Overtime: A Moo U Hockey Romance

by Kat Mizera

Luckily, the games that weekend were intense and I had no time to breathe. Both games went to overtime, I kept up my scoring streak, and I scored the game-winning goal on Saturday night. I’d been wound up afterward and had a hard time sleeping but then was up at the crack of dawn, showering and getting ready for the car service that was picking up Ellie and me, to take us to the airport. The Sidewinders were going all out for us and I kind of hoped it gave Ellie a taste of what it would be like if we moved to Vegas together.

  Together.

  Holy shit, I hadn’t allowed myself to think like that because I knew she couldn’t, but I wanted her to. More than I wanted to admit. Going without her felt wrong, but asking her to give up her dreams to follow me around with mine was never going to happen. She was too smart and too important to me. Too bad I was too fucking chickenshit to have a frank conversation with her about all of the things that had been going on in my head.

  “Are you nervous?” I asked her when we were settled on the plane.

  She glanced at me. “Not really. You?”

  “I’m excited to meet the guys and hang out, but it’s unnerving, knowing they’ve been watching me all season.”

  “Probably a lot longer than that.”

  “I guess so.”

  “You’re badass,” she whispered, squeezing my hand. “Everyone knows it. So relax and enjoy this. You deserve it.”

  “You’re not nervous at all?” I asked after a moment. “I mean, you’re going to meet some of the wives and girlfriends, not to mention my future teammates and coaches.”

  “I’m a little nervous about that,” she admitted. “I think I can hold my own, but I always kind of wince when anyone asks me how old I am.”

  “None of anyone’s business,” I said firmly. “Just be yourself. You’re smart, educated and accomplished. Age is just a number.”

  “I know. I’m probably letting my mom get in my head. She gave me the whole lecture when I went home last weekend, about us rushing things and you not buying the cow when you’re getting the milk for free… You know what I mean.” She’d finally given in and gone home while I’d been on a road trip last weekend, but it hadn’t gone well.

  “I really hate that she does this to you,” I muttered. “I understand that she wants to protect you, but I’m never going to hurt you. That stuff about not buying the cow is stupid. Putting our specific relationship aside, I don’t know that I could marry a woman I hadn’t already slept with. I don’t know if that makes me a jerk, but I think it’s important to be sexually compatible. And I know from experience that not everyone is.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” she chuckled. “My only experience thus far has been quite compatible. At least I think so.”

  “Oh, we’re definitely compatible. And I can’t wait to remind you just how compatible as soon as we get home tonight.”

  “Horndog.”

  “Last time I checked, you had no problem with this.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Speaking of which.” I remembered something I’d wanted to mention to her. “We broke another condom last night. This is like the fourth time. I’ve never broken condoms before, ever, and I thought maybe the box I bought was defective so I bought a different box and it still happened.”

  She frowned. “What could that mean?”

  “I don’t know a lot about IUDs, but is it possible the strings or whatever they’re called are hanging lower than expected or something like that?”

  “I don’t feel anything, but I can call my ob-gyn and get an appointment, just to be sure.”

  “I’m happy to get tested, to show you it’s safe for us to go without condoms at all, but I want you to be comfortable with that.”

  “I’m comfortable with it,” she said. “Let me schedule something with my doctor first to make sure the IUD isn’t to blame and we’ll go from there. I can get bloodwork done as well.”

  “Cool.” I twined my fingers with hers and hoped this would take our relationship in the right direction. I didn’t know what was next for us as a couple, but going without condoms felt like we were moving toward something even more serious than we had now, which was what I wanted.

  The only question was whether or not she cared enough about me to try to find some sort of compromise where we could be together. Otherwise, I didn’t know what the hell we were going to do.

  24

  Ellie

  The game that afternoon in Montreal was exciting and it was hard for me to imagine Patrick as one of the guys out there on the ice six months from now. Wearing a Sidewinders jersey and making a huge salary. I tried not to think about it because it made me more nervous than I wanted to admit. I didn’t know what I would do if Patrick left me to go to Las Vegas in just over two months. By the same token, how could I go with him? I wanted to, but it was so damn complicated, and anyway, he hadn’t asked. We’d talked about the future in general, but it was always in terms of him staying in college another year.

  “Ready?” he asked me, taking my hand as we rode the elevators down to the main concourse. Someone from the team was supposed to meet us there and take us to say hello to everyone.

  “Patrick?” A tall, attractive redhead approached us with a smile, holding out her hand. “I’m Lana Carmichael, Head of Media Relations for the Sidewinders.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Patrick shook her hand. “This is my girlfriend, Ellie.”

  “Hi, Ellie.”

  “The guys are looking forward to meeting you,” Lana said to Patrick as we walked toward an elevator bank. “And some of the WAGs came on this trip specifically to meet Ellie.”

  “They did?” That surprised me.

  “Of course. Everyone wants you both to feel welcome.”

  “We appreciate it,” Patrick said. “We were excited to come up for the day.”

  “Well, you’ll meet the bulk of the team and coaches now,” Lana said as we stepped out of the elevator. “And then a few of the guys said they’re happy to hang out at the bar of the hotel for a little while, answer any questions you might have, or just shoot the shit for a while until you have to leave for the airport.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  We followed her into a small, private room where a group of women were gathered, chatting casually. They looked up when we came in and a blond woman of about thirty-five called out a greeting to Lana.

  Lana turned. “This is Ellie, you guys. Ellie, this is Tessa Petrov, Chelsea Calloway, Renee Wylde, and Everly Campbell.”

  “Hi.” I smiled, hoping they couldn’t tell how nervous I was.

  “You’ll be in good hands here,” Lana said, “so I’m going to take Patrick into the locker room.”

  “See you later.” Patrick gave me a quick kiss before following Lana out of the room.

  “Did you enjoy the game?” Tessa asked me.

  “It was wonderful,” I replied. “I can’t imagine Patrick being out there with them six or seven months from now.”

  “It’s an exciting time,” Chelsea said. “I didn’t know Nate his rookie season, but I still get excited when he’s on the ice.”

  “I’m the head coach’s wife,” the woman named Renee said. “I didn’t even know him when he played—he’s been retired a while—but I love seeing him behind the bench.”

  “I think we’re spectacularly enamored with our husbands,” Tessa said, grinning.

  “So have you and Patrick been together long?” Renee asked.

  I shook my head. “Just two months. It’s been kind of a whirlwind.”

  “Are you graduating this year?” Chelsea asked.

  I wrinkled my nose. “I have a complicated situation. I’m currently in a Ph.D. program in computer science but I hate it and want to switch so there are issues. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m at a bit of a crossroads.”

  “Sounds difficult,” Renee said sympathetically.

  “But exciting,” Tessa said. “That’s incredible to be getting your doctorate—you look so young!”

>   I hesitated. “Well, I’m only nineteen but I’ve been in college since I was fifteen.”

  “So you did what typically takes six years in four,” Chelsea said. “Color me super impressed.”

  I flushed. They hadn’t even batted an eyelash at my age, which made me feel better about a lot of things. “I’d been toying with the idea of medical school, but that’s not the direction I want to go, so I’m trying to find a program that’s going to be the right fit.”

  “Are you staying in Vermont?” Tessa asked.

  “Well, Patrick hasn’t decided what he’s doing yet,” I admitted. “Whether he’s going pro at the end of this school year or staying for his senior year. He’ll only need three classes after this semester, and I think he can handle two over the summer, but he was looking forward to talking with the guys tonight, maybe getting some perspective from them.”

  Chelsea nodded. “I imagine it’s a tough decision, to delay going pro another full year just to take three classes.”

  “And it’s probably hard on you as well,” Renee said gently. “I have a daughter who’s just a little older than you and she still has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. And with you already in a graduate program, you’re ahead of the game.”

  “I bet you could teach for a year or two,” Chelsea suggested.

  I nodded. “I’m already student teaching, so that’s one of many things I’m considering.”

  “We went through a little bit of this with Toli’s son Anton,” Tessa said. “He plays for the Sidewinders now, but he wanted to leave college early and we fought hard to keep him there.”

  “Was it better for him?” I asked quietly.

  “Anton wanted to leave when he was nineteen, after his sophomore year—he started college at seventeen—and the team didn’t think he’d matured enough as a player, so it was different. I don’t think that’s an issue with Patrick. From what I’ve heard, he’s ready, and the guys are going to do their best to talk him into joining them in the fall.”

  “Oh. Wow.” I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but that wasn’t it.

  “It’s a little overwhelming, huh?” Renee asked gently. She had a motherly vibe to her, something my own mother rarely showed me, and I couldn’t explain the sudden urge to throw myself in her arms and ask her to tell me everything was going to be okay.

  “So overwhelming,” I whispered. “We’re both being pulled in a lot of directions by outside forces, and it leaves us very little time to work out what we want together.”

  “If you love each other,” Renee said, “and it’s meant to be, it’s going to work out. I know that sounds like bullshit grown-ups tell kids to make them feel better, but it’s not. I just lived through something similar with Jared. We were at two different places in life and it didn’t look like there would be any way to make it work going forward. Until we broke up and subsequently realized how miserable we were without each other. So we found a compromise and I’ve never been happier.”

  “That’s good to hear,” I said.

  “Come on, let’s talk about something else,” Tessa suggested. “Ask us questions. Do you have any?”

  “I have a million,” I said. “Mostly about the lifestyle. What’s it like to be married to a professional athlete? They’re gone a lot, right? So you’re alone?”

  Chelsea nodded. “They’re gone a lot, but then they’re home a lot during the off-season. They’ve done well the last few years, but realistically, they’re not going all the way to the finals every year, so you can figure he’ll be home from mid-May to mid-September. That’s a nice stretch, you know? By the time hockey season is starting, I’m ready for him to go back because I have my own stuff to do.” She smiled. “I love my husband, but I have a career, friends, other things, so it’s not like when he’s gone I’m bereft.”

  “Agreed,” Renee said. “I have a busy career of my own, and it’s a lot harder to get anything done in the off-season, though I adore my husband.”

  “I, on the other hand,” Tessa said, “can’t wait for Toli to retire. We have four kids under the age of ten and I could use the help.”

  We all laughed.

  “Wait,” I said, thinking back to what she’d said earlier. “So you have five kids? Because Anton isn’t under ten…”

  She smiled. “Anton is my stepson, and my eight-year-old daughter, Raina, is from my first marriage, but yes, together we have five. And he’s forty-two, so I’m ready for him to retire.”

  I was a little taken aback. If Patrick went pro, some of his teammates would literally be old enough to be our parents. I’d never thought of that, somehow assuming everyone would be somewhere between twenty and thirty, with a few exceptions. I wondered if it was on Patrick’s radar at all. How hard would he have to work to keep up with veterans like that, with a lifetime of experience? And how did I fit into the mix? Were there any WAGs who were anywhere near my age?

  I had questions to things these kind ladies couldn’t answer. Things that maybe even Patrick couldn’t answer. For the millionth time, I wished I had a mother to talk to, confide in, and ask for advice.

  “If you’d like to talk sometime,” Renee said softly, putting a hand on my arm. “I’ll give you my number. You look a little conflicted and I’m happy to give you my perspective, both as a WAG and as a mom.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered, fighting the emotion welling up behind my eyes. “I’d love that.”

  “Adulting is hard,” Tessa said softly. “You’re at such an important time in your life while simultaneously under so much pressure. Remember to take a few minutes to focus on yourself—mentally, physically and emotionally. Whether it’s lunch with a girlfriend, an afternoon of shopping, even a yoga class. You need to step away from everything, including Patrick, every so often to just focus on yourself. It’s much more important than you might think.”

  “I rarely take time for myself,” I admitted. “I don’t have it. I used to study all the time and I’ve cut back on that a little so I can spend time with Patrick. I do have a couple of girlfriends but we’re all busy with school, boyfriends, whatever, so I don’t see them much.”

  “I rely on my girlfriends more than I’d like to admit,” Chelsea said. “I love Nate, and he’s wonderful, but when he’s focused on hockey, I need to have my own thing going on. I’m a journalist, so I do have a career, but he can’t always be there for me and my girlfriends can. When you get to Vegas, you’ll find the WAGs are an invaluable source of support.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said quietly. My thoughts were reeling, though. She’d said when I get to Vegas, as if it was a foregone conclusion. The truth, unfortunately, it was anything but.

  25

  Patrick

  The minute I stepped into the locker room, it was like I’d been transported to another realm. I was no longer some twenty-one-year-old college kid; I was now about to become a Sidewinder. I was introduced and everyone greeted me like I was already one of them. It was heady stuff to feel like one of the guys even before I’d made any decisions about leaving school, but if I’d needed a push to go pro, this was more like a shove.

  Being around them, these professional athletes that would be my contemporaries in the near future, felt natural. I wasn’t nervous or uneasy anymore, and as we talked about the game they’d just won, I could imagine myself on the ice with them, in the locker room, hanging out both on and off the ice. These guys were consummate professionals and I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be one of them. The realization hit me like a bucket of ice water being dumped on my head, and it was all so clear, I almost had a physical reaction to it.

  Coach Wylde came over and introduced himself, shaking my hand.

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do next year?” he asked. “Training camp will be here before you know it.”

  “I really wanted to get my degree,” I told him, “but I’ll be three classes short. I’ve waffled over leaving school without the degree because I’m itchin
g to get to Vegas too. Especially now.”

  “You look good out there,” Coach Wylde said. “We’ve been watching and I’m excited to get you on the team, but you do what’s right for you. I understand the importance of a degree more than most. After my career-ending injury, it took me a while to find my way and it wasn’t easy. On the flip side of that, it’s just three classes. You could go back and finish, even if you never played another day, you know? And if you took one this summer, that leaves you with two.”

  “I was thinking of taking two this summer, but it depends on availability. There’s even a chance I could take one online, so there are a lot of options.”

  “You have a couple of months to decide, so there’s no rush. Is there anything you want to ask me specifically or should I leave you in the capable hands of the team?”

  I grinned. “I think I’m good, Coach.”

  He shook my hand again and disappeared, leaving me to talk to the guys.

  I didn’t know who to approach first but I started with Toli since he’d been the one to reach out on the phone.

  “That goal last night,” he said, shaking his head. “Fucking epic. You make shit happen out there. You’re exactly the type of player we need right now. With me retiring and—”

  “You’re retiring?” I asked, my eyes widening.

  “I’ve been playing professionally since I was eighteen. That’s twenty-four years of my life on the road, missing out on my kids growing up, not being there for my wife… It’s time. I got to play with my oldest son, which was a big goal for me, and now I think it’s time to do something else. I may move to a back office position, but I’m going to take a year to figure it out. It’s a big decision, which I’m sure you know something about.” His eyes twinkled.

  “Yeah. The degree is important but I feel like the time is now. I can’t explain it.”

  “You have to follow your gut. Your brain and your heart will tell you different things, but your gut is the one you really need to listen to. That pull is strong for a reason and if it’s getting stronger, that might be your answer.”