“This is awesome,” I giggle, but Shelli’s eyes are huge, almost as if she’s seen a ghost. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Shitty calls,” she says quickly, and then she’s on her phone.
I’m not sure what is wrong with her, but when I look back at the ice, Chandler has the puck. He moves it up the ice, and when he hits the center, he passes it up to one of his forwards, who takes it in. He goes to the blue line right as it’s passed to him, but he redirects it to his partner, who shoots. He misses, though. The puck goes up the side to one of the Wild’s players, who goes to pass it up, but Chandler is there, cutting him off. He shoots, but the goalie bats it away. Another IceCat grabs it, passing it back. It’s passed to another player at the blue line, while Chandler stands in front of the goalie with his massive self.
The player shoots, and somehow Chandler redirects it into the back of the net.
“Ah! He scored!” I scream, standing up and cheering.
But Shelli doesn’t stand.
I ignore her as I cheer and dance. After the goal song stops, I sit down beside her, adrenaline coursing through my body in excitement for Chandler. I glance over at her and bump my shoulder into hers. “Shell, what’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. Just had to answer an email. Chandler scored. That’s awesome. Woo-hoo! Go Moon!”
She’s lying to me. I don’t know why, but she is. For the rest of the game, Shelli sits quietly beside me. It’s so unlike her. She is always the loudest and craziest at games. She takes after my aunt Elli. Shelli’s subdued behavior makes me uneasy, but I figure she’ll tell me later. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to ruin my immense enjoyment of the game.
The IceCats win 3-1 with an empty-netter as the game winner. As we walk through the crowd toward the elevators where Chandler told me to go, I glance over at Shelli, who looks as if she wants to leave. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she says, waving me off. “Can we wait for him in the car?”
I laugh. “No, I want to see him. Plus, he gave us these awesome access stickers with his name on them. We can’t go to the car. That’s crazy.”
“It might be busy down there.”
“Shelli, I’m shocked you’re suggesting this. You live to see other arenas. Come on. Did you get into a fight with Nico?”
“No, it’s not that. I just want to go to the car, and I want you to go with me.”
“We can go after we see Chandler, okay?”
She bites her lip, looking extremely nervous. I don’t get it, and it doesn’t seem as if she is going to tell me what’s wrong. “I just don’t think we should go down there.”
I look over at her as the elevator dings open. “Why?”
“I just want to go to the car. He’ll understand.”
I step onto the elevator. “Go. I’ll meet you there.”
She groans loudly as she gets on. “Whatever.”
As the doors close, I ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay, whatever.”
The ride down is quick, and after our passes are verified, we head to the spot for family and friends. It’s a roped-off section so that people are out of the way of the crew that is cleaning and putting equipment away, and it’s a little ways down from the locker rooms. The players have to pass by it to get out to their parking lot or to where the opposing team’s bus is waiting. Our plan was to ride with Chandler to my car so Shelli could take it home. I glance over at her, and she’s rocking back and forth nervously.
“Shelli, what the hell?”
She looks at me and shakes her head, but before she can utter a word, I hear a voice I never wanted to hear again for the rest of my life.
“Amelia?”
Fear explodes in my stomach as I look to my left where his voice came from. His brows are drawn together almost in disbelief.
Drew.
Everything goes cold. My heart stops, and I feel light-headed as he asks, “Amelia, is that you? What are you doing here?”
From beside me, Shelli says, “Fuck. This is why I didn’t want to come down here. Hold my purse.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chandler
The goal I got was lucky as all hell, but I’m excited Amelia got to see it. I didn’t see her in the stands; I couldn’t remember where the seats I got her were, but knowing she was there made me play better. Or at least, that’s what I think—I don’t know. It was a good game. A goal, an assist, and one hell of a hit. It was a great night, and I’m ready to keep that going. Just knowing Amelia is waiting for me has me all giddy inside. When Lana used to wait for me, she was usually bragging to the other girls about whatever she made me buy her. She wouldn’t be excited to see me because I was her husband. No, it was because I would take her out to a fancy dinner or something. I know Amelia won’t be like that. She’ll be happy to see me.