmer.
“Did you eat something today?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered, sounding a little embarrassed. “Destiny brought sandwiches over from the deli next door and I had one.”

“Good. What else did you do today?”

As she talked, Nathan was reminded of what she must have gone through to get to this point in her life. She’d been through hell, yet her spirit persevered. Nathan knew he could take a page out of her book and do the same. He could focus and will things to go his way. If his team didn’t win, at least he could say he’d given it what Sarah would have.
His all.

They said their goodbyes and Nathan went back out on the ice confident he could block any shots that came his way.

* * *

When the bridal party left, Peach gave a
loud sigh of relief. Tony was already at the NorCal Center and she couldn’t wait another second to see her TJ in his Razors uniform. There was just enough time to make it to the Center before the start of the third period.

Kim and Destiny said goodnight and hurried off to meet their friends at Club 21.

Peach turned the lights off in the salon and locked the front door.

Sarah looked at her watch.
“Peach, do you think you could give me a ride home on your way?” she asked. “I know you’re in a hurry, but—“

“
Aren’t you coming to the game with me, sugar? There will be plenty of room up in the suite.”

“I’d love to but
…I don’t have any extra cash this month and...”

“
Honey, the team already arranged for everything. It’s not costing us a dime.”

“Oh
, well in that case, I’d love to come. If that’s okay with you.”

“
Of course it is darlin’!” Peach linked her arm with Sarah’s and they walked over to her car. You deserve a reward for how hard you’ve been working at the salon anyway. Have you ever been to a hockey game before?”

“No.”

“You’re going to love it!” Peach clapped her hands together with excitement. “We’re going to have so much fun, Sarah. TJ will probably be on the bench the whole time but it’ll still be exciting to see him out there with all those famous names.
And
it will give you a change to see Nathan in action,” she said with a wink.

A tingle jolted through Sarah’s core. Nathan was playing and
she was going to get to watch him in person.

* * *

Nathan thought about the advice Sarah had given him in front of the fireplace. Instead of imagining he was on an island, though, Nathan imagined it was just him and the puck on the ice. No other noise or distractions would prevent him from keeping it out of his net.

Don’t overthink it. Track the puck and whatever you do, don’t let it past you
, he said to himself. And this time, it worked.

For the most part, the second period was uneventful with the
Everblades having only a few shots on goal. By the third period, Nathan had found his groove and the elusive “zone” that goaltenders sought.

Once
he was in the zone, Nathan felt invincible to the opposing players. The game slowed down and the puck looked bigger. When he stuck his glove hand out, the puck just seemed to find its way into it.

He threw out his left pad to rob
Leblanc from the slot, his right to take a tap-in away from Stevens and then he robbed Mollier from close range using both his blocker and glove.
Left and right, Nathan robbed the opposing team of goals. He made a handful of saves tailor-made for the highlight reels.

Man, i
t felt good to be back! More than once Nathan found himself smiling inside his mask. If this wasn’t fun then he didn’t know what was.

* * *

When Sarah took her seat in one of the Executive Suites at NorCal Center, her head was still spinning.

Peach was like a woman possessed. “My son’s the back-up goalie!” she exclaimed to anyone and everyone who was within earshot.
In fact, Peach had all but demanded a police escort to get them to the arena in time for the start of the third period.

Peach rushed them to their seats so fast that Sarah barely had time to take in the magnificent interior
of the building. The high ceilings in the entryway and the colorful concessions in the concourse were an incredible sight.

The number of fans
in the building was staggering. They all wore jerseys or t-shirts with the Razors logo emblazoned on the front and the number of their favorite player on the back.

The h
eart of NorCal Center was the ice and it gleamed under the overhead lights. Before Sarah had a chance to take it all in, the teams skated out and the fans went wild.

Immediately, Sarah’s attention was captured by the goalie in front of the net.
Nathan’s mask and equipment made him look so much bigger than he actually was. It transformed him into an intimidating opponent. What she could see of his face through the mask looked serious and intense.

S
he tried to imagine herself in his shoes,
er
, skates. Wearing all that padding, crouched down in front of the net, watching a guy coming toward you full speed ahead. And she thought cutting hair was a challenge!

S
arah shuddered at the thought of someone hitting a puck full force at her face. Someone had to be crazy to put themselves into that position, but she respected Nathan’s bravery. What an adrenaline rush to be under that kind of pressure!