“Yeah, it’s okay.”
Duncan knew that probably meant it was killer and mega-expensive. “So when d’you think you’ll move?”
“Looking at April first.”
“Okay.” He paused. “You’ll still be settling in when the playoffs start.”
“Yeah. Assuming we make the playoffs.”
“Shut the fuck up. We are making the playoffs.”
“Glad you’re so positive.”
“Come on. You have to be positive. You of all people. You believe in us, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Hell yeah. But at this point, so much is riding on how other teams do. I fucking hate that.”
“I know. Me too. But we got ourselves in this hole early in the year.”
“All we can do is play our best. The rest is up to the hockey gods.”
“Not sure I believe in the hockey gods. But you’re right. We can’t control anyone else’s play. Just ours.” Duncan shook his head. “Even if we make the playoffs, we won’t have Ronner and Hallsy.”
“They’re bringing up Baumgartner from Rockford. The rest of us just have to step up. We can do it.”
Duncan liked the confidence in Duper’s voice. Thank fuck. For a minute there earlier he’d been worried that Duper had given up on them. If the captain didn’t believe in them, who else was going to?
However, his point about where they finished the season in the standings was well taken. They still had a shot at making the playoffs, but they had to work their asses off and hope that St. Louis lost a few. Wishing for another team to lose really sucked.
—
The Aces Foundation jumped on Duncan’s idea and quickly organized a Saturday afternoon game of shinny at a local outdoor rink. The players were all happy to participate, and the Aces Ladies, the charitable organization run by the wives and girlfriends of players, got involved too, volunteering to serve hot chocolate and donuts to people who came out. A donation to cancer research was the “entry fee.” The media were contacted and word quickly got out. Max and Ariana’s story was heartbreaking, and the turnout at the event was crazy.
Fortunately, the weather cooperated with sunny skies and relatively mild temperatures. Playing outside brought back lots of childhood memories for Duncan and it was fun at the same time as doing something positive.
And Amber was there. She’d wanted to be involved too, so there she was handing out cups of coffee and hot chocolate with a big smile, a knit hat pulled over her hair, a big scarf at her throat, and thick mitts on her hands. He watched her laughing with Lovey and their new D’man Andrew Ross’s girlfriend, Jenna, then turned his attention back to the kid in front of him who wanted his Aces ball cap signed. Duncan scrawled his signature and added the little number 33 beneath it.
“Thank you.” The kid gave him big eyes.
Duncan grinned. “You’re welcome.”
The boy and his dad moved on and Duncan turned to the next ones in line—two women in their early twenties with jerseys they wanted autographed. He smiled at them, but kept it carefully unflirtatious as they giggled and fluttered their eyelashes at him. “There you go.”
“Thank you,” one of them said breathlessly. “I’m such a big fan of yours.”
“Oh yeah? Thanks, appreciate it. And thanks for coming today.”
“That is so tragic about Max Hall’s wife,” the other girl said, her smile disappearing and her eyes filling with tears. “It just breaks my heart.”
“Yeah.” Christ, what was he supposed to say to that? “We’re all pretty devastated about it.”
He managed to get them to move along, since there were others lined up waiting for autographs. Modi from the Aces Communications staff was also keeping things moving, and soon made an announcement that the players would be around for only five more minutes. Of course Duncan and Duper stayed longer than that until Modi practically shoved them toward the warming tent that had been set up for the players. As Duncan moved inside, he caught a glimpse of Amber, Lovey, and Jenna posing for a photograph. Amber beamed that big, beautiful smile at the camera, making it look completely natural.
It had been a good day. He hoped they’d raised a lot of money. The best thing was, Hallsy knew it was going on and that they’d all gotten together to do this in support of him and his wife and what they were going through. Duncan hadn’t expected Hallsy to show up, but he’d made a brief appearance to say hi and to thank them, which was totally a class move. The guy looked tired but determined. He didn’t say much about Ariana other than she was staying positive and fighting hard.
Fuck. A fight she couldn’t win.
“Miracles can happen,” Amber told him softly later that night in his bed when he told her about talking to Hallsy. “We can still hope.”
“Christ. I can’t even imagine how they keep going.”
“You do what you have to do.”
“Thanks for coming and helping out.”