Page 84 of Shootout
Sadly, Vick didn’t have faith in himself, and I wasn’t sure the team did either. Our 4–2 lead at the end of the second period disintegrated as our entire team unraveled. We tried too hard on defense, unintentionally undermining Vick’s confidence by showing we didn’t trust him to keep pucks out of the net.
This loss was on all of us. We still had most of the season left but without Brick. In order to hold on to our number one spot and go deep, hopefully all the way in the playoffs, every one of us needed to step up.
After the game, all I wanted was to tuck my tail between my legs and slink off to my condo. Vick and I walked out together. Jessie waited outside the locker room door, along with another woman I didn’t recognize.
“Banks, this is Inga Chowoski, Drager’s wife.”
My eyes widened, and I met Jessie’s gaze. She gave a little shrug.
“I’m waiting for Drager to give me a ride home.”
Vick and I exchanged panicked looks.
“He’s already gone,” Vick said uncomfortably. Drager had left with two women a few minutes prior.
“But he was supposed to give me a ride.” Inga’s eyes filled with tears.
Vick, good guy that he was, stepped forward, “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Thank you.”
Jessie and I watched the two of them disappear down the hall before she turned back to me. “What’s going on?”
“Drager’s been cheating on his wife since he’s been on this team, probably longer. He left earlier with a couple women.”
“That poor girl.”
I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. After my crappy game, I wasn’t in the mood to take on someone else’s problems. Jessie read me perfectly.
She linked her arm with mine. “Come on, Mr. Grumpy, let’s cheer you up.”
“I’m not grumpy,” I protested in what was definitely a grumpy-assed growl. She laughed.
“You can’t win ’em all, Banks. Vick hasn’t played in a while, and he was rusty. Regardless, none of you had that fire tonight. The team sleepwalked through the entire game.”
One of the downsides of having a hockey-playing girlfriend was that she knew her hockey. She spotted things your casual spectator wouldn’t see, and she told me about them.
“Jessie!” We both paused and turned to see Jonas running up to us. The guy had what my grandfather would’ve called a shit-eating grin on his face.
Jessie regarded him stonily. “What’s up, Jonas?”
I made no move to interfere. Unknown to this dickhead, Jessie would soon be his boss. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he found out. I lived for that moment.
“I wanted you to know I’ve given my notice. I’m on to bigger and better things.” His smirk dripped with superiority and meanness. I hid my face, not wanting him to read what I was thinking.
“Oh, really? That’s nice.” Jessie spoke with obvious indifference.
Jonas didn’t hide his irritation but recovered quickly. “I’m the new assistant coach for Tyee.”
My self-restraint did a nosedive. “Jessie, that must be the position you turned down in order to be the new director of the Sockeyes’ youth program.”
Jessie leaned into me and squeezed my arm. Multiple emotions flitted across Jonas’s face, none of them positive. “You? You? You were—”
I faked a yawn at his inability to form a coherent sentence.
“Goodbye, Jonas,” Jessie said and we walked away, chuckling together.
By the time we were in the elevator, both of us were laughing so hard we were in pain. “I wish I’d recorded that,” I said.
