Page 76 of Slap Shot Surprise
“Yes. Hockey is my entire life.”
“Not anymore,” he said, tipping up his beer.
“It’s different for you.” I felt the need to argue. “You already have a championship ring.” Tessier had gone all the way with his previous team.
“Yeah, but after I’m gone, I don’t want my headstone to say ‘Here lies Luc Tessier, Stanley Cup champion.’”
“What do you want it to say?” I asked incredulously, since that’s exactly how I wanted mine to read.
“‘Here lies Luc Tessier, family man.’”
“That’s it? Family man?” It was unfathomable to me. Anybody could be a family man. A Stanley Cup champion was rare. Special. Elite.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t get it now. But you will. At least, I hope you will. The lucky ones do.”
“Lupo! Tessier! You’re up!” someone shouted.
I glanced over at the couch to make sure Mabel was still doing okay and saw that she wasn’t there. Figuring she’d gone to the bathroom, I joined the guys at the pool table for another game.
But when she still wasn’t back after ten minutes, I asked someone to shoot for me and went over to the couch. “Hey,” I said, touching Anna on the shoulder. “Is Mabel okay?”
“Yes,” Anna said with a smile. “She went to the bathroom and then she was going to grab something to drink. Service back here is slow tonight.”
Frowning, I looked at the big wooden door.
“Want me to go check on her or something?” Anna asked.
“No, no. That’s okay. I could use another beer anyway, so I’ll head out to the bar.”
I walked out of the back room and headed through the pub’s main section, which had grown even more crowded. My eyes scanned the bar looking for the number 19 jersey, and when I spotted her at the far end, the first thing I felt was relief.
The next, blind fury.
Some guy next to her had put a hand on her lower back, which she swatted away. She also said something to him, but I was too far away to hear it. I doubled my stride, moving faster. When he moved his hand right back to where it had been, she pushed it away a second time. Now I was close enough to hear her say sharply, “I said no!”
Rage surged through me like TNT, a red haze hovering in my peripheral vision. Reaching them, I wrapped my fist around the guy’s forearm and wrenched him away from her.
“What the fuck?” he demanded.
I had at least four inches on him, and I got right in his face with a menacing stare. “You best keep your hands off the mother of my son.”
“Or what?” The stocky frat boy jerked his chin at me.
“Or they’ll be sweeping up your teeth from the floor when this bar closes tonight.”
He yanked his arm from my grasp, and I let it go without blinking. After a roll of his shoulders, he stepped back. “I was just trying to buy her a drink, dude. Relax.”
“Relax?” I moved for him again, but Mabel grabbed my arm.
“Joe, it’s okay. Don’t.”
I gave him one last narrowing of my eyes and a crack of my knuckles before turning toward her. “You okay?”
“I’m totally fine.” But she was white as a ghost. “I was just trying to get some water.”
“I’ll get it for you.” I didn’t often use my celebrity status to cut the line, but when the bartender saw me standing there, she came right over and asked what she could do for me. Less than a minute later, I handed Mabel a glass of water.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a small sip. Her eyes still had that deer-in-the-headlights stupor.
