Page 141 of Ruin The Friendship
Coach stands at the head of the room in front of the whiteboard, and we all focus on him for a few minutes as he discusses things we can work on in the upcoming period and plays we can make.
Adam sits beside me, his sweat-dampened hair falling in his face. “We need to keep on Montonen. He’s getting sloppy as time goes on, less focused and making more aggressive plays, but it’s not working.”
“Agreed.” I sip from my water bottle. “He’s easy to rile up.”
We talk for a few more minutes. Even though we’rewinning, it would be easy for them to take over in the last period if we let them—but we’re not going to.
The last few minutes of intermission fly by as we all hype each other up for the last twenty minutes of the game. As we make our way back to the bench, I look up to the suite once more, finding it empty again. Did something happen? Should I have checked my phone during the break? I don’t usually do that, but with the impending due date, I should start.
Maybe they’re walking around.
Something feels off, though. I can’t exactly leave the bench to check my phone, but if they needed me, one of the girls would have gotten a message to Coach.
Calvin nudges me as the period starts, and we win possession of the puck in the face-off. “You good?”
“Where’d the girls go?” I tip my chin up to the suite. “They were gone at the end of last period, and they still aren’t back.”
He glances up. “Hm. I’m sure they’re shopping, or maybe Lydia was craving something besides popcorn for once, so they went out of the suite to get it. If they needed you, they’d come find you.”
“Right,” I mutter, not sure I agree. I turn my focus back to the game anyway.
We score again with five minutes left.
When I glance up at the suite again, and it’s still empty, I know something’s wrong.
During a pause in play, I lean back, getting Coach’s attention. “You haven’t heard anything from Lydia, right?”
“No, why?”
“She left the game, I think.”
“Once the game is done, go check your phone and do what you need to do,” he says.
His blessing is the only approval I need. I play one more shift, but my head isn’t in it. I know I should be more focused, but I feel it in my bones that something is up.
As soon as the final horn blares, I’m skating off the ice, ignoring the cheers of the crowd, not even giving Trigg a helmet tap or hug for a job well done. I run on my skates down the hall into the dressing room and straight to my locker. My heart is thrumming in my chest as I dig around for my phone, pull it out, and swipe it open to my messages.
There are two from Grace, and none from Lydia. The first message is from an hour ago, around the time the second period would have been ending.
Grace
She’s doing fine, but Lydia started having consistent contractions, so we are heading to the hospital. Zoey is running to your place to grab all your stuff. Come here as soon as you see this.
The second message is from only ten minutes ago.
Grace
Here and checked in, they’re going to check her cervix, but they think she’s here to stay.
Instead of texting her, I click the call icon, putting it on speaker as I start taking my gear off, throwing it into my locker.
“Hey,” Grace answers. “You on your way?”
“I just got off the ice. Changing. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Is she okay?”
I can’t miss my daughter’s birth. I just can’t.
“She’s a stubborn girl. The only reason she agreed to come to the hospital was after talking to your mom. They’rechecking her now, so I’m not in the room. She’s hooked up to the monitor, and baby is just fine.”
