Page 26 of Replay (Toronto Blaze #3)

Subtle

Josh

The team finally notched its first win at home.

The game was tied at the end of regulation, so went into overtime and then a shootout.

Which wasn’t great, but at least we could score when it was one guy against the goalie.

Petey held up his end—he was the only one of us playing well in games right now.

Coach didn’t let up in practice. We were at the bottom of the Eastern standings. The crowds at home were quiet, and there was a different air, both in the home arena and on the road.

Everyone expected us to lose. And we were going on a road trip, which only made it harder to win.

I didn’t know what all went into making our schedule—there were a lot of teams, and some shared their arena with basketball teams or other groups, so fitting things in had to be difficult.

Katie probably knew how to use math to make it all work.

This trip we were playing the California teams and Seattle.

The time changes were brutal—it felt like we were playing after our normal game would have ended. Our internal clocks were messed up.

It was nice to hit Cali later in the season when the change from the cold in Toronto was a relief, but we were arriving at the beginning of November. Pretty sure we were hitting Edmonton and Calgary in February when it would be fucking freezing.

“Hello?”

I blinked up at Fitch. We were carpooling to the airport again, and were ready to leave. “Yeah?”

“I asked if you wanted to take some coffee with us.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

He filled up a thermal cup for me, adding the creamer I liked. “Tired this morning?”

I shrugged. “We don’t have to get up this early most days.”

He held up his hand. “We’d better go.”

The sooner we left, the sooner we’d be back and I could spend time with Katie again.

* * *

I texted Katie a picture of the Space Needle once we got to Seattle.

She sent back a photo of the pile of papers she had to grade.

After this trip I could finally work out some time for us to spend together now that I didn’t have to worry about doing something more exciting than watching TV together.

I wanted to see her, hear her voice, not just letters she’d typed.

But it was coming. We were officially friends, and with some time, I’d convince her we could be more. That this time I’d do things right.

I was in a great mood as we settled into the hotel.

We had a good skate at their new arena in Seattle, and I napped before we headed back for the game.

After doing well in practice and warm-up, I told the guys this was it, we had it now.

We were going to turn our season around on this road trip. I just knew it.

I knew shit.

The puck dropped and we couldn’t play.

I did okay. I didn’t draw any penalties, but if anyone picked up my passes, it was a player from Seattle.

Petey had been our rock, but tonight he let in three in the first period, and first intermission our locker room was despondent.

I wanted to tell them we could get this back, but I’d tried that kind of thing before the game.

My good feelings from working things out with Katie didn’t translate to the team.

By the end of the second, we were down 5-0, and we were lucky it wasn’t worse.

We’d killed a couple of penalties but couldn’t stop them scoring five-on-five.

Coach put Mitchell in for the third, and you could say it was an improvement—he only let in two.

Royster and I managed to score a goal together to mess up Seattle’s shutout, but that was the only good news from that game.

I asked if anyone wanted to go out after, but no one did. I didn’t either, just thought maybe someone needed to hit up a bar or club to cheer them up.

We were quiet on the flight to California.

We pulled off a win in San Jose. Not a pretty one, but they were struggling this year, and some kind of shit was going on with their team. They took stupid penalties. We got two power play goals and only gave up one, so we finally got another W.

That cheered us up until we played Anaheim. And then LA. We got a point in LA since we didn’t lose until overtime, but three points out of a possible eight wasn’t anything to celebrate.

* * *

Once we dragged our sorry asses back to Toronto, it was a relief when Katie and I could finally find a night to watch the Ring series. An evening without any hockey to think about was almost as good as spending time with Katie.

I asked her to come to my place. Where she was living looked a lot nicer, but my place was more comfortable, and I still felt a little awkward about Katie’s roommate. My mom had added some stuff to make the condo look nice, but I didn’t have time to fuss with things that weren’t essential.

A super comfy couch and a kick-ass TV were essential. I always had Keith’s on hand, so beverages were covered, but I also made sure we had the red licorice Katie liked, and her favorite flavor of chips.

“Sure you don’t want me to leave?” Fitch asked while I was pacing around, suddenly wishing I’d gotten more of those decorative things Mom had talked about. Not like Katie hadn’t already been here, but…

“Not this time. Maybe after she’s comfortable. But if it’s too much like a date she might not come again.”

And I definitely wanted this to continue. My strategy wasn’t complicated. Back in high school, we’d gotten together for tutoring. Started talking and hanging out to watch TV and then we were dating. It worked before, so it would again. Maybe.

The desk called to say my visitor was here. I’d made sure they knew she was welcome anytime. I headed for the door, so I could meet her in the hallway.

“She was here before, right?”

“So?”

“So she knows her way.”

I turned. “Yeah. If I look too eager, it’s pushing that date line.”

Fitch rolled his eyes. “You could just ask her out on an actual date.”

I shook my head. “Not yet. It’s going to take a while for her to forget what I did back in high school. I can be patient.”

There was a knock and I jumped before walking at a normal pace to the door. I heard Fitch snicker.

I opened it and there she was. Similar to when we’d been going out in high school, but different too.

The blonde streaks in her hair looked good.

She’d pulled her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing a jean jacket over a T-shirt with the ring from LOTR and the script inside it on the front.

She could read that writing, not me, but I knew what it was and didn’t try to decipher it.

If I looked too closely, I’d be appreciating the changes in the curves she had, and this was not the time. “Hey. Nice shirt.”

She grinned. “Hey Josh, nice shirt.”

I looked down, as if I’d forgotten what I was wearing.

I couldn’t, because it had taken me fifteen minutes to decide.

Anything hockey would be trying too hard to impress her with my career.

Anything related to Lord of the Rings would be trying too hard to do the same with the books she loved.

So I finally settled on an old Keith’s Pale Ale T-shirt.

It was soft and maybe a little snug, showing off the muscles I’d worked hard for. Subtle, I thought.

Her eyes drifted over my chest. Yes!

“I’ve got beer in the fridge, ready to go.”

She held up a bag she’d been holding. “I brought some too.”

I stood there, grinning at her, so happy she was there.

“Can I come in?”

“Oh, sorry. Sure.”

I stepped back, and she heeled off her Vans before following me into the TV room.

“Hi, Daniel.”

Fitch had settled in an easy chair. There was another recliner, but it didn’t have as good a view to watch the screen as the couch, so Katie and I would share that. It might have seemed a little obvious, but the couch was big enough for at least five people. Not especially cozy.

“Katie. How are you doing?” He nodded at her.

I took her six-pack and headed to the fridge with it.

“Okay. Glad the weather has cooled down.”

“How’s school?”

I was back with three bottles of beer in time to see her curl into a corner of the couch and roll her eyes. “Let’s just say I want to talk about that as much as you want to discuss your job.”

Fitch tilted his head. “Good point. Josh tells me you’re an expert on this Lord of the Rings stuff.”

I handed him a beer and put the other two on the coffee table in front of the couch. I picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

“I’m a fan. I’ve read the books?—”

“Multiple times,” I interrupted.

“And watched the movies and the show.”

“Multiple times.”

Katie ignored my interruptions. “Have you read them?”

“No.” Fitch swallowed some beer and made a face. I scrolled through the menu to find the first episode. “I moved to the US from Sweden when I was ten and people told me I should read them, but they were a little too challenging for my English back then.”

“And he’s never seen the show, so it’s all new to him. I told him you could answer any questions he had.” He owed me after that freaky dragon tattoo movie, and I was collecting.

Fitch looked a little nervous.

Katie laughed. “I’ll only answer if you ask. I know not everyone is as keen as I am.”

He looked over at me. I sat on the couch, not too close too Katie, but not as far away as I could be. “I won’t quiz you on it either.”

Katie smiled at me. “Josh only watched the movies. He wasn’t a big reader. And no”—her smile turned to a frown—“it’s not because you weren’t smart enough. A lot of people find those books challenging.”

I could feel my cheeks heating up, so I asked “Ready?” and hit play.

* * *

Fitch had questions for Katie after the first episode, and she was excited to talk about it, her eyes shining.

“The biggest difference is Finrod’s story, but since they didn’t have the rights to the Silmarillion —” Katie stopped herself. “Sorry, I can get carried away.”

Fitch shrugged. “I asked.”

“And I over-answered.”

“No problem. But I have some things to deal with, so I’ll let you two watch the next episode. Good night, Katie. Catch a ride in the morning, Ducky?”

“Sure.”

Katie frowned as he walked away. “Did I bore him that much?”

I was pretty sure he was trying to help me, but I couldn’t tell her that. “He’s dealing with a divorce and she’s on the West Coast, so it might be that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. It happens, but it’s never fun.”

She dragged her teeth over her lip. “Did you ever get serious—sorry, that’s not really my business.”

“I don’t mind you asking. I never got serious about anyone, so I don’t have anything like that in the past. Do you?” Shit. She wasn’t seeing anyone, was she? I’d never thought to ask.

She shook her head. Phew . “No, it’s been school for the past five years. No one serious.”

But there had been nonserious guys? That idea chewed at me, but I had no ground to stand on. I’d had a lot of nonserious women. I’d been trying to find another Katie, but there was only one.

The one and only was looking at me with furrows in her brow. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” She could ask me anything.

“Why do your teammates call you Ducky? Back home they called you Middy.”

I dropped my head on the back of the couch. People were so used to the name Ducky that they didn’t ask anymore. But back in juniors, Middleton had become Middy. Or sometimes Midster. “You’re going to laugh.”

She sat up. “Your teammates call you a name that mocks you? Seriously?”

She sounded upset on my behalf, and that at least felt good. “No, nothing like that. It goes back to after I was drafted, and I don’t think these guys even know why. Like, I have no idea where Fitch came from.”

“His last name isn’t Fitcher or something? I don’t remember what he told me.”

“No, it’s Astrom.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hockey players are weird. So, how did you get your weird name?”

“I was drafted by Nashville, remember?” She nodded. “They flew me in for prospects camp. We were there for a couple of weeks.”

“I’m sure you did great.”

“Not that great. They told me I was going to play on their farm team that year. But at camp, my roommate was a fan of that TV show, Friends. ”

She tilted her head. “You watched it?”

I snorted. “I didn’t have a choice. He had it on all the time. And the two guys who were living together on that show had a duck and a chicken as pets.”

“So what, you were Ducky and he was Chicky?”

“No, but after, I was sharing a house with another guy from the farm team. When I told him about the show and the animals, he thought it would be cool to have a pet duck, but he wouldn’t have a chicken because he didn’t want to feel guilty about eating chicken.”

She laughed. “He didn’t eat duck?”

“I guess not. But it sounded like fun. I found a guy who let me buy a duckling. Cutest thing ever. We called him Donald.”

Katie covered her mouth, but I heard that laugh.

I sighed. “A few months later, I got called up when one of the team’s wingers was injured. I asked, but the team was going to put me up in a hotel till they knew if they were keeping me, so I couldn’t bring Donald.”

“I guess most places aren’t really prepared to deal with pet ducks.”

“Donald had to stay with Smitty. Anyway, I’d call up to ask how Donald was doing. My teammates heard me asking about the duck, so I was the duck guy, and that became Ducky.”

“They call you Ducky because years ago you were on the phone asking about your duck.” I shrugged. “How is Donald now?”

“You really want to know?” She nodded, a little smile on her face. I pulled out my phone. “Here’s the latest pictures. Turns out Donald is actually a girl, but anyway, she’s doing well. Those were the ducklings she had last summer.”

Donald was a white duck, with a slew of little yellow ducklings around her.

“You never wanted to get her back?”

I shook my head. “She’s happy and has lots of room. And I’m traveling all the time—not good for a pet.”

She considered me, mouth pursed. “Do you like being Ducky? Could you ask the guys to call you Middy again instead?”

“I’m used to it now.” And I really didn’t care.

“Is it okay if I still call you Josh? I’m not sure I can manage Ducky.”

“You can call me Josh. I like it.”

She dropped her eyes to her lap, twiddling with a piece of licorice. “So, should we watch another episode?”

I hit the play button to move forward to episode two, reminding myself we were just friends for now.