Page 22 of King of the Crease

Practice ends in scrimmage. Nick gives up so many goals he’s practically a puck doorman, but he makes two really solid saves near the end.

“Nice stop, man.” Des gives him a stick tap.

Nick beams like he just won the Stanley Cup.

In the locker room, Bill claps his hands together to get our attention. “Good work tonight. Hank, a word.” He pulls me aside. “You’re serious about helping him?”

“As serious as my uncle Gene’s heart attack.”

“Then he’s your project. You vouch for him, you train him.”

“I will. Early mornings. Edge work. Rebound control. The whole deal. By Christmas, he’s going to be the king of the crease.”

Bill nods. “Alright. Prove me wrong.”

I glance across the room at Nick, who pulls off his pads. I give him a thumbs up. He smiles back, cautious but hopeful.

We’re going to turn you into a master goalie. And I’m going to do everything in my power to stop finding you so damn cute.

7

NICK

Abig blizzard snows everyone in the next day; I get to be a couch potato for the first time in a long while. I rarely had the time to be this lazy when I was in Ardenia. I’m catching up on all the Christmas movies I missed over the years. I spent the morning with Millie’s family watching Elf and The Polar Express while decorating sugar cookies.

Now that the snow has let up a bit, Adam takes the boys outside to build a snowman. Millie puts on Love Actually. Outside, snowman building quickly devolves into throwing each other into snow drifts.

“Should we go out there and join them?” I ask. “I don’t want to take you from family bonding.”

“Nah. We bonded over cookies. I’m on a mom break. Quick quiz: what’s your favorite pizza place?”

“Matthew’s pizza.”

“Good. And what do you do for work?”

“I’m an accountant.”

“Very good.” Millie and I came up with a backstory for me as well as researched some Baltimore details in case it comes up. I was caught off guard when asked about my high school. Luckily, Americans love naming things after George Washington.

Millie suggested the job idea because nobody ever asks follow up questions when you say you’re an accountant. It’s the Baltimore of professions.

“How often do you get to DC?” she asks.

“Baltimorians don’t like going to DC. The traffic is a nightmare.”

She gives me a thumbs up. “When in doubt, just say traffic is a nightmare. People love talking about traffic.”

On the TV, the little boy reenacts the Titanic scene with his stepdad Liam Neeson.

“You want to know something fucked up?” Millie asks.

“No, but you’re going to tell me anyway, aren’t you?”

“This boy is only five years younger than Keira Knightley. She wasn’t even eighteen when she filmed this, and they have her playing a bride. Meanwhile, this kid gets to be a preschooler. This movie is so messed up in so many ways.”

“Should we put on another movie then?”

“No. Why would we do that? Love Actually is a classic!”