Page 26 of Icebound Hearts
The next few minutes pass in a blur as the Falcons take advantage of us being down one of our best players to score another goal.
By the time Theo breaks out of the box and hits the ice again, absolutely fuming, the damage is done. They score on us once more, and although we play like hell and manage to hold them off after that, they’re so fired up from how they’re kicking our asses that we never sink another goal ourselves. The game ends 1-3, and I leave the ice with the rest of the Aces, feeling totally demoralized.
“So much for an easy win,” Theo grumbles and slams his helmet against the floor in the locker room while we’re getting undressed and showered. “I can’t fucking believe they gave me a penalty for that! It was fair play!”
We all know better than to argue with him when he’s heated, and it’s pretty obvious that none of us are really in the mood to talk after such a piss-poor performance, so we stay in our lanes and pile back onto the bus to head to the hotel.
When I’m back in my room, I flop on the bed with my phone and instinctively dial Violet. After that horrible game, I feel like she and Jake deserve an explanation.
“Hey,” she answers gingerly after a couple rings, and just hearing her voice eases some of the tension I’ve been carrying since I left the ice.
“Hey. How’s Jake doing?”
“He’s already asleep, actually. He was drifting off halfway through the game, so I tucked him in early. He’s out like a light.”
“Well, that’s a small relief. At least he didn’t have to watch the worst of the Aces getting our asses handed to us.”
Violet laughs and groans. “Yeah, that was painful to watch. I’m sorry. How are you holding up?”
I shrug as if she can see me. “I’m alright. It’s not the first game we’ve lost, and it won’t be the last. But it sure doesn’t feel good. I don’t really know what happened tonight. We started off strong, but we just kind of, I don’t know, got in our heads or something.”
“It happens sometimes. I knew something was up as soon as Theo cross-checked that one guy. He put his force into it.”
“Yeah, that was… not great,” I say, and we laugh together. “I think he was just pissed that he got shown up. But anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to sit and listen to a full debrief of the game. Did Jake behave for you tonight?”
“I don’t mind, honestly. And yeah, he was great, as usual. I made him some chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for dinner. No surprise, he tore it up.”
I laugh. “Sounds about right for a kid his age. But that’s probably what made him fall asleep early. He’s just like his dad in that way. I fall into a coma after I eat.”
“Good to know. I’ll keep that one in mind,” Violet says and I hear her phone vibrate with a notification and the rustle of her checking it while she keeps me on the line. “Shit,” she curses, and the line suddenly gets louder when she puts me on speaker.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just… it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about it. It’s just personal stuff.”
She’s not doing a great job at convincing me. It’s probably not any of my business, but I can’t help wondering. She sounded worried when she swore, not annoyed, and that concerns me.I don’t mean to make it all about Jake and me, but she is my nanny now, so if something’s going on with her, I want to know. And I want to help if I can.
“What is it? Whatever it is, you can tell me. No judgment here.”
“Hm.” She hesitates for several seconds, the line going quiet while she thinks it through, then finally sighs. “Alright. Just promise me you won’t tell Reese, okay?”
“Whatever you say stays between us. Guaranteed.”
“Okay, good. Um, look, there’s really no good or easy way to say this, but…”
She trails off, and I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure the call hasn’t dropped.Nope. Still there.
“You can tell me,” I urge, a trickle of concern sliding down my spine. “Like I said, no judgment.”
“Right.” She lets out a soft breath, then speaks in a rush. “I—I actually lost my job in Chicago several months ago.”
My eyes widen. That wasn’t what I was expecting her to say, although it does explain why she showed up in Denver so suddenly without notice. But I’m getting the sense there’s more to the story, so I stay quiet.
“I’d been looking all over for a new job in Chicago so I wouldn’t have to leave the city, but I couldn’t find one. So I had to come back here because I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I know it’s not great to lie to my brother about it, but Reese would make a huge thing out of it if he knew, so it’s just easier this way.”
“I see.” I nod thoughtfully, chewing over her words in my mind. “So the notification you just got was, what? An unexpected bill or something?”
“Uh, sort of. It was an overdraft notification. But everything’s fine, I’ll just move some money around to cover it and?—”