Page 25

Chapter

Twenty

The suitcase lay unzipped on my bed, my potential clothing choices folded in neat stacks next to it. I’d pulled out options, and now I only had to narrow it down. A task that should be simple, but knowing me, would take at least half an hour.

I glanced at Chase’s Hitmen hoodie draped over my chair. Apparently, he lent it to Nick over the weekend, and Coach Blakely handed it to me on the bus. Our committee meeting was Monday, and their practice wasn’t until Tuesday, so he wondered if I could get it back to him.

I planned to take it. But somehow it got left here instead.

I walked over and picked it up, holding it to my nose. Even though Nick had worn it, it still smelled like Chase. I’d have to give it back eventually, but it wouldn’t hurt anyone if I forgot for another week.

I dropped it back on the chair and went back to packing. This week had been a lot, and I was so ready for a break. Ready to be away from Douglas where everything made me think of Chase.

We endured the seven-hour bus ride home, but somehow I slept worse in my own bed than I had in the hotel in Clearwater.

Then came the committee meeting. Chase and I sat side-by-side at the long table in the registrar's conference room, pretending we were professional and definitely not buzzing from the proximity to one another.

He barely looked at me the whole meeting, but when Lamont went on a long tangent about documenting test results, he reached beneath the table without even glancing over and hooked his pinky around mine.

The entire left side of my body short-circuited. I didn’t write another note because I refused to pull my hand away.

We didn’t talk about it because study hours had been cancelled for the week since testing was done for the break. Axel crushed his unit final Monday afternoon with an eighty-five, and I couldn’t have been more proud.

I shoved my black bikini into the suitcase, and was on my way to the washroom to grab my travel toiletries when someone knocked. My heart lurched. I wasn’t expecting anyone and Tash wasn’t home, which meant?—

I padded barefoot to the door and flung it open. My face fell. “Mom?”

She stood there in a light denim jacket. Her curls were swept up in a bun that had started to fall, and she held a bakery bag in one hand. “Surprise!”

I worked to recover, forcing a smile to my face. “What are you doing here?” I stepped out and embraced her. “Did we—Did I forget we made plans?”

She pushed past me and dropped the bag on the kitchen counter. “Nope, but we talked about me seeing a Douglas game. You’ve been so hard to pin down lately, I figured I’d surprise you.”

A Douglas game. Right. On the phone. The day Chase had shown up at my door and seen me in my T-shirt and underwear. I closed the door as she turned to face me.

“I looked at the schedule and saw it was the Canada West tournament and the first game is here. I assume you’re going.”

“I am, but?—”

“Perfect! We can go together, and then maybe I could take you to dinner? I brought banana chocolate chip muffins you can keep for breakfast.” She pointed at the bag on the counter.

I let out a breath and stopped fighting it. “Sure. That would be great.”

The energy in the Douglas Dome was electric. Packed stands, the sharp clink of cowbells, and the steady hum of excited chatter. It was rare that Douglas got to host a game of the championships, but because of the last few weeks, the Outlaws were the highest seed in this match up.

"Are these players all your friends?" Mom shouted, leaning in so I could hear her over the buzz of the crowd. She looked unreasonably delighted, clutching her hot chocolate, her lipstick already smudged on the rim.

I already thanked Shar profusely for changing our seats for the night.

It was no easy task since she was sure changing anything would end their streak.

I’d convinced her by reminding her that we’d sat on that bench for the whole first half of the season with mixed results.

It wasn’t our good luck charm. She decided it was our matching scarves instead.

“Is that him? Your boyfriend?” Mom asked Shar.

She nodded with a proud smile. “That’s him.”

"You both have one more year?”

“Yep. We’ll all graduate the same time as Maddie.” She threw her arms around me and Crystal.

My mom gave us an “Awww! You’re adorable!” look, and I silently apologized to my friends with shoulder squeezes. “You’re so lucky to have such good friends. I wish I could’ve gone to University. Well, technically I attended for a semester . . . “

Mom went on about her experience, and I was glad to let her regale us with tales of her past. That meant she wasn’t scanning the bench and possibly noticing that there was a familiar face there in a button-up shirt, holding a clipboard.

From this vantage point, it was hard to see his features, especially since his head was bowed much of the time. Once the game started, we’d hopefully be home free.

We chatted until puck drop, then cheered as the Outlaws won the first face off against Kamloops.

"This is way better than I expected," Mom commented five minutes into the first. "They hit hard, and they’re so fast."

I laughed and took a sip of my pop. "Did you think this was going to look like PeeWee?"

My mom continued on like she’d never seen a game before, but truly, maybe it had been close to five years.

Since Chase left, I realized. She commented on the goalie’s reflexes, Rob’s handling, and the kid from the opposing team who had a mullet and apparently reminded her of her high school boyfriend.

I’d almost forgotten all about Chase until midway through the second period, during a particularly long delay.

She leaned in toward the ice, her eyes narrowing like a hawk that just spotted prey. "Is that?—?"

"Ohmygosh I love it when he does that." I pointed at the other end of the ice where Tim, our goalie, seemed to be feathering a nest right outside the blue paint.

"That's Chase Wilson." Mom's voice was sharp. She turned to look at me. "Maddie. That's Chase–"

"I know." I blew out a breath, trying not to cower as she stared at me with the intensity of the sun through a magnifying glass.

"We talked on the phone. I told you he'd accepted a job, and you didn't say anything."

I winced. "You were talking about other things, I didn't want to interrupt."

She gave me the full eyeball. "Why wouldn't you have said something when I showed up? Or anytime in the last month? I—" She sucked in a breath and looked at me, the wheels turning in her head. If I was good at assessing data, my mom was an expert at reading me.

Shit. I shouldn’t have kept Chase a secret. I should’ve casually mentioned that I’d seen him on campus, because she knew I came to the games. She know there was no way I wouldn’t have noticed him, which meant I was keeping it from her purposefully, which I was.

"Are you two involved? " She lowered her voice on the last word. “Or did he—when he lived with us, did you ever?—”

“Mom, stop. No."

"Why else wouldn't you say something? We had an entire conversation?—"

"Can we not do this right now?" I hissed, grateful that Crystal and Shar were pretending they hadn't heard anything, but the people behind us weren't so accommodating.

They watched us like we were their personal time out entertainment.

I pointed back to the ice. "It's starting. Can we talk about this after?"

I scanned the bench as the Outlaws took to the ice. Chase stood with his arms crossed, his clipboard tucked under one elbow. He looked focused. Strong. Sexy as hell.

"Have you seen him? Talked with him?"

I swallowed, my mouth so dry it hurt. "A little."

Mom leaned back on the bench, shaking her head. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

I searched for an excuse and latched onto the first thing I could think of. I lowered my voice as the ref dropped the puck in the Outlaw's zone. "I didn't want to hurt you, Mom. That time was rough. I figured it was better to let it stay in the past."

Her expression softened a little. "Well, I wouldn't want to see his father again, but Chase . . . I always had a soft spot for him."

That made two of us.

Thankfully, she dropped back into hockey talk for the next two periods. She yelled at the refs when Rory went down hard after a blindside check and curled in on himself near the boards. He skated off under his own power, but his shoulder hung limp.

Shar covered her mouth. “Is that a separated shoulder?”

“Let's hope not.” I muttered. Maybe he'd just hit his funny bone.

Chase adjusted. Blakely pulled Bear off the third line and shifted him to fill Rory’s minutes. Chase double-shifted Rob on power plays and ran tight defensive pairings.

I silently cheered him on. The smile was back on Mom's face when the Outlaws entered the third with a 3-2 lead.

The third period was the longest twenty minutes of my life.

Kamloops pressed. The Outlaws held. Rob blocked a shot with his leg.

Tim laid out to stop a cross-crease pass.

Blakely looked like he was aging in real time.

And then—finally, with twelve seconds left—Bear cleared the puck out of their zone. The buzzer sounded. The crowd exploded, and the Outlaws poured over the bench, gloves and sticks flying as they wrapped their arms around each other in pure exultation.

Mom stood and cheered, and I almost thought she'd forgotten about Chase in all the excitement until she turned to me and said, "Do we wait in the lobby to see Chase or do we need to go down there?" She pointed at the tunnel.

I stifled a groan. I wasn't getting out of this. "C'mon."

I opted to take her to the lower hallway, not fully to the locker room because I didn't want witnesses for this, but at least we'd have a bit more privacy.

Now I just had to hope Chase exited where we could see him.

After a few players trickled out, heading for the stairs, the door further up the hall opened and Chase stepped out.

"Chase!" Mom called. He paused midstep and turned. At first he looked confused, but then his eyes met mine and his expression shifted. His shoulders dropped a touch, and he started toward us.

He gave me a questioning look as he got closer. I tried to communicate telepathically that I'd prefer if he took on his office persona and pretended he didn't remember my last name, but instead he threw out his arms and pulled my mother into a big hug.

She grunted as he squeezed the air out of her. "What are you doing here?"

Mom looked like she'd just stepped off a merry-go-round when Chase stepped back. Her cheeks were flushed as she quickly smoothed her hair. "Well, I wanted to see a game, but Maddie didn't tell me you were coaching. I would've come sooner had I known."

Chase stepped back and smiled. “How have you been?”

"I could ask the same of you. I heard you'd gotten a job but didn't know it was here at Douglas."

Chase stiffened, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. How did she know he got a job? I didn’t want to tell him the answer.

“Well, glad you could make it to the game. Did Maddie tell you we've been working on a?—"

"I didn't," I cut in. "No, I didn't tell her about how you and Coach Blakely have been working on a new player support program. But I think it's great."

Chase raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to fill her in."

"I will." I coughed. "I think she'd find it interesting.

" The last thing I wanted to tell my mom was that I'd been working with Chase for weeks or that I had anything to do with running hockey stats.

While she knew next to nothing about my major or the classes I was taking, she was always quick to remind me to focus.

I highly doubted she'd find shot percentages or shift probabilities a good use of my time.

Blakely exited the locker room, looked both ways down the hall, then started our way when he spotted us. "Chase, are you—" He slowed when he saw me standing next to my mom. I sent up a silent prayer that he'd snag Chase and this whole interaction would be over.

"Maddie, good to see you. Is this . . . ?" He paused, probably recognizing that he didn't want to guess wrong on this relationship.

"My mother," I finished for him, and he exhaled, holding out a hand.

"So nice to meet you. We've loved getting to know Maddie better this semester."

My mom's brow pinched, and I cleared my throat. “I'm sure you have plenty of work to do before you get home tonight." I grabbed my mom's arm, turning her toward the stairs.

"Thanks for coming, and Maddie, thanks for returning Coach Wilson's sweatshirt the other night."

I froze. Coach Blakely stood with his hands on his hips, smiling like he was proud that he'd remembered that. My eyes flicked to Chase's.

His lips twitched. "Yes, thanks for that. It's one of my favourites."

My heart could've synced with a hummingbird's wings.

"Mm. No problem." Damn it. Chase knew I hadn't returned it, which meant he was probably envisioning me wrapping myself in it before bed each night.

Which wasn't as far from the truth as I'd like.

I wasn't wearing it, but I also wasn't not sniffing it every time I walked into my room.

Chase dragged his eyes from mine back to my mom. "It was great seeing you again."

“You, too. Congrats on the win tonight." She smiled, and I hurried her down the hall before anything else could come out of Coach Blakely's mouth.