Page 48 of Lucky Shot (Moonshot Hockey #1)

NICK

“Galaxy!” Eli Briggs holds both of his big, beefy arms out to his side when I walk into our general manager’s house for our annual team kick-off barbeque.

“Hey.” A smile tugs at my lips as I approach him. I hold out a hand and he takes it in his, then pulls me into him and slaps me on the back with his free hand.

“How was your summer?” he asks.

“Good,” I say, then realize I mean it. My brows pinch together.

“That bad, huh?” He mistakes my surprised expression and grins, then gives his head a shake. “I figured you were dying to get back out there. Did you take any time at all for yourself this summer?”

“I did, actually.”

“Yeah?” he asks, seemingly surprised. “Good for you.”

“How about you?”

“Ah, man, it was great. We took the kids on a little RV road trip through Yellowstone National Park and then headed west to visit my family in Washington.” The smile he wears is so happy and genuine.

He’s one of the more senior guys on the team.

Came in as a rookie and has now spent his entire career here.

He has a little girl a year younger than Aidan and a boy that just turned four.

“Sounds fun.”

“It was, for sure. How’s Aidan? Is he in fifth grade this year?”

“Yeah. Somehow.”

“Goes fast.” Briggs gives me a reassuring grin. “Mary is in fourth and EJ started preschool. They’re so damn cute at that age. His backpack is bigger than him.”

My chest lifts with a laugh as I picture Aidan at that age. Damn. It feels like just yesterday.

When our laughter dies off, his expression takes a serious edge. “How’s your dad?”

“Good. He’s doing good. Thanks.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Briggs’s dad had a scary bout with cancer last year and he’s made it a point to check in with me a lot ever since my dad’s heart attack. He knows what it’s like to care for a parent, maybe better than any of my other friends.

“Yeah, thanks, I appreciate you being there for me.”

“Of course. If there’s anything you need, let me know.”

As appreciative as I am of the offer, the reminder of my dad’s health has anxious energy strumming through me. He does seem better, but no matter how good he’s doing, I can’t help but worry about the future. Picturing a world without him plain sucks.

“Did you and Trav get out on the ice a lot?” Briggs asks and I’m happy for the change of topic.

“Did I hear my name?” Trav steps up to join us. He hands me a beer, then grins at Briggs. “How’ve you been, Briggsy? I missed you this summer. And your wife. Is she here?”

“She’s home with our kids.”

Trav’s smile doesn’t falter. “So you’re saying there’s still a chance for me?”

“I see you haven’t changed a bit,” Briggs says to him.

“Never.” Trav smiles with all his teeth bared. “But you know who has had a transformative summer?”

Slowly his gaze slides to me with his smirk firmly in place.

“Oh yeah?” Briggs looks at me with renewed interest. “I feel like you left out some important details in our catch-up.”

Before I can answer, Trav does it for me. “He met a girl.”

Briggs’s brows shoot up.

I pop open the beer and take a sip. “I’m going to pretend not to be insulted by the shocked look on your face.”

“I’m sorry.” He schools his expression. “But you haven’t dated anyone seriously the entire time I’ve known you.”

“Ruby’s different,” Trav adds in an almost taunting voice.

“Okay. Enough out of you,” I tell him.

“Ruby, huh?” Briggs doesn’t miss a beat.

Looks like I’m having this conversation. I shoot a glare at my best friend, then nod. “Yeah.”

“Is she here? I’d love to meet her.”

“No, she lives in Arizona. She was only here for the summer.”

“Ah, bummer. Maybe I can meet her the next time she’s in town.”

I’m grateful that Travis doesn’t pepper in more fun facts because the few words I’ve said already have me feeling unsettled.

Look, I’d love to shout about her from the rooftops, tell everyone about her and how fucking great she is, let them and her know how goddamn in love with her I am.

But I can’t tell them before I tell her.

“Yeah, maybe,” I say.

For the rest of the day, I catch up with my teammates that were gone for the summer, chat with the coaches.

It’s a bittersweet feeling this year that I haven’t felt before.

Usually this get-together signals the start of the season and with it an anticipation.

I feel all that, but it’s dulled by something else.

Ruby’s gone. Six days. Six really fucking awful days. How the hell did she become so crucial to my happiness in that time?

A quiet voice in my head reminds me that maybe I wasn’t all that happy before she came. Ruby brought disruption to my carefully scheduled life. Disruption, chaos, and sunshine. And instead of going back to that guy I was before she came, I want to hold on to it.

I notice, more than once, Travis staring at me throughout the day like he’s waiting for some sort of reaction out of me.

By the time I get home, I’m exhausted and ready to sit in my own Ruby-centered thoughts. I grab a beer from the fridge and flip through today’s mail on the kitchen counter. It’s mostly junk, but at the bottom of the pile is a large manila envelope addressed to me.

I push everything else aside and pick it up. I recognize Ruby’s handwriting even before I see her name in the left-hand corner.

My pulse picks up as I flip it over and rip it open. I pull out a heavy stack of papers. A yellow Post-it note is stuck to the first page.

Nick,

Thanks for being my inspiration and my muse. If you hate the ending, then just tell me the package must have gotten lost in the mail.

xo,

Ruby

Smiling, I flip the page. To my favorite grumpy hockey player . I can already hear Trav giving me so much shit, but I can’t stop smiling.

With the book and my beer in hand, I head out to the back patio to read it.

Instead of skipping to the end, I start over.

It’s just as good as I remember. Her wit and personality is woven into the story so much that I can almost hear her telling it like she was next to me, eyes lit up and smile wide, hands waving around.

My fingers go to the clover charm around my neck. I’ve grown accustomed to the weight of it against my chest, like a tactile reminder that she was here.

Eventually Aidan comes outside with his guitar and sits on the other side of the deck, playing as I keep reading. Dad peeks out on us as the sun sets, then flips on the outdoor lights. I thank him, then go right back to reading.

I can’t turn the pages fast enough. And when I do finally come to the place I’d left off before, I’m amazed all over that anyone can come up with a story out of nothing like this.

After I read the last line, I sit there in stunned awe. All the sadness I’ve been keeping at bay this past week hits me hard. She’s fucking gone, and I should have told her I loved her or asked her to stay an extra day or a week or forever.

“Did you finish?” Aidan asks.

I blink away the haze and look over at him. “Yeah.”

I set the pages down on the table in front of me, gaze catching on her handwritten note again.

“Was it good?”

“Yeah, it was really good.” I nod.

“Figured,” he says.

I huff a small laugh. “You did, huh?”

He shrugs. “Ruby’s smart.”

“That she is,” I agree.

“You miss her, don’t you?” he asks.

The question knocks the wind out of me. I’ve tried my best to show up for him the best I could this week despite the way I was feeling, but I guess that tells me how well I pulled it off.

I nod.

“Me too.” He looks down at his guitar.

Fuck. All this time I was wallowing alone, not thinking about how he might be feeling. I cross over to him and pull him into a hug as I sit next to him.

“I’m sorry. Of course you do. I know she misses you too.”

“She’s coming back though, right?”

“I’m not sure,” I tell him honestly. A lot could happen between now and December. “Maybe.”

His brows pinch together. “But if she’s your girlfriend, shouldn’t you guys live in the same place or at least visit regularly?”

“My girlfriend?”

The look he gives me is a mixture of annoyance and mistrust. “Come on, Dad, I saw you kissing at the ice rink and at her going-away party. Plus, you were always making googly eyes at her.”

“Googly eyes?” I bark out a laugh.

His smile lifts on one side as he nods. “ All the time.”

I ruffle his hair. “Googly eyes.” I laugh again. “I probably was.”

A tinge of guilt seeps in as I think about how long he knew without me talking to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You should have heard that from me instead of finding out the way you did. I haven’t dated in a long time. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel, and you’re my number one. No matter what. You know that, right?”

He nods.

“Okay. Good.” I settle my arm around the back of his shoulders.

“It’s cool if you date or whatever. Grandpa has already talked to me about the birds and the bees.” He groans and makes a face that tells me how much he disliked that conversation.

“Oh god, not the birds and the bees. Did he actually call it that?”

Aidan’s wide-eyed, disgusted face remains.

“I got the same talk when I was your age,” I tell him. “You’d think he would have come up with something better by now.”

“Heading in early?” Dad asks as I come downstairs the next morning. He’s standing in the kitchen with a coffee mug in his hand. “I figured you’d be sleeping in today.”

“I’m meeting with the team psychologist before camp.”

His carefree expression shifts quickly. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah,” I say immediately, then hesitate before admitting, “I’ve been struggling a little to get my head right and I want to make sure I’m set before the season starts.”

Dad sits at the dining room table, an open invitation for me to do the same. “This about your shoulder? Are you worried about going back out there and getting hurt again?”

“I am, a little,” I admit. “But no. That isn’t all of it.”

His puzzled expression remains. “What’s been on your mind?”

“You, Pop.”