Page 14 of Fake-Off with Fate (Love in Maple Falls #1)
JAMIE
I slept a little bit better last night. I only got up twice to make sure the windows and doors were locked. Now that Ashlyn planted that seed about bears breaking in, every time I turn around, I expect to find them eating porridge at the table.
After showering and grabbing a quick breakfast, I manage to get out of the house and down the drive without one bear sighting. I take that to mean today is going to go well.
As I pull into the arena parking lot, I wave to several guys. One of the things I like most about being on a team is the camaraderie. Hockey players get a bad rap for being hot heads, but my experience has been mostly positive. Except for Harry.
Speak of the devil. As I pull into the parking spot with my nameplate on it, I see my old nemesis getting out of his car. It’s not like I can avoid the guy now that we’re on the same team, so there’s no use hanging back until he’s gone.
Stepping out of my rental, I greet him. “Harry.”
He looks startled that I’m even speaking to him. “Jamie.”
We walk side-by-side into the building in total silence, which is just as awkward as you might expect. As we approach the locker room, I turn to him and declare, “In the best interest of the team, I’ve decided to forgive you. ”
“For what?” he demands.
How stupid can this guy be? “For trying to poach my college girlfriend,” I remind him.
“What are you talking about, Jamie? You stole Paige from me.” He can’t be serious.
“How do you figure that? I started dating Paige the month after we started our freshman year.” I tell him, “We met at a party in our dorm.”
“Dude,” Harry says. “Paige and I had our first date the week after we moved into the dorms.”
I rack my brain to see if that could even be possible, but I can’t come up with any reason why it couldn’t. “How did you meet?” I demand.
“We took the elevator down to the cafeteria together. She ordered a biscuit, two pieces of bacon, and grapefruit.” That was her standard breakfast.
Paige and I lived on different floors, but I do know that she and Harry were on the same floor. “Where did you go on your first date?”
“To the roof of the medical school building.” There’s a glint in his eye that makes me want to punch him. That’s where all the underclassmen used to go to make out.
“Did you just hook up, or did you actually date?” I want to know.
“We dated.” Holding up one finger at a time, he enumerates, “We went to the zoo; we went into the city to see a movie; and we walked for miles by Lake Michigan one Saturday.”
A weird barrage of emotions washes over me. The main one being dread that I might have been the interloper. “Were you exclusive?” I want to know.
“Obviously not, because when you asked her out, she went.” So, they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. That’s something.
“Did you date her after I started seeing her?” I ask like this might somehow lessen my culpability .
He shakes his head. “She was suddenly unavailable to take my calls.”
I’ve spent years being mad at Harry and there was no reason to. In fact, he had good reason to be mad at me. “I’m really sorry, Harry,” I tell him. “I didn’t know.”
He turns the tables on me and with heat, demands, “How could you not have known? We were together all the time.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I tell him, “I don’t know. I mean, I was eighteen. I was into me and wasn’t paying attention to everything else going on around me.”
“Clearly.” Yet he must believe me because he says, “I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It’s all water under the bridge.”
After a moment of silence, I confess, “It’s going to be weird not hating you.”
“Tell me about it,” he agrees.
On the surface, we seem to have made peace, but I know it’s going to take some time for us both to forget our past feelings. Walking in through the locker room door, I tell him, “I’ll catch you later, okay?”
He nods his head once before crossing the corridor to his locker. I hurry to open mine and get changed for practice. Then I head into the office to talk to Dale. He’s on the phone but he motions me to sit and wait.
Once he hangs up, he asks, “How’s my captain doing this fine morning?”
Ignoring his question, I tell him, “I had an interesting supper last night.”
“With the mayor?” He looks perplexed like such a thing isn’t possible. “Did he tell you all about the history of Maple Falls and their love of otters?”
I wasn’t quite sure how the Ice Breakers came upon their mascot but now I know it has something to do with the town’s history. Shaking my head, I tell him, “The mayor didn’t come. His daughter did.”
“Who’s his daughter? ”
I spend the next few minutes telling him about Ashlyn and the news that the town is facing tremendous upheaval.
He looks nothing short of panicked. “If any part of the arena or surrounding area isn’t owned by who we think it is, we could be in real trouble. We might even need to find a new stadium.”
I hadn’t thought of that. “I suppose that’s true, but Ashlyn has an idea to try to raise enough money to buy the land back for the town.” Dale’s interest is clearly piqued, so I tell him about the bachelor auction.
“All the single guys should do it,” he declares excitedly. “Heck, I’d do it too if there was any chance some woman would buy a date with a rough-looking fifty-something-year-old coach.”
“Please,” I joke. “I bet you could raise at least a hundred dollars.” Dale rolls his eyes, while I ask, “Are you giving me the go ahead to confirm our participation?”
“Heck, yes!” he says. “The last thing we need is to have to move all the guys now that the season is almost here.”
We head out onto the ice together. Before practice starts, Dale calls everyone over.
Once they gather around, he tells them, “Guys, we’re in a bit of a jam.
” He relays the gist of my dinner conversation with Ashlyn and tells them about the plan for us to host a bachelor auction to raise money for Maple Falls.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we just donated?” Lucian calls out. “I want to help, but I don’t want to spend an evening with a strange woman if I don’t have to,” he jokes. “There have been enough of those, if you know what I mean.” Laughter surrounds him.
“You can certainly donate, as well,” I tell him. “But the idea is to utilize the press we’ve been getting to promote this thing far beyond local channels. If we can do that, we might just get some big money coming to town. Remember, this cause is near and dear to all of us now.”
“Come on, fellas,” Dale encourages. “We’ve all moved to Maple Falls to make our homes here, now we’re needed to help our new community. Let’s do this with gusto.”
A slow but sure chant starts to build. “Maple Falls! Maple Falls! Maple Falls!”
With everyone on board, I call out, “Let’s hit the ice and get this practice started. Not only do we have a town to save, but we have a cup to win!”
Winning the Stanley Cup is a long way off for us, and probably not even possible given that we aren’t a longstanding team who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Yet the way to win anything is to go in with the mindset that you can’t lose.
Dale divides us into two teams. I play center which means by default, I make a lot of goals.
I’m also something of a wonderkid when it comes to faceoffs, or as my past team called them, Jamie’s fake-offs.
I have a flashy maneuver I like to use where I let the other team get the puck, then I drop back and, with lightning speed, I steal it right back.
Of course, I mix it up and go for my share of discs, so my opponents never know what to expect.
It’s a bit of a cocky display, but it also shows my talent.
Just my luck, Harry is playing center for the other side. We come face to face in the middle of the arena with Dale acting as ref. Harry stares me down intently and asks, “Fake-off or face-off, Jamie?”
I smile back. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
As the puck drops, I skate backward, letting Harry take first possession. As soon as he tries to pass me, I dip low to the right to throw him off, and then almost immediately change my course. Reaching out with my stick, I snatch the puck right out from under him.
I don’t expect him to anticipate this move, but he does. In the end, Harry steals the puck right back and sends it to one of his defensemen, who in turn glides it down the rink and slams it home.
Skating up to me, Harry says, “I guess you didn’t see that one coming, huh ?
Shaking my head, I tell him, “I did not.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking, but he pats me on the shoulder and says, “Yeah, it’s never fun to be on the receiving end of one of those.”
I suddenly wonder if maybe Harry isn’t quite ready to let go of the past like he claims.