“But, seriously,” Adam says, “don’t tell anyone yet, the thing has only been hanging out in there for like seven weeks and Lou doesn’t really want to spread it around yet.”
“The thing?”
“I don’t know what it is yet,” Adam says with a shrug. “It’s a thing. Cell Blob. Lou hates it when I call it that, but she calls it an alien, so who the fuck is the worse parent here?”
Elliot laughs. “So you are gonna find out what it is?”
“Probably. Lou likes knowing stuff like that. Maybe she’ll know and I won’t. I don’t know. I kinda really want a girl. Which is weird, because all the guys always want boys, but a girl would be nice, I… Not that I’d be disappointed if it’s a boy.” Adam groans. “I’m such a terrible dad already.”
“Nah, you’ll be fine,” Elliot says.
Adam reaches over to pat his head. “How does it feel to be an uncle?”
“I’m not actually an uncle.”
“You will be in a couple of months.”
Elliot gives Adam another hug. The Ravens would be a much worse team without him.
#
The last game of the season actually means something for the Knights this year. There are no call-ups on the ice. It’s their regular roster that gets dressed for the game, it’s Blake in the crease.
Mattie, in the stall next to him, looks a little wistful when he puts on his baseball cap. He’s played his last game of the season, maybe even the last game of his career. Blake doesn’t know what he’ll do without him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Mattie grumbles.
Blake looks away.
“Gonna fuckin’ make me cry,” Mattie says and waddles away, giving Brammer a shove when he passes him.
Brammer splutters and falls silent halfway through his rendition of ‘Let It Go’. Half the room applauds and Mattie salutes them before he ducks out of the room. Blake can see it on the guys’ faces, the exact way he feels, thinking about not having Mattie around anymore next year. He’s the oldest guy on the roster right now, the rest of the team relatively young. They’re down to a handful of guys who were already here when Blake played his first full season with the team.
There are tons of signs for Mattie pressed against the glass during warmups, and Mattie’s out there throwing pucks to people. Blake doesn’t know what to do with himself. Mattie told him he wasn’t going to keep playing. Blake knew and it still hurts. So much for seeing it coming.
He hasn’t announced it officially yet, but whenever Mattie talked to the media, questions came up, about Mattie’s contract, about his plans, and every time Mattie said that now was not the time to worry about that, but the media drew their conclusions and most of them hit the nail on the head – Jake Matthews is likely to retire at the end of the season.
The game itself is actually fun once Blake manages to focus and gets his head in the game, his eyes on the ice, on the puck.
He doesn’t think about getting into the first seed.
He doesn’t think about which team they’ll end up facing in the first round, if it’ll be the Eagles or the Ravens.
He doesn’t think about Elliot.
He doesn’t think about winning the Cup for Mattie.
He thinks about the puck.
The arena is loud tonight, the fans excited for the playoffs, not caring whether the Knights will end up in the first or second seed. They’ll have home ice either way. They’ll be back here soon and then the real fight begins.
Blake is vaguely aware of the fans chanting his name when he makes save after save, the scoreboard showing two goals in the Knights’ favor at the end of the second period. No goals for Ottawa.
They pull their goalie with two minutes left in the game and things get heated around Blake’s net. Ottawa is so far out of playoff contention that a win would do absolutely nothing for them, but they have some fight left in them. Players get tangled up, Blake ends up with some room in front of the net and the puck on his stick and he hurls it out of the zone with as much force as he can.
He doesn’t mean to score a goal. He’s tried before, but it never went in and he’s pretty sure that the angle’s off.
Everyone starts racing after the puck, but no one manages to catch up with it before it slides into the net. A few inches to the left and it would have gone right past it.
Charlie jumps into Blake’s arms when the goal horn goes, the rest of the guys not far behind. He gets first star of the game and the crowd is losing it. Blake has never seen that many people still in the stands after a game. He’s dead-tired, but after he’s done his interview, he sticks around to sign some jerseys, bump some fists, and then disappears down the tunnel where the team is waiting for him, everyone shouting as he waddles into the locker room.
It’s Mattie who hands him his puck, and they take a picture together, and afterwards Blake hugs him very, very tightly and tries very, very hard not to cry.
As they’re all getting out of their gear, someone announces that the Cardinals lost their game tonight, which means the Knights will see the Ravens next week. Blake wonders if Elliot already knows. He doesn’t have time to check his phone, because he has to talk to the
