Wingmen are a Girl's Best Friend: Laketown Hockey Page 8

  The curtain was pulled aside. Johnny opened the door and eyed us with neither interest nor suspicion. “Faith Dawson. You shouldn’t knock on doors like that, sweetheart.” We both glanced down and saw a shotgun in Johnny’s hand. “Sorry, it’s just…” she paused. “It’s kind of important.”

  “Come in.” Johnny stepped aside. “That’s some rainstorm.” He looked behind us.

  “Actually, sir, we just want to ask you a quick question,” I said.

  Johnny looked at me. “Do I know you?”

  We had definitely seen each other around town, but I had never officially met the man. We didn’t exactly run in the same circles. “I’m Leo Rocci, Maria’s son.”

  “Ah, the Slacker,” he laughed.

  Faith smiled and looked at me. It was the first time I’d seen a real honest to goodness smile on her face and I’d forgotten how they lit up her face – even if it was at my expense. Everyone in town was an armchair hockey critic and had an opinion about the Otters players and their performance. But this was the first time I’d heard a townie’s honest opinion about me, and it really didn’t feel good. “I prefer to call myself the Natural.” My laugh was nervous, and I wondered if the old man was going to snap at me.

  “If it works for you son,” he laughed. “But you ain’t going to the National League with that attitude.”

  “Sure,” I agreed, hoping that he would stop talking. I didn’t need to pick an argument, especially when he was kind of right – and holding a shotgun.

  “That new guy, that’s the one to watch.”

  Of course, he had to bring up Gunnar. I stole a glance at Faith and saw a quick smile. “Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “There are lots of good players this year. But Johnny, we’re not here to talk about hockey.”

  “Oh? I was expecting to buy a raffle ticket or something,” he grumbled.

  “Not today.” I hadn’t sold raffle tickets for hockey since the minor leagues. “Johnny, this might sound like a weird question, but we were wondering if you might have misplaced your hunting hat? The one with the two Big Buck pins on it.”

  His eyes lit up and he shuffled away.

  “Should we follow him… Slacker?”

  I pursed my lips and huffed out my breath at her, but before I could respond, Johnny had returned to the doorway. I heard Faith inhale sharply and felt her grab my arm as Johnny put his hat on his head. He pointed to the orange band. “There’s going to be three pins after this fall. I can feel it.”

  “Oh my god!” Faith’s grip tightened and then fell away as her knees gave out.

  “Faith.” I stepped behind her and held her up by her underarms. Johnny stepped out of the trailer, his eyes wide with surprise. He pulled Faith back to standing by her hands as I eased her up from behind. The weight of her body was warm against mine and I could feel the tremble in her body from the shock of seeing the hat.

  She let go of Johnny’s hands and brushed me away. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

  “Let me get you a glass of water,” Johnny said.

  “I’m okay, Johnny, really. I don’t need a glass of water.”

  “How about a beer? I sure could use one.”

  Faith glanced at her watch and I wondered if she wanted to get back to the park to find Reggie, or if she had a hot date with Lockwood. As far as I was concerned, we had our answer. Reggie was wearing Faith’s missing father’s hunting cap. We didn’t need to find him to confirm it.

  “I could go for a beer.” I accepted Johnny’s invite and Faith cut her eyes at me. I shrugged as I passed by her. “Do you have somewhere to be, Faith?”

  She rolled her eyes at me. Part of me wanted to keep Faith to myself so I’d get more time with her than Gunnar, but the other part of me, well, I just really wanted a beer.

  Johnny’s home was spartan and I felt like we had just time-warped to the seventies. The orange and brown plaid sofa was in immaculate condition and the place was militarily clean and organized. Faith sat in a brown recliner and the sofa creaked as Johnny and I relaxed into its retro cushions. He handed us bottles of Old Milwaukee.

  “Does this have something to do with your father?” Johnny took the cap off his head and traced the outline of the ceremonial pins.

  “Kind of.” Faith took a sip of her beer and then set it on the coffee table. “Do you know the homeless guy, Reggie?”

  Johnny nodded. “I do. Damn shame.” He narrowed his lips and shook his head. “But, what about him?”

  “I saw him wearing that.” I gestured to the hat that had been carefully set on the coffee table.

  “I see.” Johnny nodded, his voice grim. “Sweetheart, a lot of men in this town own this particular hat. There’s nothing special about it.”

  Faith picked at the label on her beer bottle. “I know, but Leo said there were two big buck pins on it.”

  “Two?” Johnny sat upright.

  “Yes, sir,” I confirmed.

  “Are you sure?” Johnny asked.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind.” I could see the wheels turning in Johnny’s eyes. My Mom had told me that the whole town had been out looking for Bruce. Search parties, helicopters, hunting buddies.

  “What does this mean?” Johnny asked quietly, almost to himself.

  Faith pushed the beer bottle away from her. “He was wearing it when he disappeared.”

  “That means…” Johnny seemed lost for words.

  “He could still be out there.” I finished his sentence.

  Johnny looked at me and I thought that I saw pity in his eyes. “I don’t want you two to get your hopes up. It’s been a long time, and I know what it’s like out there.”

  “But the hat. Where did it come from?” Faith’s eyes looked wildly between Johnny and me. “He’s still out there, I can feel it.”

  It felt like someone had sucker-punched me from behind. I’d thought that I was the only one foolish enough to believe that Bruce was still out there. But here we were, and Faith believed her dad was still alive, too. There was no way that an outdoorsman like Bruce could’ve just walked into the woods last year and died.

  Johnny stood and walked over to Faith. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Faith, I knew your daddy. He was a good man and a great hunter, but just because you found his hat, doesn’t mean you’re going to find him.”

  “How do you know?” Faith stood up. “Leo, I think it’s time to go.”

  Johnny took a step back and slipped his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants. “I would love for it to be true. This town isn’t the same without Bruce, but I just don’t think it’s right for you to get your heart up. It might be time to face the fact that your daddy isn’t coming home.”

  Up until that point, I had been impressed with Faith’s stoicism, but I saw the cracks as she started to crumble. There, in the middle of Johnny’s paneled living room, Faith put her hands to her face and sobbed.

  “Oh no. No, dear.” Johnny shook his head and looked like he wanted to do something, but didn’t know what.

  I was beside Faith in two steps. “Johnny, come on.” I shot him a dirty look.

  “Sometimes you need to hear the truth.” He shrugged, but his eyes were sad.

  Faith gasped and another sob escaped from beneath her hands. I slid my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my chest, and she let me.

  “If there’s any chance in this world that Bruce is still alive, we’re going to find him. Not just sit around and drink beer and write the man off.”

  Johnny’s mouth gaped open as I escorted Faith out of his home and into the passenger seat of the truck. She didn’t protest as I hopped into the driver’s seat, but she also wouldn’t look at me. While we’d been in the trailer park, the sun had set behind the storm clouds and Laketown had turned to every shade of gray. The lake was a dark-like slate; the sky a lighter charcoal; and the mist, a layer of off-white haze that hung over everything.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Faith whispered, her breath fogging up the passe
nger window.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Lie.” Her voice was hoarse and cold.

  I turned into the Casper Lake Town Park and stopped the truck at the gazebo. “Lie?” I shut off the engine. “About what?”

  When she turned to look at me her face was swollen and puffy, and her eyes seemed flat, as if the gray from the mist had seeped in and sucked the life out of her blue. “That you think my dad might be alive, and that you’d actually look for him.”

  Anger stirred in my gut. “I cared about your dad too, and if there’s a chance he’s still out there, then we need to find him.”

  She looked at me with what I could only describe as disgust. “Why now?”

  “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Why not now? There’s evidence.”

  “You didn’t…” she stopped midsentence and closed her lips together into a narrow line. “Never mind.”

  I shook my head. “You’re acting crazy.”

  She whipped her face to me. “Crazy?”

  I held my hands up in front of me. “Forget that I said that.”

  She crossed her arms across her chest and her nostrils flared. “I think it’s time for you to go.”

  She got out of the truck and stormed to the driver’s side, opening the door so hard, I thought she was going to rip it off the truck. “Get out.” She seethed.

  “But it’s raining.”

  She ripped the raincoat from her shoulders and threw it at me. “There you go. Now, get on your bike and get the hell out of here.”

  I slowly stepped out of the car. “What just happened?” I asked. The woman had literally just gone off the deep end for no reason.

  She opened the tailgate, yanked my bike out of the back, and tossed it onto the grass like it weighed less than her handbag. “Leo Rocci. You chose your little puck bunny girlfriend over me. You chose to be with her instead of looking for my dad when he disappeared. And now, after all this time, you want to jump back in and pretend as if you care?”

  She moved to get into the driver’s seat, but I was standing in the way, dumbstruck. The truth about why she hated me finally came out. A new darkness, one that I hadn’t even known existed, hung between us like a wool curtain. “But…”

  “Get out of my way,” she growled, shoving me aside.

  “Faye.” I jumped out of the way of the door as she slammed it shut. “Wait.” I banged on the side of the truck, but Faith spun the tires on the wet pavement and fishtailed out of the park, leaving me standing there, soaked, my heart aching, knowing that she was wrong and that she hated me for the wrong reasons – wishing that I could go back in time and do things differently.

  Nine

  Faith

  The windshield wipers swiped frenetically but everything was still blurry. A fat tear ran along my jawline and dropped from my chin, splatting onto my chest, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t the windshield that wasn’t clear, it was my eyes. But I didn’t wipe the tears away, I let them fall wherever they wanted.

  “Don’t look, don’t look,” I whispered to myself as I drove away, but my eyes were drawn to the rearview mirror. Leo stood in the darkness, a silhouette in the beating rain. He hadn’t picked up his bike, he just stood there as if he was frozen. I glanced to the road to make sure I was still on it, but couldn’t stop myself from looking one more time. Statue Leo was still there, but then I watched elite athlete crumple to the ground as if his bones had disintegrated in his body. The rain had melted him into a puddle on the pavement outside the Laketown gazebo.

  I stopped the truck and turned to look out the rear window. It had to be my imagination, Leo the Lion wasn’t weak. But my throat constricted when he didn’t get up. “Leo,” I screamed and jumped out of the truck, my flip flops splashing in the puddles and linen pants clinging to my ankles. “Leo.” I was breathing heavily as I dropped to my knees beside him. “LEO.” I said his name a little louder and shook his shoulder. He was lying on his side in a puddle.

  “Leave me alone, Faye.” He swatted at me.

  “So, you are alive.” I brushed my hands together but stayed on the ground next to him. Then the weirdest thing happened. Leo’s shoulders rose, the blades touching together before falling away, his body wracked with a sob.

  “Leo?” I set my hand gently on his strong back.

  He sobbed again, and this time it seemed to take over his whole body. “I… said… leave,” he growled.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” I let go of him and sat cross-legged on the wet ground.

  He took a deep breath but didn’t look at me. Pushing up from the ground, his triceps rippled, slick with rain. “Faye.” He crossed his legs and sat with his body facing mine, but his gaze stayed trained on the pavement between our knees.

  “Faith.”

  “Right.” He shook his head. When he looked up at me his eyes were puffy and looked sore. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”

  This was a surprise. I pulled my head back and tilted my head as if I had misheard. “I don’t hate you.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, you do.”

  “Well, can you blame me?”

  “I would hate me too.” He gave me a self-deprecating smile. “But you’ve got it all wrong.”

  This was too much. I crossed my arms, my shirt squelching as I hugged myself. “What do I have wrong, Leo? Your girlfriend told you to pick a relationship with her or a friendship with me.”

  “But…” He held up his index finger. His hair was plastered to his face, and his drenched mane hung in ropes down his neck.

  “That wasn’t the worst part.” I held up my own index finger and he retreated. “My dad treated you like a son, and you didn’t care when he disappeared. Everyone in town looked for him. Everyone, except you. You were more interested in hanging out with whatever her name was.”

  His eyes searched mine; the guy had longer lashes than any girl I knew, and the rain clumped them together, the drops sparkling in the light from the streetlamp. He put his hand on my knee, a gesture that should’ve felt intimate, but felt comforting instead. “I broke up with her that day.”

  “You did?” This was news to me.

  “Faith, when Bruce disappeared…” He looked up to the sky and swallowed hard. “I didn’t want anyone to know, but I fell apart. I knew that I should participate in the search efforts, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kept imagining being the one finding him. Seeing him, in a way, I just couldn’t…” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Faith. I failed you, I failed your dad, I failed everyone.”

  It was easy to distinguish between raindrops and tears. His tears were bigger and ran faster. I felt mine streaming down my face, the warm saltiness parting the cold layer of rain on my cheeks. “I always thought you were just off, you know, getting drunk and hanging out with that stupid girl.”

  He took my hands in his. “The first part is true. I spent most of the month so drunk I couldn’t get off the couch, but I wasn’t with that stupid girl. I shouldn’t have chosen her over our friendship, and I should’ve been a man and helped you when you needed it most. Faith…” He squeezed my hand. “That’s my biggest regret, not showing up for you. You were my friend. I deserve your hate. It’s my penalty for being weak.”

  My teeth chattered and my fingertips felt like they were turning blue, but the warmth of Leo’s hands and his words heated me from inside; a warm buttery feeling that spread from my belly and gushed up to my neck. I let go of his hands, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him close, our shirts squishing rainwater as I pressed hard against his body, my heart to his. Once I initiated the embrace, he didn’t hesitate, and his arms wrapped around my back. It felt like a handknit blanket had been draped around me. I rested my ear on his shoulder and my eyelashes brushed his neck as I closed my eyes and breathed in Leo. My friend.

  How long were we there like that? I don’t know. Long enough for the rain to slow and the moon to emerge from behind the clouds.

  “You’re shiv
ering,” Leo whispered. “Let’s get you home.”

  “I think that’s supposed to be my line. I’m driving you home.”

  His knees cracked as he stood and held out his hands. I slipped mine into his and let him pull me up from the pavement. “Knees acting up?” Leo had been through two knee surgeries, including one that we thought would ruin his career.

  “Only when it rains.” He smiled.

  I had to look away from his lips. The moon was bright and sparkled off the lake, casting an ethereal glow on Leo. Something about him had changed. I hadn’t noticed it before, but he looked different. Different in a way that made me feel different. Nervous.

  “Come on.” I pulled my hands from his and jogged to the truck. My bra had turned into sponges on my chest, and I pressed my arms against my body, squishing out the water before I got in. I glanced in the rearview mirror. Leo was taking his sweet time. I saw that he had stopped and was staring at the gazebo.

  I took the opportunity to unhook my bra. I glanced in the mirror again, Leo was still twenty feet away. I tossed the bra into the back seat and heard it land on the floor with a thud. I pulled down the visor and squinted as the lights came on. I brushed at the front of my hair, but when I saw the rest of my face, I shook my head. What was I doing? Why was I trying to fix my hair? Why did I care that I had raccoon eyes? I could’ve tried to push the mascara up from my cheekbones, but it wouldn’t have helped – it might have even made things worse, if that were even possible. I sighed and flipped the visor up.

  A sharp rap on the window startled me and I jumped in my seat. I unlocked the door and Leo opened it but didn’t get in. “Faith,” he whispered. “Reggie is over there. And he’s wearing the hat.” Leo jerked his head toward the gazebo.

  “Let’s go.” I pulled the key out of the ignition.

  Leo held up his hand. “You.” He pointed at me. “Stay here. Stay inside the truck. I’m going to go and talk to him.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he was ready for it. He held up his hand again. “It’s late and it’s dark. Stay in the truck, Faith. I’ll take care of this.”