“Did you get my good side?” I asked.
“I think so,” she said. “Keep moving.”
I walked out onto the ice and shuffled to meet up with Reid, Matias, and Lay.
After a little bit, the entire team was on the ice, including Coach.
When he first saw all of us in the t-shirts, he paused and swallowed hard.
“Fuck, is Coach going to cry?” Lay whispered to me.
“Shut up, Lay,” I growled back.
Coach pointed at us. “This means a lot, guys. It means a lot to myself and my family. Especially Carrie. She planned on being here today to see this. But she…”
“Oh, Coach,” Lay called out.
He broke away from us and slid toward Coach.
“I’m so sorry,” Lay said.
Lay opened his arms to hug Coach.
“You’re an idiot, Lay,” Coach said. “Carrie is home. Resting. She’s not feeling well today.”
“Oh,” Lay said. “My bad.”
“Lay, get over here,” Remi barked.
Lay slid back toward us.
Coach took his place with the rest of us.
We all looked at Madison.
She lifted the camera up and then paused.
She looked like she was shaking.
“Excuse me one second,” she said.
She turned away.
My hands balled up into fists.
It was almost impossible to not rush to her aid.
After a few quiet seconds, she turned back around.
Smiling.
But it wasn’t a real smile.
“Here we go,” Madison called out.
She began to take pictures.
Once we were finished there, she told us to go get changed.