First he had to put all his focus on the game tonight.
They were facing Nashville, a formidable opponent and one of the other teams in their division fighting for the title. Tyler needed to be on top of his game, because this was a must win. There were only three games left in the regular season schedule and they were neck and neck with Nashville. It was going to come down to these last few games. The Ice needed to win two more games, and Nashville needed to lose two of them for the Ice to win the division, and that’s only if they beat Nashville tonight.
They’d had grueling practice all day today, the coach putting them through their paces. He wasn’t going to accept any mistakes tonight. None of them would accept stupid mistakes. They were too far into the season and the end goal was in sight. They had to win.
By game time, he cleared his head and took the ice, his teammates as pumped as he was. He looked to the left where the seats were when he came out onto the rubber pads leading to the box, wishing Jenna were here tonight. But it was a work night for her and her assistant manager was sick, so despite him asking her to come to the game, she couldn’t get away.
Probably better this way. He could concentrate on the game and not Jenna sitting in the front row watching him.
This was too important a game to let anything distract him.
He skated out onto the ice, his heart pounding. He’d never played on a winning team before, had never made the playoffs. It was so close he could taste victory.
“TY HAS NO IDEA ABOUT THIS BIRTHDAY PARTY, DOES he?” Tara asked as she put the finishing touches on the tables.
“No clue. He’s so nervous about the game tonight I’m not sure he even remembers it’s his birthday today.”
Mick laughed as he helped Tara spread out a tablecloth. “Nothing matters when the game’s on the line. He’s lucky if he can remember his own name right now.”
Jenna surveyed the private room that Tara had so generously offered to decorate. They couldn’t close the bar tonight—with the Ice so close to making the playoffs, her regulars would be disappointed not to be able to watch the game with all their friends, and it would be bad for business. But she did shut off the private room so they could set up for the party she intended to have for Ty’s birthday.
He promised her he’d come to the bar right after the game. And just in case they lost and Ty felt shitty about it, intending to drown his sorrows alone, she’d given a heads up to Eddie and Victor that today was Ty’s birthday and she was throwing him a surprise party. The guys told her they’d make sure Ty came to the party, even agreed to delay his arrival to allow his teammates to get there before he did.
Everything was ready. Tara had done an incredible job setting up the room with balloons in the Ice’s blue and white team colors with matching table decorations to reflect the hockey theme she’d chosen. There were miniature pucks and hockey stick drink stirrers, plenty to drink, and a lot of food because she knew the players would be hungry. Tara had worked with a cake decorator and had a hockey stick cake made. It was awesome.
Her parents and brothers would be coming in, along with all Ty’s friends. She even had an ice sculpture of a hockey player staying cool in the freezer. She hoped to God the team won tonight or it would be one hell of a somber birthday celebration.
She hurried out to tend to her customers while Tara tended to the decorations. Since baseball season had started, Gavin was home again and in town, but he didn’t have a game today so he showed up with Liz and Jenna’s parents. Jenna barely had time to wave at them when they came in because the bar was packed with fans who were glued to the screens, watching the game and ordering beer like they hadn’t had anything to drink in a week.
Fortunately her dad seemed eager to get behind the bar and help serve drinks, something she was glad to have him do. She needed as many extra hands as she could get. Her mom disappeared into the kitchen and helped out with the food orders, much to Malcolm’s relief, so they had a smooth operation going. Dad served the bar patrons while Jenna filled the waitress’s orders. They were going to do a hell of a lot of business tonight judging from the number of times her waitresses came running back to her with requests for more drinks. And if the Ice won, she might be calling quite a few taxis for some of her patrons.