Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
I press my lips together, trying not to smile. She laughs.
“I know. He’s such an asshole, but I cried when they thought they saw something on the first X-ray, because that asshole is our baby. They took another X-ray and he’s fine.”
“Good.”
I look out at the ice when kids and adults start skating onto it. When I find Eli, he’s skating over to the warm-up spot alone. Coop is glued to the side of one of the players—Magnus, of course.
“He’s good with kids,” Suki murmurs.
“Coop doesn’t remember his dad at all. I think he sees the dad he wishes he had in other men.” I cringe as soon as the words are out of my mouth. “I don’t know why I said that.”
“It makes sense,” Suki says. “They’re such great boys, though, Blair. Carter said they were so well-mannered when they all hung out last weekend. Eli held doors open for the girls.”
“They are pretty great. I don’t know who I’d be without them.”
“God, I know that feeling well. I’m so busy sometimes, and so sleep-deprived; then I get a day or a night without the kids and I miss them.”
“Every time.”
Magnus runs a hand through his dark-blond hair, smiling at something one of the other guys said. He puts a hand on Coop’s helmet, saying something to him. Coop pops in his mouth guard.
I feel ... something. A twinge, like my lady parts are stretching and brushing away cobwebs after a long dormancy. I cross my legs, silently telling my lady parts to go back to sleep.
“You want to talk about that?” Suki murmurs.
“What?” I gape at her.
Did my twinge make a noise? I’m imagining wet, squelching sounds that out me as a horny, born-again virgin. God, the embarrassment.
“You know what. Number One looking after your kid.”
I shrug. “I mean, it’s nice. I wasn’t really paying attention.”
She side-eyes me, and I marvel at how well she knows me already. She’s good. Usually only my sister can read me that well.
I check my phone, wondering where Jules is. She was supposed to be here. When I check my phone, I see several missed texts from her.
Jules: Getting Starbucks. Want anything?
Jules: ordering in one minute
Jules: I got you a Caramel Macchiato because why sleep. On my way there.
“I wonder what Hudson McClain is doing here,” Suki says softly.
I don’t know who that is, but I’m grateful for the change of subject. If word gets back to Magnus that I made a spreadsheet and he’s on it, I won’t be able to face him.
Hopefully, Suki, Mara, and Jules will forget he even came up.
4
Magnus
* * *
Game days bring out the quirky rituals in all of us. For Isaac, it’s fart yoga and two Snickers bars eaten an hour before we hit the ice. Carter doesn’t like to talk on game days—he gets introspective. Silas does tai chi in the weight room and then sits in a corner with a hoodie over his eyes, visualizing his performance.
I’m not superstitious. Some guys don’t wash their socks or shave when they’re on a hot streak. There are things I always do on game days, but I wouldn’t call them superstitions.
Before I put on any gear today, I pinned two small, overlapping squares of cloth to my compression shirt. One is from a shirt my dad used to wear all the time. The other is from one of my sister Elin’s worn-out cloth headbands.
Those little pieces of fabric have been with me during every game for the past eleven years. They were there when I played my first pro game in the US, in Tampa. Still there when my shoulder was broken during a game in Boston. I had them pinned beneath my hospital gown when I was recovering, and in my pocket during every grueling rehab session in Minneapolis.
Sometimes Minneapolis feels like a fever dream. I was able to pay for intensive rehab with physical therapists, sports trainers, and a former college coach. Being out of the game for so long as I recovered was tough. I didn’t just have to rebuild strength and mobility in my shoulder, but in my entire body.
Someone turns on country music in the locker room, and I immediately put my headphones on. My pregame playlists all have Metallica, Eminem, and Rammstein. Music helps me get into a good headspace before games.
Our trainer Melina approaches me and I move my headphones aside so I can hear her.
“Hey, you ready?” she asks.
She never forgets. No matter how hard you rehab and how well you heal, anytime you’ve broken bones, they’re more prone to break again in the same places. Melina works on my shoulder before and after every game.
I get up and follow her into the training room, where I lie down on the training table on my stomach and she puts a moist heating pad on my shoulder.