Page 55

Aaron slipped out the door with those words echoing in his head. He knew he’d made the right choice, but that didn’t change the ache in his heart.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“NEW York goal to number twenty-eight, Caleb Carter. Assisted by number fifty-seven, Dimitri Stanislov, at fifteen thirty-three in the third period.”

The Boston crowd booed the announcement. So far, game three in the Rangers-Bruins series was on New York’s side with the clock running out.

Caleb was back on the bench, alongside Dimitri, as the announcement was made. It was the third time they’d had been called out during the game, much to the annoyance of the home crowd. It was Caleb’s first goal of the night. He’d picked up assists on two of Dimitri’s in the second.

“We’re on fire tonight.” Dimitri clapped Caleb on the back. “Wish we were playing this one for the home crowd.”

“Yeah. It feels great.” Caleb smiled and picked up his water bottle from the ledge in front of him. Squirting water into his mouth, he wished he could feel more excited. His game was on autopilot, and thankfully his instincts had him playing at the high level the team needed.

The skating—for practice and the games—was all that had kept him together since Aaron had left him four days before. Somehow he’d made it through Sunday’s game without getting into what had happened. Even Grant and Dimitri hadn’t pressed him, allowing him to simply say Aaron had gone home.

While being on the ice felt good, Foster Grove was where he ached to be, to get another chance with Aaron. He’d hoped his proclamation that he loved Aaron would give them time to sort out what a relationship could be. Aaron had devastated him by walking out despite the fact that Caleb was sure Aaron felt the same way he did. He wished he could go to LA and find the guy who had hurt him so much.

Dimitri pushed against his shoulder and snapped him back to reality. “You gonna scoot?”

“Sorry.” Caleb slid down the bench, since they were getting closer to another shift.

“Where’d you go?”

Caleb didn’t want to get into what he was really thinking about, so he defaulted back to something to do with the game. Talking strategy was a good choice. “Just thinking about that last goal. Dissecting it so maybe we can do it again. We totally confused their defense with our zigzag pattern.”

Dimitri looked at him for a moment as if that wasn’t what he expected to hear.

“What if we mix it up a bit?” Caleb suggested.

Thankfully Dimitri went along with it and grabbed one of the whiteboards from behind them. He drew a variation on what they’d done their last time out. “What do you think?”

Caleb studied the board for a moment. “Let’s do it.” He was excited for the on-the-fly strategy making.

“Looks good, guys,” Coach chimed in, standing over them.

The trio went back out with less than a minute on the clock. Dimitri’s last-second shot had to be reviewed because the horn sounded. Ultimately the goal was denied because the puck didn’t fully cross the goal line before the clock ran out. But they had a new play to work on because the pattern they’d discussed worked, and if they refined it, they could try it again for game four. New York won four to three, and if they beat Boston in the next meeting, they’d sweep the series.

Dimitri and Caleb both got “Three Stars of the Night” honors, alongside the Boston goalie, who kept it from being more of a blowout. Caleb was proud to earn that title anytime he could, and even more so on someone else’s ice. It was bittersweet tonight, though. He wondered if Aaron watched the game. Despite having played well, Caleb knew it would’ve just added to Aaron’s argument that they didn’t belong together.

“I was that close to a hat trick,” Dimitri grumbled, holding up his thumb and forefinger with little space between them.

“Sorry, man. We still rocked that game,” Caleb said as they headed to the visitors’ locker room.

“Yes, we did!” That was all it took for Dimitri to snap out of his no-hat-trick funk.

Once everyone gathered inside, Coach addressed the team from the middle of the room. “Well done tonight, guys. Now we just have to keep our focus. Thursday’s game will send a message about how serious we are this postseason. Get some rest tonight. We’ll skate tomorrow at two.”

As Coach left, the team got back to celebrating their third win in a row. Caleb was quiet. Soon enough they’d be back at the hotel and he could try to get to sleep—luckily, he’d been exhausted enough from the games and practices that his mind had no choice but to shut down for rest.

A phone chirp stopped him while he stood in front of his locker. He took it off the shelf, hoping beyond hope he’d see Aaron’s name on the screen. They hadn’t spoken since he’d walked out.

Instead, Caleb found a text from Pam. Way to go, little bro. Second star of the game on another team’s ice. You looked great out there.

He smiled. Pam was always a fan; so were his parents, but they were still on their trip. They’d been keeping up and sending him emails, which always ended with them telling him to be careful.

He typed back. Thanks! It was fun. And you should get to bed, you’ve got school tomorrow. He added a winky face.

As he sent it, he stared at the word fun. It was fun, and it was wrong that it was fun. Or was it? He loved hockey. He also loved Aaron. Aaron liked hockey. Did Aaron love Caleb? He hadn’t said it even though Caleb said it twice. There was some weird word problem in all this. “If Caleb loves Aaron and hockey, and Aaron….”