Page 13 of A Shot at Love
It was a hockey rink, what more was there to see that Jules hadn’t already seen? She’d been in hundreds of buildings just like this one over the course of her life.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Frankie pushed open the black door with an exit sign above it and the change in temperature and brightness was immediate.
The sun was so bright that Jules had to shield her eyes as they stepped out onto the roof. The scent of cool ocean air hit hard and stretched out before them was an expanse of water and in the distance, the busy afternoon action of the Halifax Harbour was in full swing.
”Wow,” Jules said. “This is incredible.”
”Right?” Frankie glanced at her and smiled, shielding her own eyes from the sun as well. “I don’t know if we’re actuallyallowedto be up here but I don’t care. What are they going to do, fire me?”
They both laughed and Frankie walked to the chest high railing that lined the edge of the roof, waving at Jules to follow her.
Frankie’s hair was pulled back into a ponytail but loose strands of red fluttered around her face in the harbour breeze and Jules’ fingers inched to reach up and tuck them behind Frankie’s ear as she stepped in beside her against the railing.
“I needed some fresh air last week and stumbled upon this. There’s a pretty great view from my living room and bedroom window but I can honestly say that I’ve never practiced in a building so close to the water and it’s amazing. This franchise went all in on the whole Harbour thing by building our practice facilities a few kilometres up the shoreline from the arena and the harbour.”
”It’s kind of unbelievable,” Jules said, giving it some thought.
She’d heard the rumours from being around professional hockey for so long, the speculation for years that Eastern Canada was pushing for a professional hockey team and for a long time it had been a pipe dream because in the eyes of the league, there just wasn’t enough of a demand to fill an eighteen thousand seat arena every night.
The professional women’s hockey league nearly beat everyone to the punch with the success of their east coach exhibition games and it felt like a sure thing that they’d expand to that side of the country but ultimately opted to hold off on putting a team there despite the popularity.
When the news finally broke two years ago that a franchise offer of over two billion dollars from a very wealthy group of Canadian and American businessmen had been accepted by the league, it only took a couple of weeks for Halifax Harbour inaugural season ticket memberships to sell out after they went on sale.
Canadiansreallylove their hockey and the success before the puck had even dropped on day one was a big slap in the face of the people running the leaguewho had consistently stuck to their belief that people in this corner of the continent just didn’t care enough.
Now all the team had to do was perform well to make sure people kept coming back to games and if Jules asked her brother what his thoughts were ahead of the team’s first season, he’d say they were going to win the Cup.
It was a very ambitious goal and highly unlikely but anything was possible and who knows, maybe they had a secret weapon with Frankie behind the bench?
“This place, these fans, they deserve this,” Frankie said, looking out at the water. “I don’t want to let them down.”
It had to be terrifying, Jules thought as she studied Frankie’s side profile. Her freckles stood out even more in the late summer sun and she looked pensive as she watched the waves trickle across the surface of the water. To be in her position, becoming one of only two women to hold their positions in the entire league, to have the majority of fans rallying against you before you’ve even had the chance to show them what you’re capable of. It had to feel like an insurmountable hill to climb.
”You deserve it too,” Jules said with as much conviction as she could muster, wanting Frankie to know that shemeantit. “You’re doing what so many people can only ever dream of but you’re also doing it as a woman.”
Frankie closed her eyes as a smile slid onto her face and she inhaled, long and deep, then slowly fluttered her eyes open and looked at Jules.
“Around here it feels like people are afraid to say that,” she said, the words nearly whispered. “Like they don’t want to offend me or hurt my feelings.”
“How are the players? I’m sure this is uncharted water for most of them too.”
“Honestly?” Frankie turned around leaned back against the railing, turning her head up towards the sun. “Better than I expected but it’s still early days. I’ve worked with teenagers and they were great but this is on another level and I don’t need to ask you what they’re like, you know firsthand.”
Jules laughed and she copied Frankie, turning around and leaning back against the railing but she angled her body towards the woman she was sonaturally drawn to.
She did know what they were like and as much as her brother knew better, as much as he was a good guy, he wasn’t innocent. She’d overheard his conversations with friends and teammates over the years, she’d interrupted moments at get-togethers and gatherings and picked up on the comments about their latest conquests or a ‘puck bunny’ who caught their eye.
It’s just boys being boys.
That was the old saying but times were changing and people needed to catch up. For too long the traditional hockey culture had been toxic and it had to shift. Slowly and surely people were making strides in the sport, people like Frankie, but it had taken far, far too long to get to where they were now.
”Yeah,” Jules sighed. “I do. I’m sorry, you deserve better.”
“Your brother is great, by the way,” Frankie clarified, lightening the mood. “Don’t worry about him. I don’t think I’ve ever met a human who was more like a golden retriever than Cameron Clarke. He’s been nothing but kind and respectful to me, I can tell he’s one of the good ones.”
“If only you knew him when he was seventeen,” Jules joked, smiling again. In fact, the smile had barely left her face since she and Frankie had left the media room together.
Their eyes met and Jules had to swallow a lump in her throat and let her thoughts catch up to her pulse because Frankie was biting her lip and looking at her like she was so, so much more than just some hockey player’s sister. Frankie was looking at her like she was a woman who she wanted to know in more ways than just one, like she wanted to devour her and the glint in her eyes, the way her smile turned a little mischievous, had Jules spinning.
