Free Taking Charge by Mandy Baggot

half the
problem.”
    “Well, they lost the main sponsor, and then money was
short for wages and players, so people went elsewhere. We have a
great new guy, though, Henrik. He’s Swedish, I think.”
    “And how is the actual play on the ice? What sort of
a job has Grant been doing?” she asked.
    “The best he could with what he had to work with.
Eddie’s better, because he’s more vocal and he lives and breathes
the Panthers, but Grant’s done okay,” Bob told her.
    “Okay isn’t good enough, though, is it?” Robyn
remarked, looking out the window as the arena came into view.
    Driving into the parking lot of the arena was like
going back in time. She had seen her last Panthers match the night
before she left. She had stuffed herself full of hotdogs and
pickles, thinking she might never taste either again. They had
lost, her dad had almost burst a blood vessel shouting at the
players and, when they got home, her mother had finished
packing.
    “So, has the old place changed?” Bob asked as they
got out of the car.
    “It’s been painted,” Robyn remarked, looking up at
the building and putting her baseball cap on her head.
    “A few years ago now,” Bob said.
    “The sign’s the same, but where’s the ‘Home of the
Portage Panthers’ banner?” Robyn asked him.
    “Ah, went missing a while ago, probably kids,” Bob
admitted.
    “Well, it needs to be replaced. I’ll get it
replaced,” Robyn told him firmly.
    “Come on, let’s go and get you reacquainted with that
ice. You been on it in England?” Bob asked.
    She shook her head.
    It was weird being back. Just seeing the building she
had spent so many of her high school days in was making her heart
pump faster.
    “You know people still talk about the night you
knocked out that girl from the Grand Rapids team. Best punch I ever
saw,” Bob told her with a laugh.
    “I got sent off, they had a five minute power play,
and we lost,” Robyn reminded him.
    “But it was worth it and she deserved it. Took out
Lindsay Jacobs and didn’t even get a warning,” Bob recalled.
    “I never really liked Lindsay Jacobs. Before the
Grand Rapids girl wiped her out, I was thinking about doing it
myself,” Robyn admitted.
     
     
    Getting his hockey things together had felt weird. He
hadn’t even thought about the game since he quit the Chicago
Wolves. He’d just got back on track before he found out about Bryn
and Veronica, and then he’d thrown in the towel again. But it had
seemed natural to say yes to Robyn. When he said he could play,
she’d assumed he would help her out, and it seemed natural for her
to assume. Perhaps that was what he needed right now.
    He parked the car and fondly rubbed the steering
wheel. The Mustang had been parked in the next bay when he’d got
back from the diner at lunchtime. That had to be something like
Fate.
    Now it was time to meet another team. Even though he
knew they’d look him up and down, meeting new people was a good
thing, he could start over. He grabbed his kit bag from the
passenger seat and noticed Robyn up ahead. She was wearing a
baseball cap, a Red Wings t-shirt, and jeans. He smiled and locked
the car.
    “Hey!” he called out.
     
     
    Robyn turned around and was met with the sight of
Cole running across the parking lot toward them.
    Why did he always look so hot? He was wearing jeans,
Converse tennis shoes, and a gray Chicago Wolves t-shirt. Robyn
felt something inside her lurch. It was obviously the huge
breakfast she’d eaten repeating on her. It couldn’t be anything
else. She didn’t know anything else. Apart from the crush thing. It
was just that Freddie Prinze Jr. in I Know What You Did Last Summer
thing.
    “Hey! Bob, this is Cole. Cole, this is my Uncle Bob.
Cole’s going to join the team. He played center for the Chicago
Wolves,” Robyn informed her uncle, quick to recover her senses.
    “Pleased to meet you, sir,” Cole greeted, holding his
hand out to him.
    “Hey there.”
    “You got