Page 75 of Lucky Puck

“Of course not. Besides, I think watching the replay counts.”

She hugs me and we pay attention to the game now with plenty of reasons to cheer, especially when Brody scores his second goal to put the Whalers ahead and a bushel of butterflies wreak havoc inside me, seeming to lodge in my throat. There’s less than a minute left in the game and the other team is pulling their goalie.

Cherry and I clutch each other when there’s a line change and Brody doesn’t leave the ice.

“What’s he doing?” Henry says, and I know he’s talking about Brody. Shit.

The butterflies drop like they’ve been shot, landing like lead in the pit of my stomach.

Cherry looks at me and I shake my head, clutching her arm. We watch as the puck is dropped and play resumes, and I pray to the hockey gods that we win, that Brody didn’t mess up by staying out there when he wasn’t supposed to.

Holding my breath until I’m dizzy, I watch as he somehow gets the puck and shoots it into the empty net. The arena explodes into deafening cheers and Cherry hugs me while I finally take a breath. Then I worry that I’m going to be violently ill.

“The boy’s unbelievable,” Henry says, chuckling and shaking his head. “A fucking hat trick. He stayed on the ice to get an empty net goal so he could get a hat trick. That kid has balls of steel.”

They laugh and I smile, but it fades away with uneasiness because there’s something wrong with this picture.

“He wasn’t supposed to stay out on the ice,” I say quietly.

“No,” Henry confirms. Marie gives me a sympathetic smile, shaking her head in agreement. We gather our coats to leave, and the mood of the room sobers.

I get up the nerve to ask Mr. Dumas about what’s worrying me. “What do you think the coach will do to him for staying on the ice at the end of the game?”

“It’s not good,” he shakes his head. “Disobeying the coach on the ice is a mortal sin.”

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” Keith says, “but he took a hella chance and it paid off. Amazing to watch.”

“I know what he was thinking,” I mumble as we file out of the luxury box. But I’m not foolish enough to think he did it for me in spite of what he said earlier. It wasn’t a promise; it was flirting.

He wanted a hat trick for purely professional reasons. Though I’m not sure if the payoff is worth whatever punishment Coach will bring down. The worst punishment would be getting benched for a game. Then again, that might be punishing the whole team because they’re playing their number one opponent next game—the Boston Brawlers.

Either way, I’m very sure his rebellious move will get him even more publicity. Some people, like Kevin, will appreciate the hot shot rebel move to get the hat trick, but others will accuse him of not being a team player. Hopefully, his teammates won’t think that.

I know in Brody’s mind, whatever he does is good for the team because they count on him to be his best. He has a tremendous amount of pressure on him to make good on their expectations.

We take a private elevator down to the friends and family room on the corporate level, and it occurs to me that Kara is family. And she may be there with Nora. Shit. For some reason, Nora feels like a real threat—and not because of any jealousy motive—not that I have a right to a jealousy motive—because Brody made it clear he has no feelings for her unless you count contempt. But Nora seems like the vindictive type to me, and if she has suspicions about Brody’s marriage, she may try to expose it.

It also occurs to me that the friends and family lounge would be the worst place for me to be exposed as a fraud—in front of everyone who matters to Brody. Each step I take now feels like I’m coming closer to a reckoning where I finally get called out on the marriage hoax.

“Do you think Kara will be in the friends and family room?” I ask. Everyone in our small group stops and turns to me. Shit. They know why I’m asking. I can see it in their expressions. Marie gives me a concerned look, and Henry looks like a man ready to do battle. Only Evan appears bewildered. Maybe he doesn’t know the whole story.

“I… didn’t think to ask,” I say. “Brody didn’t say.”

“What would you like to do?” Henry asks solemnly. “I can go ahead and find out if they’re in the room while you wait if you like.”

“Good idea, Henry,” Marie says. “If the woman is there, we can go down to the locker room area with the media. It’s more fun there.”

I nod. “It sounds like the best plan to avoid a potential public confrontation.”

Cherry squeaks and squeezes my hand. Henry takes off around the corner on his reconnaissance mission.

Marie gives Cherry an understanding nod. “If we have to move to the media hallway, you won’t have to say anything, Cherry. We’ll hang back and remain anonymous.”

Cherry nods and whispers to me, “I have an aversion to the media. I’m especially allergic to cameras.”

I’m surprised because if I looked like her, I’d be posing for cameras all over the place, but I get that there’s more to it than meets the eye sometimes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take the hit for you. If anyone looks our way, I’ll move front and center and deflect attention.”