Face-Off With Fate: A Rink Romance | Book #1 of UM Hockey Series

fifty

Scarlett Redd☾

Coach and I spent a few hours at the rink talking about Chicago.

I never realized how much a complete stranger and I could have in common. His daughter really did look at me, he showed me a picture of her.

He seemed to feel just as lost as I was in life. We're all just trying to find a way to fit in without being afraid to show who we are.

Coach Colton said he met the love of his life back in Chicago, her name was Brenda. After getting married shortly after a year of knowing each other, they had two kids. Unfortunately, after his daughter passed, so did Brenda, leaving coach and his son to be on their own for a while.

Back when he was playing in the NHL, he was playing an away game in Chicago, and after losing the worst game of their lives, the team went to a little bar.

Who would expect to meet their future wife at a bar on a random Thursday night? Not coach. He said he was smitten by her. He's never seen such beauty and a woman who can out-drink half a hockey team.

After losing his dear Brenda, he's spent years going back to that little bar to search for her.

He said that when his daughter died, she took a piece of heart. But when Brenda died, she took his whole heart.

Imagine your love being so strong that your significant other could never be with anyone again.

Years later, his son bought and owned the place and renamed it from John Daniel's to Brenda's Bar in her honour.

Some of his best memories were in Chicago.

Could that be my life?

Searching back in a little bar to feel an ounce of love that he found that night and for eternity?

Vincent gives me more than an ounce of love. He's given me a tremendous amount of love, and each and every day my heart grows closer to his.

Could my best memories be in Chicago?

It could be the start of something new.

Vincent and Scarlett.

Scarlett and Vincent.

Just two individuals who love one another and could become one.

My memories here are pretty shattered this year. If anything, I've never felt lonelier in my own town.

It doesn't feel like home. It hasn't been for a while.

Coach said that home wasn't a physical place, but a place where the heart can rest. I thought about everything Vincent and I have been through and it just felt like we've overcome so much to get where we are right now.

Did we want to throw that away?

After finishing skating, I drove around for a while until I ended up at the diner. I got myself my usual and just watched as people came in and out.

It was a quiet night there, so I spent some time alone watching new faces, and some old ones.

The diner felt unusual at those hours.

I went home afterwards, and nobody was there. Is that what my future would be?

Empty and alone. The darkness overtakes any light that shined in through the windows, and I felt scared.

I think I might know what I'm going to decide on.

I'll go see Vincent in the morning, and finally be mature enough to talk to him... and return his car.