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Ford replayed the clip. “If they score, the next puck still matters. You don’t get the goal back by chasing the next shot. Find your posts. Check your sightline. Make the save in front of you.”

Halsey’s expression settled. He watched the play finish, then rewound it to the rotation he’d missed the first time.

Cole appeared in the doorway with his duffel over one shoulder. Most of the team was already on the bus. He didn’t interrupt, but Ford felt his attention from across the room and lost the next thing he meant to say.

Halsey closed the laptop. “I should go.”

Ford looked at the time in the corner of the screen. “Review the last four clips on the bus. Then stop. I don’t want you staring at Rockford until every red sweater looks dangerous.”

Halsey stood and tucked the laptop under his arm. He hesitated beside Ford before offering his fist. Ford bumped it.

“Good luck tomorrow,” Halsey said.

“You too.”

Cole moved aside to let him pass. Halsey said something too low for Ford to hear, and Cole answered with a hand briefly gripping the back of his neck. Then Halsey was gone, leaving Cole in the doorway.

“Deluca sent me to find him,” Cole said. “I’m pretty sure he knew I’d find you too.”

Ford shut down the laptop. “You should go before he comes looking himself.”

Cole let the duffel slide to the floor. “He can wait a minute.”

He crossed the room and stopped between Ford’s knees. Ford expected another question about the hospital. Instead, Cole cradled Ford’s face and kissed him.

Ford caught the back of Cole’s shirt and pulled him closer. The kiss started soft, but Cole made a rough sound against his mouth, and every careful part of it fell apart. Ford opened for him. Cole kissed him until Ford could feel the fear in the way Cole held him—one hand firm at his jaw, the other spread across his back as if Ford might disappear while he was gone.

Footsteps approached in the corridor. Ford heard them and kept kissing Cole. Whoever passed the video room didn’t stop.

Cole drew back first, breathing hard. His eyes moved over Ford’s face. “Everything’s set?”

“Nadine has the hospital information. She’s picking me up.”

Cole nodded, but his hand remained against Ford’s neck. “I should be the one taking you.”

Ford leaned into him and pressed his face against Cole’s chest. His heart beat hard beneath Ford’s ear. “I know.”

“If it were anything but a game⁠—”

“You’d be there.” Ford wrapped both arms around him. He didn’t remind Cole that the team needed him or insist the surgery was routine. None of that changed how much Ford wanted to wake up and find him there. “I’m going to hate that you’re not the first person I see afterward.”

Cole’s hold tightened until Ford’s next breath caught against his shirt. “Call me before they take you back.”

“I will. And Nadine will call when I’m out.”

“I don’t care if I’m in the middle of warm-ups.”

“She knows that too.”

Cole kissed Ford’s hair, then his temple, and finally his mouth again. This kiss was slower. It hurt more.

“Englund,” Deluca called from somewhere down the hall. “Bus.”

Cole breathed a laugh that held no humor. “There it is.”

Ford stood, keeping Cole close until they were chest to chest. “I love you.”

Cole pressed one last kiss to his mouth. “I love you too.”