Chased by The Hockey Stars

Chapter Three

I was always happiest in the summer time, with the sunshine on my skin and the ocean breeze on my face. There was nothing like it. Every year, my family rented the same cottage on the coast, and spending my days sitting out on the dock was my absolute favourite pastime. I gazed out onto the water, watching it ripple with the wind and smiled.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” My mother asked, her arm wrapping around me as she snuggled me into her side. She smiled down at me, her beautiful brown hair blowing in the wind.

“The most,” I smiled back at her.

“Dinner’s ready!” My dad called from the deck behind us, and I turned back to see the big smile stretched across his face. He was wearing that same stupid apron with the bikini that my mother had given him for Christmas years ago, waving the two of us down with a spatula in the air.

I grinned back to him, jumping up to my feet and getting ready to head back down the dock. Only, before I got to take my first step, it all began to fade away.

I stirred from my sleep, my face feeling hot and clammy. I blinked a few times, realizing that it had all been a dream and now I was back to reality. The realization hit my like a ton of bricks, knocking the wind right out of me until tears were streaming down my cheeks. It had felt so real, like for that brief moment of time my mom wasn’t sick anymore and my dad had stopped drinking, and things had gone back to normal. But of course they hadn’t because I could never be so lucky.

My heart pinched in my chest at the thought of the interview. My dad wasn’t going to be happy about this at all. The only other time in my father’s life that he’d slipped into alcoholism as far as he had right now, was when he’d lost his spot on the hockey team after a heartbreaking hand injury. Losing his dream of joining the NHL had crushed him, and ever since he had hated everything to do with hockey. Which meant I had to do everything in my power to keep him from finding out about this job. I would never be stupid enough to pass up the opportunity, but if my dad found out, he would surely beat me to death.

I pulled myself from my bed, heading straight for the shower in hopes that the hot water might dry up some of these tears. It’s a new day, I tried to remind myself, but it was harder this time. I’d tried that trick yesterday, and things didn’t seem to get a whole lot better. There was still hope for today though. I had my interview for the assistant position with the hockey team, and a mix of nerves and excitement was already swirling in my chest.

I showered and dressed quickly then applied a thin layer of make up. I pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail but the shorter pieces still fell into my face. I gave myself a smile in the mirror, feeling hopeful for the interview.

The closer we got, the more nervous I was feeling. I mean, was I even qualified to work for a sports team? Don’t you have to be like athletic or something? If so, I definitely wasn’t the candidate they were looking for. But, still, I wanted it desperately.

If this job was all that Benno had explained it to be, then it would really be a dream come true. It would definitely solve a lot of problems for me. It would be convenient, being able to work right on campus with a schedule that’s flexible around my classes. Plus, the pay is nearly twice what I was making at the diner, tips included. With that kind of income, I wouldn’t have to be stressed out about losing my job there, and I likely wouldn’t have to keep working my other jobs either. This job on it’s own would be enough to support myself which would free up a lot more time for my school work.

Benno had even sent me some hockey pointers last night to help me prepare for the interview, and promised that if I got the job, then he would help me learn everything I needed to know about the sport.

After the rough day I’d had yesterday, I tried not to get my hopes up too high as I headed towards my interview. Maybe if I hadn’t been so hopeful, I wouldn’t have felt so crushed at the end of the day. Today, I was more determined to just keep my head down and stay centred as I headed towards the arena.

The coach had agreed to meet with me at 8:30am for our interview, and according to the schedule I’d quickly looked up online last night, that put us right in the middle of the morning hockey practice. Meaning the whole team might be around to witness the interview, but I was doing my best not to think about that.

My anxiety couldn’t take much more as I crossed the arena parking lot, took a deep breath, and willed myself the courage to get through the interview without saying anything too embarrassing.

I tugged at the bottom of my shirt, hoping to straighten it a little as I walked into the rink. Sure enough, there were several players on the ice and a single man waiting on the end of the bench that I could only assume was the coach.

I put on my best smile before strolling confidently up to him.

“Hi, my name is Carolyn. I’m here for the assistant position.” I said to the man.

One look up and down me and you could see the confusion flash clear in this man’s eyes.

“Right, Carolyn. I’m Coach Greg.” He said, extending a hand out now to cautiously meet mine.

Okay, so the confusion definitely wasn’t because he had forgotten I was coming. No, he was definitely just confused because who did I think I was to be applying for this position? One look at me and it was clear that I wasn’t their ideal candidate, but still, I tried not to let that bother me.

“Nice to meet you.” I said, shaking his hand, then squared my shoulders confidently.

“Thanks for coming so early. There’s a space we can talk over here.” He gestured towards a bench a little further from the ice, but still close enough that we could see all the action. I glanced towards the ice, seeing all the players skating circles around each other. A few looks cast in my direction, and I quickly had to look away before my anxiety got the best of me.

“So what makes you want to work with a hockey team?” He asked the most obvious question first, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Okay, apparently we were jumping right into this, but luckily I had spent over an hour preparing myself last night. So I did my best, meeting each of his questions with a well thought out and appropriate answer, but by the fifth one, I still didn’t feel like the interview was going in my favour.

Coach Greg was repeatedly glancing over to the ice, barely even reacting to my answers before emotionlessly reading out the next question. It was evidently clear that he had already stroked my name from his list of candidates. Once his list of questions was through, I would be walking out this door to never return.

There was a long pause between the fifth and sixth question, as something on the ice caught Greg’s full attention. I took the opportunity to glance over at the team as well and see what was so interesting. There were five players on the ice now, speeding down towards our end. My eyes widened at how quickly they moved, but then one player crossed in front of another, tripped his teammate, and sent him flying headfirst into the boards.

“Damian, you i***t!” The player who’d just smashed his face into the glass had stood up almost immediately and turned to yell at his teammate. No one could miss the blood that was spewing from his mouth though, and as he pulled his lips back to snarl, you could see the gaping hole in his front teeth.

Without any clue as to what I was about to do, I jumped up from my seat and was already moving quickly towards the ice. Damian and the player that he just tripped over his skate were already colliding, with the other players on the ice trying to tear them apart before there were any more injuries. I was focused on something else though, I opened the rink gate and stepped carefully onto the slippery surface.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” The coach called after me, but I was on a mission.

Slowly, I slid myself to the blood covered ice where the collision had happened, paying no attention to the other players on the ice as I searched for what I had come out here for. Finally, I found it. I reached down and picked up the blood covered tooth and smiled.

I slid back to the door, only realizing then that the fighting had stopped and now everyone’s eyes were on me. My cheeks burned hot as I sheepishly held up the tooth.

“I read somewhere that if you put the tooth back in place and head straight to the dentist, the root will live and he can put it back in.” I offered, holding the tooth out now to the bloody player. A few of the team members made faces in disgust, but not him. No, he was grinning ear to ear.

“Woah, that’s wicked cool!” He said, then wasted no time in skating over to me and placing his broken tooth back into his gums.

“I’ll drive you.” Came the voice of another player, and Cameron came skating up beside him. He didn’t give me quite the same friendly greeting, but at least he offered me a nod as if to say thanks before leading his team member off the ice.

With that resolved, I turned my attention back to the coach and offered him the same shy smile.

“Is our interview over now?” I asked, feeling my cheeks burn again. I’d made a promise to myself that I was going to do my best not to embarrass myself today, but when I saw that tooth come out, I just couldn’t help myself. I knew exactly what to do and I acted without thinking, and likely cost myself this job. The coach probably thought I was a total freak now.

He folded his arms over his chest, looking me over one last time and I braced myself for the rejection.

“Actually, I have one last question for you.” He surprised me by saying, and I looked up at him with eager eyes. I had to have heard him wrong, because what he said next didn’t make sense to me at all.

“When can you start?”