Zambonis and Mistletoe

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2

Rylee had enough time to run home, shower, and catch a quick nap before tonight’s game. It was too quiet in the house and she hadn’t slept very well. A few months ago Paige had moved in with Tyler, and Gram moved into a retirement village about a month ago. The house had just felt so empty since.

She still wasn’t used to the pure quiet.

Her head was heavy as she sat at the kitchen table nursing a hot cup of coffee, hoping it would help wake her up. Filling in on the night shift last night was a bad idea. She wasn’t used to those hours, and she wasn’t likely to offer so quickly again. Sleeping the rest of the day sounded like a great idea, but Paige had convinced her to go to the Renegades game with her.

Because she worked for the team, Paige always had seats in the team suite. At least Rylee was comfortable—and spoiled—since there was catering and a bartender there.

But after three periods, the Renegades could not pull out a win. They lost 6–0 to St. Louis. The last two games she’d gone to they’d lost as well, so she was starting to think she was a jinx.

There really was no hope for her; they should ban her from any more Pittsburgh Renegades games. Considering her best friend was dating the team’s captain, it just could actually happen. Hockey players were very superstitious, so she’d heard. She groaned at the thought of being their “bad-luck charm”.

“Well, that sure didn’t go the way they planned.” Paige whined. “C’mon, we’re supposed to meet Tyler downstairs.”

“Don’t you have to be in the locker room managing the media folks?”

“Not tonight. My boss, Melanie is handling it since I invited you tonight. She’s awesome like that. And since it was a pretty bad game, she’ll probably limit all media interviews, so it’ll be quick. Maybe not painless for Tyler and the boys, but quick nonetheless. Let’s hurry down there so we can meet up with him.”

“Can I at least bring my drink?” Rylee motioned to her mostly full plastic cup of beer.

“Yeah, for now. Tyler is taking us behind the bench. It’s really cool; you’ll love it!”

“If you say so.” Rylee said flatly.

They waited for Tyler outside the locker room and it wasn’t long before he appeared. Dressed in his post-game suit, he looked dapper.

“Hey Rylee. What did you think of the game? Well, besides the fact that we lost?” Tyler’s smile faded, but only a little as he grabbed Paige around the waist. He never seemed to stop smiling when he was with her.

“I liked watching it from the team suite, that’s for sure.” Rylee smiled. She was tired, but the beer she just finished finally was making her happy.

“I cannot wait to show you what the arena looks like from center ice. It’s so amazing.”

“Let’s go, ladies.” Moving out of the way Tyler ushered them down a small hallway. “This leads to the bench. Wait for me and we’ll go out to center ice.”

Christmas music still played over the loudspeakers, but once she reached the bench she could see there was no one remaining in the stands. It was oddly peaceful and somewhat eerie.

Paige looked so excited to show Rylee her and Tyler’s world, so she was going along with it, against her better judgment. That would teach her.

“So this is our worl—” Before Tyler had finished his sentence, she stepped on to the ice. Immediately, her feet slid out from underneath her, flying up into the air and Rylee landed on her backside on the ice. Her a*s ached from the hard frozen surface that caught her fall, not to mention her pride was bruised as well, but her ankle was in serious pain.

***

Rylee stared up at the bright white lights and winced in pain. Christmas music still played through the speakers, but all the commotion around her made it hard to hear. How could I be such a klutz?

She could faintly hear people talking in the hallway. Then Paige walked into the room. “Hey there superstar, how are you doing?” Her cheerful grin was not appreciated. She was always happy these days, happy and perky and cute. She was in love. Rylee was happy for her and Tyler, but did she have to rub it in?

Glaring up at her, Rylee grunted. “About as good as I look.” She’d gotten all dolled up for this game; she’d curled her auburn hair and worn her Tyler Kidd jersey—it was new of course, since Tyler had just bought it for her. He was determined to make her a hockey fanatic, and was slowly succeeding. She’d only watched baseball while she’d been taking care of Gram. At least she’d felt like she’d been taking care of Gram.

Apparently Gram was fine on her own, and she’d only humored Rylee, since she “didn’t have much of a life”. Well, that is exactly how Gram put it when she moved in to the retirement village. “Now you can go get yourself a life Rylee; you don’t need to be fussing after this old lady.” The truth was she’d liked fussing over Gram, especially since Pap had died. Having someone to care for gave her purpose.

She missed Paige, too. They’d lived together since they were young, and without her at home Rylee didn’t know what to do with herself. No more midnight talks over sweet treats, no more sneaking in after a late night.

“Well, you look pretty damn hot up here on the examining table.” Paige giggled and pushed her a*s onto the cold table to sit beside Rylee. They were in the players’ medical room. She admittedly did look good in her jersey, her tight black stretch pants, and the knee high black canvas sneakers that Paige convinced her to buy because she said they looked cuter than her usual black Chuck Taylors. Right now though, she had one of those shoes off, and it was lying on the floor with her sock. But even her toes looked adorable, with the pretty pale pink nail polish on them.

“What did I tell you?” Paige pointed to her toenails, lightly brushing against her leg. “You are head to toe cute.”

“Hey! Watch it!” Rylee yelled. Her ankle hurt so badly even the light touch made her flinch. She just wanted to go home, but the team doctor was talking to the owner now.

Looking down at her swollen ankle, she frowned at the tattoo on her foot. The pink and purple stars looked misshapen and bloated due to her foot starting to swell. This could only happen to me.

“Oh hush,” Paige said to her and smiled. “Next time, wait for them to put the rug down on the ice, okay?”

Paige had on the most horrid Christmas sweater she’d ever seen. Tonight was “ugly sweater” night at the arena. She didn’t think anyone actually wore them to the game, so she hadn’t even looked for one to wear.

“Thanks for telling me now.” She growled. Paige knew team protocol. Would it have hurt to give me a head’s up to wait for the carpet? She was grumpy and her leg hurt. But she knew snapping at Paige was unnecessary so she kept her thoughts quiet.

“Well Tyler did tell you to wait, but you went ahead before he could warn you,” Paige argued.

Stupid ice. She really hated ice. What was she thinking? She hated ice outside, so what would make her think she would like it inside a building? It was unnatural. The players made it look easy, gliding and skating backwards, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

“Hey Rylee.” Tyler entered the exam room, smiling sympathetically at her. “How are you doing?” His wavy hair always looked shaggy like it desperately needed a cut, hazel eyes that would make any girl swoon, and he had one hell of a muscular body. Not that she was looking.

“Don’t ask…” Paige quickly chimed in, holding her hands up. “She’s just lucky she didn’t hit her head,” she added, ignoring the look of death from Rylee.

Paige rambled on about how Rylee could have smacked her head on the ice and cracked it open, or gotten a concussion or something like that, but Rylee had stopped listening. Paige was probably more worried about the publicity and all the backlash she’d have to work through. No, that wasn’t true. Paige was like a sister to her, and it was probably just the pain making her have these thoughts.

Tyler sighed. “I’m so sorry Rylee. I feel really bad…” He was rubbing the back of his neck nervously, his brown hair falling into his eyes. He never cut his hair mid-season; it was bad luck or something. He brushed it away as the team doctor returned to the room with another man.

A tall, dark and handsome man.

“Rylee, this is Nick Talon, our General Manager.” Tyler introduced.

Rylee’s heart skittered in her chest. The music that played over the speakers seemed to get louder, as if someone had turned it up. A new song started, full of sleigh bells and verses about jolly Saint Nick. No one else flinched at the louder music.

A young man who looked maybe to be about her age, with dark hair and olive skin approached her. He was dressed in a dark colored suit with a gray dress shirt, and a Renegades tie like the coach always wore. He smiled and mussed his dark hair, pushing it away from his chocolate brown eyes. He extended his hand to Rylee. She swore she could see twinkling around him, and shook her head to clear it. Maybe she did have a concussion?

“Ms. Davis, very nice to meet you. Too bad it’s not under better conditions.” He held her hand for a moment too long, eventually pulling away. Even lying here in pain she noticed he was checking her out.

This night just keeps getting weirder.

“Hello, nice to meet you too, Mr. Talon.” She winced as the intense pain that shot through her ankle when she adjusted herself in more of a sitting up position. “By the way, my Gram is Ms. Davis.” She flashed a smile through the excruciating pain. “Please call me Rylee.” Am I flirting? Oh hell, the pain must’ve gone to her brain. As she shook her head she noticed Paige shoot her a grin. Yep, it was that obvious. I’m pathetic.

She hated when patients flirted with her, so this must really be annoying to him, especially since she undoubtedly looked like a lawsuit waiting to happen. He probably hoped that since her best friend was dating Tyler, he could make this go away. But Rylee didn’t want special treatment; she just wanted to go home. She could get this checked out at the hospital when she went to work.

Still, she couldn’t help watching his dark eyes. They were mesmerizing. It had been too long since she’d been in a relationship, and also the pain was making her loopy, which she was sure was why she saw stars. Normally she wouldn’t flirt either. Nick was very attractive, so attractive in fact, that she knew there was no way a man like him would give her a second look.

“Okay then, Rylee. I was talking to our team doctor, and it seems you have a pretty nasty sprained ankle. I feel really bad about it,” Nick said. He reached for her hand again, holding it this time.

“It was my dumb a*s fault…” Rylee started. “I shouldn’t have been anywhere near the ice—”

“No.” Nick waved his hand. “This is my team and my arena. I take full responsibility. Anything you need, let me know. And if you incur any additional medical bills, please forward them to me. We will take care of it all.” He smiled at her, and as he looked down at her shoe on the ground, then to her swollen foot, his eyes stopped on her pink toenails and the stars tattooed on her foot. “That’s pretty swollen. Are you going to be able to get that shoe back on?”

She didn’t think that the high shoe looked like it was going to fit over her swollen ankle.

“No, she’s not,” the team doctor said. “I’m going to wrap her ankle, and give her crutches to take home; they will help her stay off of the sprain. I would like her to get another x-ray tomorrow after some of the swelling goes down.” He turned to Rylee. “I’ll make an appointment for you to get the x-ray done, okay? In the meantime, stay off it.” The doctor grabbed an elastic bandage and started to wrap her foot and ankle.

“Okay. But I don’t need you to do all that. I work at a hospital and I would just rather go there.”

“No can do, Miss. You need to see one of our doctors.”

Rylee laid her head back down onto the table and let out a heavy sigh. It wasn’t worth the fight right now. “Whatever. Just tell me who I need to see and when.” This whole ordeal has been humiliating and I just want to get home.

The music seemed to become lower again, and a new song was on. Seriously, maybe she was hearing things? She looked over at Tyler and Paige. “So I guess you two will be showing up for unannounced visits more often now, huh?” Knowing Paige, she would be making sure she was resting. Rylee hated to sit still, so this was going to be almost impossible. But she had to admit she didn’t hate the idea of company in that quiet house.

Nick looked at Tyler. “Oh, you live close by?”

“Well, we don’t live far from her. Close enough for us to drop in, so, yes Rylee, we will check in on you, don’t worry,” Tyler said. “Anything you need, you just let us know.”

Nick nodded and looked at his watch. “I really need to go. My apologies for rushing out of here. Rylee, please call me if you need anything.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out his business card, then grabbed a pen off of the counter and scribbled something on the back. “Here’s my number, please, I hope you don’t hesitate to call.” He looked back at Rylee, flashed a soft smile, nodded at Tyler and the staff, then hurried out of the room.