Page 60 of Man Advantage

Cole called.

Ford answered on the fourth ring. “Cole.” His voice came out soft and unsteady, the way it did when he wanted Cole close enough to touch.

Cole heard the longing in it and felt it catch beneath his ribs. Back in the visitors’ locker room, with his bags half-packed around him and the room gone quiet at last, he could almost feel Ford beside him, warm under the covers, waiting for him to come home. Cole abandoned the tie and sat down. “Tell me something that has nothing to do with hockey.”

Ford was quiet long enough that Cole heard him breathe. “Charlotte made me promise she could stay up for your whole game. She lasted until the second period.”

“Where’d she fall asleep?”

“On me.”

Cole could see it without asking for a picture. Charlotte curled into Ford’s side, Ford complaining while keeping one arm around her so she wouldn’t slide off the couch. He should have been there. “Did you carry her upstairs?”

“She’s getting too big for it.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

The smile came through in Ford’s voice. “Yeah. I carried her.”

Cole bowed his head. Missing them had been easier when he was moving. Sitting still made it harder to ignore.

“She asked how many nights until you come home,” Ford said.

Cole’s throat tightened. “What did you tell her?”

“That we don’t know yet.”

Men moved around him, packing bags and making plans Cole was beginning to be included in. He should have felt good about that. Instead, he stared at his unfinished tie and wondered how quickly a few games could turn into a life none of them had discussed.

“What happens if they keep me?” he asked.

Ford didn’t answer right away. When he did, the softness was gone from his voice. “Then you stay.”

Cole looked up. “That’s it?”

“What do you want me to say?”

That you want me back. That there is still a place for me when I get there. Cole couldn’t ask for either without making Ford feel responsible for whatever came next.

Someone called his name from the doorway. Cole raised a hand without turning around.

“You should go,” Ford said.

Cole’s chest tightened at how quickly Ford offered him the exit. “I wish I was home.”

Ford drew a breath. For one suspended moment, Cole thought he might finally say everything they had been avoiding.

“I know,” Ford said.

The call ended before either of them said good night. Cole stayed on the bench while the locker room emptied around him. He finished his tie, took it apart, and started again without calling Ford back.

Chicago reassigned him after the third game.

Cole had dressed and played eight minutes. He found out on the bus to the airport when the general manager called and told him the injured defenseman had been cleared. He thanked Cole for coming up and said the staff liked what they had seen. Cole would fly back to Chicago with the team, collect his truck, and report to Port Haven the following morning.

“Understood,” Cole said.

His stomach dropped. Then he pictured home.