The Day Has Come (Counting on Hockey #4)

Chapter 6: Game Off

"Miss Lina Carlton. I give you the honor of wearing my away jersey tonight", Cole speaks out through his locker room. Family time is still allowed right now before the guys have to get dressed for a game. I took the game off to sit with Lina in the stands. She's meeting her friend, Mason, in a few minutes, and I'm taking her up to the lobby so I can make sure she find her way.

Lina runs up to Cole for a hug, then after, takes the jersey from his hands and puts it over her head. It's even bigger on her than it is on me, though she is close to my height. The white jersey sleeves fall over her hands, so she asks me to help her roll up the sleeves. She goes back to Cole and gives him another hug.

A few minutes later, Lina gets a text on her phone. She looks up at me. "Mason's in the lobby", she says, then realized that Cole heard that.

"Who?" Cole asks, protectively.

"Uh, no one. She heard about a celebrity here at the game", I give Cole a quick kiss as Lina runs towards the door. "I love you. Kick a$$ tonight".

I run after Lina and catch up as we go through the tunnels. "Lina, that was close. You can't do that", I laugh.

She looks back at me. "I know, I'm sorry".

I lead Lina up to the lobby to meet with Mason. She looks around frantically, then receives another text. "He's in the souvenir shop. Let's go".

Lina grabs my hand and pulls me towards the shop at the opposite end of the stadium, following the signs.

"There he is". Lina pulls on my hand harder as she spot the teen-aged boy in the store. He has a Wild jersey in his hand, and he's talking to an older woman, who he kind of looks like, his mother.

"Hey, Mason", Lina says to him. He turns around and give her a quick hug. I stand a few feet behind him, and his mother looks at me for a quick second. Questioning how I could ever be related to Lina.

I walk over to her. "Hi, I'm Meredith. I'm Lina's cousin's girlfriend. You must be Mason's mom?"

She shakes my hand. The woman smiles. "Hello, I'm Linda. What brings you guys all the way from Maine to a Wild game?"

"Oh, it's actually just Lina that lives in Massachusetts right now. Her cousin is on the Wild team. Him and I live out here".

"Oh, that's super cool. Who's the player?"

I happen to look down at jersey Mason had wanted to buy in his mother's hand. "Oh, it's Cole Anderson", I say.

"Well, that's really cool. He's Mason's favorite player, actually".

"Oh my goodness, that's so wicked cool. What brings you guys here? Is it just the game?"

"Yes, the Wild is his favorite team. It's his birthday present this year. He just turned fifteen".

"Come on, come on, come on", Lina pulls on my hand. "The game's going to start soon".

Linda goes up to the counter and starts to pay for the jersey for Mason. I walk over and show the cashier my work ID, giving Linda a discount. She gives Mason the jersey and he puts it on, matching Lina with the Anderson jerseys.

"Where are your tickets?" Linda asks me. "I have section thirty four".

"Section twenty four. Your seats should be pretty close to ours though, only about ten rows behind ours".

"Okay then. I'm sure the kids will be texting during the game, but how about we go for dinner after? Any dinner suggestions?"

I give her a few ideas as we get into the rink. I show Lina over to our seats and Linda and Mason find their own. We're in the third row from the ice, and the Wild will shoot to the goal in front of us for two of the three periods. Lina immediately sits down and starts to tap away on her phone, texting Mason. I roll my eyes a little.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Here from Denver. The Colorado Avalanche", our announcer, Elliot, calls through the stadium through the speakers. Few people in the crowd cheer, and others just boo. The Avalanche skate around the ice, then onto their bench. "Minnesota fans, your Wild". The crowd cheers up. They scream and cheer. Lina jumps up from her seat, almost throwing her phone, and the team skates around the ice.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the game, which we lose in overtime 4-3. Lina runs over to Mason, giving him a hug to say goodbye, then comes back to me, and we head down to the locker room. I use my Wild ID to take a shortcut through the basement and up again to the locker room. Lina follows behind me, oblivious to where we're actually going. Her eyes are glued to the screen on her phone, texting Mason.

We wait in the hallway for about 25 minutes until the door opens and the families are allowed into the locker room. I give Cole a kiss, and when he looks to Lina for some response, her nose is still in her phone.

"Who you texting?" Cole asks Lina.

Without looking up from her phone, "Mason", she says nonchalantly.

Cole looks at me with wide eyes. "Who's Mason?"

"A boy I met last night at that club place. He was here at the game tonight". As soon as Lina finished, she stopped and looked up with a horrified look on her face. "Uh oh", I hear her mutter.

Cole looks back at me. "What is she talking about?" He seems to be more over protective than mad.

"Well, while we were at that dance club last night, she might have been asked to dance by a boy, and they've been texting ever since", I wince a little.

"Did he come to the game? Is that who she was talking about earlier?"

"Yes", Lina cuts in. "He lives in Ohio, it's for his birthday. The game, I mean. You're his favorite player on the team".

"Okay", Cole takes a breath. "How about we meet him? If I really am his favorite player, then I would be happy to meet a fan, especially if it's for his birthday".