24. Mer - Game Time

When we were young, I always used to think Colt looked the hottest after games, with his damp hair starting to curl and his dress shirt all ruffled and the sleeves rolled up.

I wasn’t so sure about that anymore, because seeing Colt strut toward me with a neatly trimmed beard and all his muscles encased in a designer suit made my lower stomach go a little haywire. It was almost like my body suddenly remembered what attraction was again.

And his rumbly voice telling me we still had good ahead of us… It just all felt too good to be true. I wanted to cling to the possibility of a happy ending for us, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried and waiting for the metaphorical shoe to drop.

Only focus on what you can control , I repeated to myself. I had to stay in the moment, which meant not reacting to things based on the past, and not wondering about the future.

About a half hour later, Lucy and I were getting ready to head to Target for some game day gear when the front doorbell rang.

Lucy and I looked at each other in confusion.

I opened the door to reveal a girl who had to be in her early twenties with short auburn hair holding a coffee in one hand and a bunch of clothes draped over her other arm.

“Hello! I’m Brandi,” she said in a bubbly voice, “and I’m your personal stylist for the day! Yay!”

I hurriedly took the coffee from her because she looked like she was about to fall over, then blinked at her in confusion. “Are you sure you're at the right house?”

“Yeah!” She pointed at us. “Meredith Bennett and Lucy Conover, right?”

“You’re here for me, too?” Lucy asked, eyeing the clothes with interest.

“That’s what this says.” She pulled out her phone from her back pocket. “I’ve got a bunch of clothes for y’all to try on. C’mon, this will be fun.”

Lucy’s eyes lit up, and she turned to me in excitement.

“Uh… okay?” I laughed, opening the door wider for Brandi before immediately wiping out my phone to text Colt.

Me: What did you do? I was just gonna get a Whalers t-shirt from Target.

Colt: Now you don’t have to ;)

Me: This is way too much, Colt. You didn’t need to do this.

Colt: I like spoiling you girls.

My heart pretty much flip-flopped in my chest.

Colt: Please take a picture of Lucy’s face when she sees all the clothes. She’s a little fashionista. BTW- I’m sending a car to bring you guys to the game. Hope that’s okay.

My eyes went from his text to all the clothes and boots Brandi was now lugging inside. This couldn’t be real. I wouldn’t consider myself a fashionista, but that was mainly because I couldn’t afford to go shopping these days. I’d always loved dressing up, and Colt knew that.

Lucy was already picking through the custom Whalers clothes with glee, so I quickly snapped a picture and sent it to Colt.

Brandi, Lucy, and I basically spent the next hour playing dress up, which I have to admit, was really fun.

I let Lucy have the final say on my outfit. She chose a plaid blue, green, and white oversized shirt with a black leather 17 stitched to the back overtop of black leggings, leg warmers, and black wedge boots.

For herself, Lucy chose to wear bell-bottom jeans, blue cowboy boots, and a #17 jersey with “Daddy” stitched over top.

After having settled our outfits, I decided we needed to splurge and make a Starbucks run– coffee for me, a cake-pop for her, then we finally made it to Target for dark blue nail polish for the game.

Back at Colt’s, I used the curling iron Brandi left for me to put some loose curls in my hair. Lucy sat on the bathroom counter, chatting away and keeping me company. When I offered to put a few curls in her hair, her entire face lit up.

A couple hours before puck-drop, a black Escalade was sent over to the house to pick us up. I figured it was kind of early to head to the game, so I wasn’t too surprised when the driver first dropped us off at a boujee restaurant down the street from the stadium.

“Mr. Conover says enjoy, tab is already open,” the driver told us, tilting his hat.

After saying our thanks and exiting, I grabbed Lucy’s hand and whispered, “I feel like we’re celebrities.”

She giggled. “Like Taylor Swift.”

“Yeah,” I laughed, “Like Taylor Swift.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a minute, looking like she wanted to say something, but was nervous.

I waited until we were seated and finally alone again before asking, “What’s up?”

She took a deep breath and brushed her hair behind her ears, like she was gearing herself up. “Would you wanna go to the movies with me?” she asked in a rush.

My eyebrows shot up. “The movies?”

“The Taylor Swift movie,” she said with round eyes. “Charlotte and Sophia and their moms are going and… and… ” Her shoulders scrunched up. “And they asked me to go too, but… but can you come? With me?”

My heart pretty much cracked in two, and I wondered for the hundredth time what happened to her mother.

I reached out and patted her hand. “Sure, honey, I’d love to go with you.” I’d for sure double-check with Colt, but I really would love to go with her.

It seemed like my answer completely relaxed her because after that she went on to tell me a bunch of stories about Kappy, JP, and Colt. She moved her hands and arms around wildly as she told me, completely cracking me up.

It dawned on me that she seemed desperate for girl time, for a motherly figure in her life… And deep down, I wanted so badly to be wanted, to be needed, to not be lonely anymore. It felt like it was meant to be that the two of us were together. Spending time with her didn’t feel like a chore or anything I had to do. I wanted to be with her. And even if nothing came of me and Colt, if we fell apart again, I’d love to be the kind of Coach for Lucy that I wished my younger self would’ve had.

After gorging ourselves on gourmet mac and cheese, the two of us walked over to the stadium and had fun getting popcorn and slushees before the warm-up started.

As per Lucy’s request, Colt got us tickets right on the glass in the corner so we had a perfect view of the net.

When the lights dimmed and spotlights went crazy, the announcer’s voice boomed welcoming the Windy City Whalers. Lucy jumped to her feet, so I followed suit, and we watched all the guys stream onto the ice.

Watching Colt in his signature #17 jersey skate-run onto the ice and then smooth into a long glide looking so large and calm and sure of himself made my eyes sting with unshed tears. I just couldn't believe I was actually seeing him living out his dream.

He caught my eye as he rounded the corner for a drill and he winked at us. I had to wipe my eyes as I smiled back.

When it was finally game-time, nervous energy clanged through my body.

Colt zoomed up to center ice for the puck drop, taking the same face-off stance that I’d seen him take hundreds of times as a kid. It was just so surreal to see him taking a faceoff in a stadium with all of these people watching. The jumbotron lit up with an image of his face. Gone was his playful nature he regarded us with, instead, his eyes and jaw hardened, like he was ready for war.

And then the puck dropped.

Colt battled with the New Jersey Bandit’s center for a couple seconds before winning and dropping the puck back to JP on defense, and then everyone was spreading out for a play. JP fed the puck across the ice to Kappy, while Colt hung around the blue line ‘til Kappy crossed into the zone. The three forwards zoomed to the net, trying to break New Jersey’s defense.

Kappy slid the puck over to Colt for a one-timer, but the puck zoomed over the crossbar and hit the glass.

“C’mon Dad! Hit the net!” Lucy yelled out, making me crack up laughing.

The Whalers dominated the entire first period, but about half way through the second, they were down 2-0.

And that’s when things started to slide downhill for us in the stands.

A very large, sweaty man wearing a New Jersey Bandits jersey snuck down from higher up seats and started heckling the Whalers. He had a sign that read “Whalers suck ass” that he placed right up on the glass.

Things went even further downhill when he caught sight of Lucy’s jersey. Like a true instigator, a grin slid onto his face as he yelled, “Conover sucks ass!”

Lucy’s head whipped towards him. “Hey, that’s mean!”

“Not mean, just the truth, kid.” He laughed snidely and continued banging on the glass.

Lucy’s face scrunched like she was about to cry.

I reached to hold her hand. “It’s okay, he’s just trying to make people mad. We won’t give him the satisfaction,” I whispered to her.

At the break between the second and third period, Lucy and I wandered up to the stadium’s rotunda to find a bathroom.

Unfortunately, when we came back, the man in the Bandits jersey was somehow sitting right next to us. I looked around for security, wondering how this was allowed to happen.

Noticing us on the stairs, he smoothed out of his seat to let us into ours. As soon as I passed him, the smell of BO and beer filled my nostrils. He was becoming more drunk by the minute. Lucy smiled at me for reassurance, and I had to shove aside my uneasiness to smile back at her.

Colt’s next shift out, he was flying around the boards, carrying the puck, when a Bandit’s stick went up into his helmet. Colt’s glove went to his helmet. He dropped his stick and bent at the waist before skating hard to the bench, blood streaming down his face.

Lucy grasped my hand.

“He’s fine, honey,” I reassured her, trying to calm myself down too. “Just a cut.”

The beefy man cheered louder. “Conover’s a bitch!”

Already anxious and now pissed, I flinched at his tone. “Please don’t say that,” I tried to keep my voice even. “There are kids around.”

He scoffed. “We’re at a game, don’t be an uptight bitch.”

A scary calmness overcame my body– like the calmness before a raging storm. My eye practically twitched. “Did you just call me a bitch?”

“Yeah, I did.” He chortled then reached around me to point a finger right in Lucy’s face. “Just like your daddy is a little bitch.”

Lucy swatted his finger away from her face. I angled my body to completely cover her from view.

“Hey! She just hit me!” he yelled obnoxiously at Lucy.

Lucy’s mouth dropped open. A scared expression lined her face when she looked up at me. I held her shoulders and pulled her against me.

“You better leave and go back to your own seat now,” I told the man in a firm voice.

“Or what?” He sneered.

Forcing myself to breathe, I held my chin higher and ignored him. He wasn’t worth it, I told myself. Instead, I turned my attention to Lucy. “It’s alright. How about we go get some Dippin’ Dots? Yeah?”

She nodded, her face still etched with anxiety. I think both of us just needed a break from this man. I hoped he’d move on from antagonizing us and be gone when we came back. But I had to ask him to move for us so we could get to the stairs on the other side of him. He was essentially blocking us in.

“Can we get by?” I asked, motioning to the aisle stairs.

His eyes went to the rafters and he tapped his jaw in exaggerated thought. “Mmmm… Nah.”

My heart rate spiked, hating this trapped feeling more than anything. “Look, we’re just trying to leave,” I said calmly.

He shrugged and reached for his beer. “I don’t want to move.”

I picked up Lucy. “Okay, well, can we just squeeze around you then?” I just wanted to get away from this man.

“You’ll stay right there.” His beefy hand shot out and shoved me back, hard, so I almost lost my balance. “Bitches,” he snarled with a laugh.

And then I saw red.

“Oh no you didn’t,” I growled.