Our Overtime: Ice League Book 1 (The Ice League Series)

I stared at the droplets of water running down my glass of Moscato. I couldn’t walk back in that rink… and I couldn’t just leave my child here. I did actually think about calling Kevin to come watch Canyon and take my place, but I was done looking to him for help. He’d just end up using the situation against me… and I knew in the back of my mind he wouldn’t let Canyon play on this team under any circumstances if he knew that Greyson Scott was the coach. He’d 100 percent remember that name. Actually, calling Kevin here would probably end the tryout and bring hell down on me.

So, I was in the rink’s bar. At 1 pm. During my son’s tryout. Jeez, what was wrong with me? Where had my confidence gone?

The bar here had been renamed plenty of times over the years, but the current owners must’ve been around when I was growing up because they gave it back its original name of Benny’s Box.

I always loved Benny’s, it had a small town, cozy feel to it. Coming back to it after all these years, it still felt and looked the same- with signed hockey pictures and jerseys plastered all over the brick walls and Christmas lights hung up in disarray all year round. The new owners seemed to keep tradition as well with the signatures of patrons- it was tradition to sign the bar- in any place, anywhere. The bar counter and walls probably donned the youth signatures of hundreds of NHL-ers who’d stopped through here at some point in their careers.

I put my head down and massaged my temples with my fingertips.

“Doin’ alright, hun?” The bartender asked in a tone that was way too peppy for my current mood. I wanted the dull waiter who served me my wine to come back.

I mumbled a reply to her, but when she didn’t leave, I looked up.

Jesus. Today was apparently the day for fricken reunions.

“Paige?”

She looked at me excitedly, waiting for me to speak more.

I stared at her dumbfounded. I hadn’t seen her in nearly a decade either. She looked more or less the same, with maybe ten more pounds on her, but her bleached, long blonde hair was still styled the same way, curled and running past her boobs, and she still wore too much eye makeup. She sported an antique Benny’s Box t-shirt.

“Hey, girly!” She bounced up like an excited little kid. “Max texted me you were here! I am so excited to see you! How are you?!”

I still stared at her in complete shock. How was it that time had kept going by, but it felt like nothing changed when I saw her?

“What are you doing here?”

“My lover,” she rolled her eyes, “and I own this bar!”

“You and Max?” I asked.

“Yes, girly!” She gave a wide grin, “We put it back to its former glory, just like when we were kids! You like?!”

I gave her a confused look, “I- I thought…” I cleared my throat. She was being so nice to me. “I figured you wouldn’t like me?”

“And why the hell not?!” She rolled her eyes. “A lot went wrong and we never got your side of the story.”

I felt my mouth open, but I couldn’t seem to find the right words to begin.

“We never got Grey’s side either though,” she added quietly. “He just shut down completely after you were gone. We had no idea what happened.” She gave me an expectant look, like she wanted my story. I couldn’t tell her though. Not here, not right now. If I told her, she’d tell Max, and then Grey would hear my words… I was not ready for that. No way was I ready. Maybe I’d never be?

I couldn’t help but replay her words though… Grey had shut down? Why? He was the one who chose to leave me and shoot into stardom on his own. I had to push thoughts of him from my head.

Instead, I offered her the obvious, “I have a son.”

She clasped her hands together and bounced again, “I’m an Aunty!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, only Paige would be this excited over my son and would overlook almost a decade of complete silence on my end. Tears threatened to come to my eyes for the second time today. I didn’t really have any friends. I hadn’t really trusted anyone since I had Canyon. It was always me and Canyon against everyone… Kevin was in our lives, but more often than not, we were in a silent agreement against him too. Paige had been dating Max since high school, so she’d known Grey and I for that long as well. She was probably still Grey’s friend… but she’d been mine for a time too. A really good one.

“Do you want to see a picture?” I asked hesitantly, fumbling with my phone to pick out a cute shot of him.

I showed her his freckled missing-tooth cuteness.

“Oh my God, he looks just like you Jules,” she said while studying the picture. “Even down to those little freckles! And those baby blues! Your boy’s gonna be a heart-breaker, I can just tell.”

“He is a cutie, isn’t he? He’s actually out on the ice right now.” I thought about saying I’d introduce him to her… but I was still a bit unsure of this situation.

“Max said he’s a little super-star out there,” she winked at me. “Got the inside scoop from my boy already.”

“You and Max, still going strong?”

“I mean, you could say that I guess. I think we’re one of those couples that will never get married. We’re trying to start a family, but we’ve been having trouble.”

I was surprised with how open she was with me, then again, she was always an open book, unlike myself. I remember always admiring her for her ability to be like that.

“I’m sorry,” I told her.

“I don’t want to focus on the sad stuff though, I want to hear about you! You a high-end mama driving around a Range Rover these days or what?” She asked. I couldn’t help but laugh that she’d remember what we joked about so long ago- that we’d be cool lulu wearing, mimosa sipping, Range Rover driving moms of little athletes together.

I hesitated, I wasn’t sure if I should play it off and pretend everything was perfect or if I should actually let her know just how glamorous my divorced ass was becoming. She’d been so real with me…

“Range Rover- yes… but only because I got it in the divorce settlement,” I said softly, looking down at my glass in front of me. “So recently single.” I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of shame saying this. I wasn’t shameful that things ended with Kevin. No, that thought brought me great joy. What shamed me was the fact that my baby didn’t have a good father figure because I knew deep down, I had married the wrong person. Neither of us married for love. And through our marriage Kevin had always been hyper critical and horrible to me. I drew the line when it came to treating Canyon with that cruelty. No one could talk to my boy that way. I honestly think he left because he became sick of being around me. And that was the perfect ending.

I looked back frequently wondering why I stayed with him through that hell, but I didn’t really have a choice. I had to forgive myself for being young and naïve at the time.

I looked up at Paige to find her staring down at me with her mouth in a perfect o.

“Well,” she said slowly. “Maybe your ex just wasn’t the one?”

A picture of Grey came to mind when she said ‘the one.’ As per usual. It happened every time and it never hurt any less. I took in a breath and snorted, “Kevin definitely wasn’t, I knew that at the start. I shouldn’t have ever married him. It was kind of forced on me and at the time I was practically a space cadet. I kind of blacked out of life,” I snorted.

That was the first time I’d said that out loud. I kind of shocked myself with my candid honesty. Maybe I finally needed to speak the truth.

But when Paige looked at me with sympathy, I hated it. I shouldn’t have let the truth slip out. She nodded slowly, “Things happen for a reason, I guess.”

They did. That was something I wholeheartedly agreed with. Because without Kevin there would be no Canyon, and my little troublemaker completed my world.

“So, are you hard-core single or dating these days?” She asked with a mischievous smile, trying to lighten the mood.

I mulled it over. I hadn’t put too much thought into that question yet.

“Honestly, I want to be single, but then again, it can get lonely and I do get jealous when I see Kevin with his leggy bimbo… but not over him,” I added quickly. “Just over being with someone, ya know? But I don’t feel like I could trust anyone new anymore anyway.”

She gasped. “The ex cheated on you?”

I just nodded. I didn’t care anymore. I was actually happy ‘the other woman’ came around and convinced him to divorce me. It had been my only way out.

“What if it was someone you already trusted?” She questioned.

I gave her a shrug, not wanting to think about it too much, “It’s all good. It just sucks because I really wanted Canyon to have siblings.”

“Well, it’s definitely not too late! You had an early start! Look at me and Max, we’re just now trying to get started. You’re only what, like 29? 30? I would just… keep an open mind,” she finished, but looked like she wanted to say more. I remembered that look from our twenties and it made me smile knowing that I could still read her.

“What is it?” I asked.

“How long… um…” she looked down at the bar in her struggle for words.

“Just ask,” I urged. I had a feeling I knew what her question was going to be.

“I was trying to do the math, and in no way be like mean, but just… how long after Grey was your son born?”

I knew she didn’t mean to be offensive or accusing in any way. I’d been gone for a long time, but I knew deep down Paige wouldn’t ever want to hurt me. On top of being so nice she’d always been an on-the-girl’s-side kinda girl.

“It’s ok,” I played with the condensation on my wine glass again. “I’ve actually never talked with anyone about this past… He was conceived at the end of that summer.” I looked back up at her and took a deep breath, “It was an accident, if that’s what you wanted to know. And not with Grey,” I said weakly, internally wishing it was a lie.