by Jeff Adams
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Central won the game two-to-one in overtime. After the post-game reception, it was nice to relax with only my favorite guys: Alex and our sons.
Travis and Jack were plowing their way through pancakes, while Alex and I were having the large IHOP meal we’d always enjoyed.
“This was a great day,” Alex said. “Seeing everyone, honoring Coach and Jackson. I don’t know how it could’ve been more perfect.”
I nodded, and drank down some cocoa. “We should only do reunions around hockey. Our classmates are nice, but it’s those guys I love hanging out with. I can’t wait to play tomorrow. We haven’t had that many of us on the ice at the same time since our wedding scrimmage.”
“Seeing Chris, man, that was something. I hadn’t expected him to be so frail.”
“Yeah. I was shocked.”
“We ended up talking for a bit, just the two of us,” Alex said between bites. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in his shoes. Even when I first got the M.S. diagnosis, we knew it wasn’t a death sentence. I’m thankful I was only dealt the cards I was, you know.”
“Papa,” Jack, who sat next to me, said, “is your friend going to die?”
“He’s very sick,” I said, “so it’s possible.”
Jack didn’t say anything, but quietly went back to his pancakes. Travis had never stopped eating, as if Jack hadn’t said anything. The boys understood death, having been to the funeral for Alex’s grandmother a couple of years ago.
“We’re going to make it so he and Connor can skate at least a shift tomorrow,” Alex said. “We haven’t figured it all out yet, but it’s going to happen.”
“That’s cool. I think Connor’ll like that. We talked for a while tonight.”
“Is that where you went off to?”
“Yeah, we talked privately for a few minutes. He asked if I could hook him up with someone to talk to in Atlanta. His school counselor only deals in academics, so without worrying his parents, he’s been trying to find someone to talk to about all that’s going on with his dad. I’ve got connections, so I told him I’d take care of it. I told him he could always call me, too.”
Alex nodded. “Good. I imagine it’s not easy for him right now.”
I looked at Alex. His grey eyes as bright as ever, set off even more now that he had bits of grey hair appearing at his temples. I could already tell the salt and pepper look was going to be hot on him. He wasn’t the only one with grey, either. I had some in my beard. We weren’t as lean since we weren’t on a stringent training program, but we were fit. Alex, I suspected, was in better shape than me because of the exercises he did to try and keep the M.S. in check. Twenty years and he was just as sexy as he’d been in the hotel room that night we’d figured each other out.
“Papa!” Travis said way too loud and it snapped me back as Alex cracked up. “I asked you if you were going to have ice cream.”
“Um, sure. Yeah.” I said, embarrassed I’d zoned out.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Travis said.
“He was thinking,” Alex chimed in.
“About what?” Jack asked.
Jack and Travis looked at Alex like he’d lost his mind. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
Travis rolled his eyes and sopped up syrup with a biscuit Alex hadn’t eaten. Jack went back to his food since there was ice cream to be had.
Alex bumped his leg against mine and I smiled. Exactly the move he’d done the first time we’d been here, back when we were a secret. “I know what you were thinking about,” he said in a sing-song voice.
“Of course you do,” I said.
We reached across the table at the same time and interlocked our fingers.
“Did you think we’d last this long the first time we sat here?” Alex asked.
“Back then I wasn’t sure there could really be an us.”
“I knew it was for real at the Penguins game, when that waiter knew we were on a date. I suspected we were forever the night we skated under the Christmas lights after the game at Comerica. I knew I never wanted to be without you.”
“The night of the Penguins game was a sign for me, too. When we saw Craig and Kyle at the club. There was another couple, just like us, so I knew it was possible. The forever part came on our second anniversary. I wanted forever with the man who created one of the most romantic surprises ever.”
“You two aren’t going to be gross and kiss are you?” Jack piped up after we sat staring at each other too long.
“Maybe we are,” I turned to him and grinned. “Or maybe I’m going to unleash a tickle monster on you.” I turned in the booth and readied an attack.
He laughed and backed closer to the wall. “No. No. No.” He put up his hands, as if to shield himself.
I laughed, too, and simply tussled his hair. “Finish up and we’ll get ice cream and refill the cocoa. Then we need to get home to sleep. It’s a big day tomorrow.”
Our phones buzzed at the same time, which almost never happened. Alex pulled his out before I could get mine. A huge smile spread across his face as he read. He handed the phone over to me.
Yes!
“We got it!” I said. “I figured we’d have to wait until at least Monday to hear anything.”
I handed his phone back. As he took it he grabbed my hand and kissed it, getting an “ooooh” from the boys.
“Let me find out what’s next.”
“What’d we get?” Jack asked.
“Tell them,” Alex said, “while I make the call.”
“You know how you’ve always wanted to live closer to your grandparents?”
“Yeah!” Travis said, already sounding breathless from anticipation.
“Are we?” Jack asked.
I nodded.
“Yay!” they said with Travis throwing his arms up in the air as if signaling a touchdown.
Alex grinned while he was on the phone with our real estate agent.
“We’re getting a house just a few blocks away from Daddy’s parents so you’ll see all your grandparents anytime you want.” That was true because while my mom didn’t live in the same neighborhood, she wasn’t more than a mile away. Uncle Zack would also be nearby. “You’ll have your own bedrooms, too.”
“Yay!” they shouted again.
“Plus, you’ll be able to skate on the pond every winter.”
“Awesome,” said Jack. His tone gave the pond a reverence that I liked. Meanwhile, Travis looked like he might explode from excitement.
“When do we move?” Travis asked, his mouth full of food.
“Hopefully Daddy’s figuring that out right now.” Alex spoke so quietly I couldn’t make out what he was saying while I was talking to the boys.
“When do we get to see it?” Jack asked.
“We can drive by the house tomorrow. But we can’t go inside. There’re still people living there.”
“They need to get out of our house,” Travis said, looking like he was ready for a fight. I had to hold back my laughter.
“So,” Alex said, dropping his phone in his jacket pocket. “We’ll close right after Christmas and can move in the first week of the new year.”
“Great timing,” I said.
“What about school?” Jack asked.
“We can probably make arrangements to keep you where you are for the rest of this year. Next fall you’ll start school here.”
They both looked thoughtful for a moment, which was adorable on their ten-year-old faces. Hopefully the school switch wasn’t going to be a big deal.
“When can we skate on the pond?” Travis asked.
“We’ve got a game there on Sunday, I bet we can skate on it then.”
That was a good idea. It’d be kinda awesome to get everyone’s kids out on the ice together. We could talk about that tomorrow.
The waitress came and we ordered ice cream and more cocoa. Jack and Travis were chatterboxes about the new house. Luckily Alex had pictures on his phone so we could
show them. The house was the perfect cap for the day. While it was still four years away, I hoped at least one of the boys would play hockey at Central. I’d love to be in the stands with Alex watching them skate at Archer Rink.
THE END
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Acknowledgements
I’ve had this scene in my head since I was working on Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound. It was this flash of Simon and Alex many years down the road. I liked the idea of getting everyone back together, not for a class reunion, but rather for a team reunion for a special cause.
With the other Hat Trick stories, I’ve attempted to make them standalone where you could, if you wanted to, read them out of order and it wouldn’t matter too much. In this case, I don’t think it works. This story is for the readers who’ve been with Simon and Alex since the beginning. Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot concluded with their happily ever after getting underway. This lets you see a further glimpse of the ever after. I love where the guys are in this story, and where they’re headed.
As always I must give thanks to the readers for being Simon and Alex fans. Also, thanks to Will Kanuss, Scott McQuiston, Elvis Murks, Lynn Schmitz, and Michael Spires for being my beta readers on this. They all helped with HT3, so it seemed right they should get the first read of the last chapter of the story, too.
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ABOUT JEFF ADAMS
Jeff Adams has written stories since he was in middle school and became a gay romance writer in 2009 when his first short stories were published. Since then he’s written several more shorts and novels, including some in the young adult genre, and he plans to keep writing as long as wonderful readers keeping picking up his books.
Jeff lives in rural Northern California with his husband of twenty years, Will. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and title of show, the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition, So You Think You Can Dance. If forced to pick his favorite book, it would be a tie between Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and David Levithan’s Every Day.
You can learn more at jeffadamswrites.com.
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