Page 13 of Keeping Kyle

I got the goal on a sweet two-on-one as me and Kingsbury took off on a breakaway. Despite the fact we’d only played together in this game, we read each other perfectly and we messed that defenseman in front of us relentlessly. Kingsbury pulled the D way out of position, and I slammed the puck home.

I don’t keep many of my highlights, but I’d talk to our press office to get video of this goal for a souvenir. I had the clip of my first NHL goal too, and Mom had a ton of stuff she shot before I got to college.

Mom beamed so much when I saw her and Bobby after the game. She was always so proud of me, and this time out, I was proud I’d been able to do that with her right there in the arena.

Sadness washed over me once they’d left, and thankfully it had waited. I thought of Dad a lot, even though he’d been gone now nearly twenty years. He’d supported my early playing years as much as Mom had, and I had no doubt if he were alive, he’d have been here too. The major career milestones, like today, were always a bittersweet flavor without him here too.

I shook off those thoughts as I checked my watch. Austin was fifteen minutes late and not even a text message.

I’d arrived early at the restaurant he’d picked because things wrapped up at the arena sooner than expected. I’d given myself some buffer in our plans in case I got stuck there longer. I hated being late. Dad always said that one of the measures of a good person was punctuality. Being late equaled disrespect, especially if there was no advanced noticed.

Everything had seemed good earlier. I’d texted him before I’d headed here, and he’d sent a thumbs up back, so it’d seemed like all was good.

“Can I get food here? And take it to the table when my date shows up?” I looked to the bartender who was topping off a drink at one of the taps. I hadn’t grabbed any of the food before I left, and that’d been a mistake. My stomach rumbled, demanding refueling.

“Of course.” He turned to the counter behind him, grabbed a menu, and handed it to me. “Get you anything else to drink while you look that over?”

I’d been chugging water so far to rehydrate, but with no game or practice tomorrow, I could go for something more, especially with food on the way. “I’ll take whatever local beer you recommend.”

“Cool. Back with that in a minute.”

“Kyle, I’m so sorry.” I looked up from the menu and found Austin coming toward me. “I ended up taking a call in the arena parking lot and lost track of time. I should’ve at least been driving this direction while I talked.”

He looked so distraught that I couldn’t be mad. He certainly had a knack for being glued to his phone though. Plenty of people lived on their phones. I certainly got caught up in mine sometimes—especially traveling. But I tried to never let it interfere. I guessed he couldn’t get away from it being a CEO. Still, it kinda sucked.

“Here’s your beer.” The bartender set a tall glass down filled with a dark amber liquid. I had a good idea I’d like that. “I got you an Anti-Hero. It’s a favorite of mine. If you don’t like it, let me know and I can get you something else. Are you ready to order?”

I took a drink.

“This is damn good. Thank you.” I looked to Austin. “I think we’re ready to sit down. I can close this out with you.” I reached for my wallet.

“No worries.” The bartender waved me off. “I’ll find out your server, and it’ll all be on one bill.”

I pulled a ten from my wallet and put it on the bar. “That’s for you. Thanks for putting this great beer in my hand. Have a good night.”

“Thank you, sir.” The bartender smiled, and Austin and I headed back to the host stand.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Austin said. “I left you here so long you got hungry.”

“The hazard of post-game timing; sometimes the hungry comes roaring in faster than I expect.”

He sighed as we approached the host stand. “I lose myself in the work sometimes. It’s terrible. Tamara, my friend and business partner, calls me out on it sometimes.”

The host got us seated quickly. He’d taken my information when I came in, but I hadn’t wanted to sit at a table by myself.

“That sounds like something Bobby would do.” As we talked, we studied the menu. “He makes no bones, despite being younger, telling me exactly what I might be doing wrong in my life.”

“It’s good we’ve got people looking out for us.”

He wasn’t wrong about that.

“I guess everybody needs that sometimes.” I set the menu aside so I could focus on Austin. “Do you really have to be that close to the phone all the time? It seems… exhausting.”

“For better or worse, I try to be available anytime someone wants to talk to me. I used to expect the same out of everybody else, but Tamara got me to see that just because I wanted to work every hour did not mean that everybody else did or should be expected to. But I never want to be a bottleneck, you know? I don’t want someone stuck because I wasn’t available.”

He talked very softly, and a sadness filled his eyes. I hadn’t meant to take us there with the question—instead it was to find out more about him. We didn’t have to get into heavy topics. This was supposed to be fun.

The waiter came and we ordered. Despite the fact that my stomach wanted the entire menu, I kept things fairly reasonable with a pasta dish and salad. I had snacks in the room if I needed them later. Austin ordered salmon.