“Thank you.” Walking past the table with four chairs and straight to the couch, I sit down, and Mac sits at my feet. The door closes, and I look out the window as we make our way down the runway.
I take my phone out and text Alex.
Me: On my way.
The bubble comes up with the three dots, and then the text comes through.
Alex: But is my girl with you?
I laugh. Looking down at my feet at Mac sleeping, I take a picture and send it to her.
Me: You know she’s my dog, right?
Alex sends me a picture of her in her car with the whole back seat filled with dog stuff.
Alex: Why don’t I keep her here?
I shake my head and put my phone away as I look out the window. The thoughts of the past two weeks rush back to me. All the games, all the times we thought we would win only to lose in the last minute of play. It was fucking depressing. I grab my phone and go on Instagram, scrolling through my private account. Watching little clips from the game, I see myself on the bench, my head just hanging, and it guts me yet again.
The wheels touch down, and I stand and so does Mac. “You ready, girl?” I ask, and she gets up and smells the air. “Alex is here,” I say and walk to the door as soon as it’s opened. “Thank you.” I duck my head out of the plane and look out to see her standing there by her car.
“There she is.” I hear her voice, and Mac goes nuts. She runs down two steps and jumps the rest of the way, pulling me with her. I can’t help the smile that fills my face when I see her.
She doesn’t even pay attention to me. She squats down, and Mac runs straight to her. “Oh, my girl.” She hugs her around her neck. “I missed you so much,” she says, and then she finally looks up at me, her blue eyes shining in the sun. “Hi.” She gets up and comes over to me, hugging me. I wrap my arms around her as she lays her head on my chest.
“You look good, Alex,” I compliment when she lets go of me, and I look at her up and down. She’s wearing blue jeans that are all torn in the front with a white T-shirt that falls off her shoulder. The strap of her pink bra shows against her tanned skin. “Dallas agrees with you.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “What does that mean?” She smiles, and I wrap my arm around her shoulder as I walk to her car.
“Your skin is glowing. Sun-kissed,” I say, thinking of the word.
“It’s called self-tanning lotion. It comes out brown, and you apply it like cream. If you want, we can give your pasty white skin a try.”
“I’m not pasty,” I defend, and all the feeling of unsettledness is suddenly gone just by being with her. “I just have been in Canada for a long time.”
“Is that your excuse?” she asks, folding her arms, and all I can do is hug her. She must sense that I need the extra hug and wraps her arms around my waist. “It’s going to be okay.” She looks up at me at the same time Mac barks at me.
“Yeah, yeah. You are all over me when she isn’t here,” I mumble when we get her into the car.
“Did you leave any clothes in Montreal?” She looks at me as the four suitcases are brought and left by the car.
“I just didn’t know what to pack.” I shrug. “I left my suits there. And my parka.” I wink at her and hold out my hand for the keys. “You can sit in the back with Mac so you can let me drive.”
I sit in the car, and the whole time, I watch her talking to Mac from the rearview mirror. We stop to eat and finally get back to her house when the sun is going down. When we get inside, she gives me the house tour, and I stop once we get into the living room and I see the picture of us on her mantel. I walk over to it, picking it up. “This was when I broke Gramps’s record,” I say, looking at it. The smile on both our faces as we look at the camera. “I still remember this whole day.” I look down at the picture of the two of us. “You were the first one on the ice to get to me.”
“You threw up four times before heading over for the game,” she reminds me, and she is the only one who knows that since she was there with me. Michael doesn’t even know that little detail. In front of everyone, I acted cool, calm, and collected, but in front of Alex, I let my nerves show. I knew she would calm me down. “It was something else.” She walks over to the couch and sits down, curling her feet under her. Mac gets on the couch next to her and sits down, ignoring me.