Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,81

I knew this took, like, a lot of skill and whatever, but I guess it never occurred to me how you have to learn all these little things before you can be in the NHL. Which is silly and obvious, I’m sure, but until I’ve actually seen someone doing all this—” Micah waved a hand. “It’s like you’re just good, so you go out and do it.” He had to laugh at himself. “Can you tell I never played any sports?”

“Well, just because you don’t know how to break down hockey into fundamentals and run drills doesn’t mean you don’t get the concept,” Daniel said. “You go to games and you see it all come together, right? Like your friend, Bethany, she used to be a ballerina?”

She’d mentioned that, what, once at brunch? Warmth surged through Micah that Daniel had remembered. “Yeah.”

“She’d say the same thing. All those practices breaking down small movements to put them all together.” He paused. “Probably with less, y’know. Aggression.”

“Uh, you should ask her about the 2012 Nutcracker performance sometime,” Micah said dryly. “And why she can’t ever go back to the St. Augustine Performing Arts Center.”

Daniel laughed, then turned back to the ice. A few minutes later, Clipboard And Whistle Guy came strolling over to where Daniel and Micah were watching. He looked like he would be equally at home as an extra in a military movie as on the ice, especially given how much he’d just been yelling. But he was all smiles when he came over, and shook hands enthusiastically with both Daniel and Micah, introducing himself as the Strikers’ coach, Jake.

“I’m glad you made it,” Jake said, and Micah had to hide a grin because the look he was giving Daniel was somewhere between worshipful and hopeful. And Micah was pretty sure it had nothing to do with how hot Daniel looked today, in his dark jeans and plain gray T-shirt, and more with his status as a hockey hero. Or whatever they were called when you knew what all of this was.

“You play, too?” Jake asked Micah, who held up both hands and shook his head.

“I would run screaming if all the players shot pucks at me like your goalie. Does he get hazard pay for that?”

Jake laughed. “Nope, he signed up for it. It’s how you learn. Easier to stop one shot if you practice stopping twenty, yeah?”

“Uh,” Micah said, shaking his head. “Easier if you stay in the car, but I’m not the hockey player so I’ll take your word for it.”

Jake grinned and clapped Daniel on the shoulder. “I don’t suppose you’d come down and talk to the team, huh?” He held up both hands. “I didn’t rat you out, but one of the guys is a huge Venom fan and recognized you. No pressure, but they’d love to hear what you have to say.”

Daniel looked pleased, which Micah could understand. He gave Micah a brief that cool? look, and Micah waved him off with a hand and a “I have a level of Best Fiends to crush, don’t worry about me.”

Daniel nodded and threw him a smile that would make it pretty obvious what kind of friend Micah was, but Micah could probably have arrived in some kind of terrifying mascot costume and the guy would only have eyes for Daniel. Relatable, so Micah settled in and opened his mobile game, glad he’d remembered to wear a sweater. He did not have the body for this sport. Why did it have to be ice? They lived in Florida.

Eventually, after sending a few messages to the group chat of errybody thirsty for my man with some pictures of Daniel being adored, Micah gave up on his game and watched—more because of Daniel, and less because of the drills or pep talk or whatever else he was doing.

Daniel looked—Daniel looked so happy. He was gesturing and talking, laughing, and when they got back to the standing-and-then-skate-with-your-stick-out portion of things, he was quick to clap, offer a few pointers and even demonstrate once or twice. He looked completely at ease despite being in street clothes and not wearing skates, a different kind of happy than at the mites game.

Well, it made sense, didn’t it? Daniel had said he came to Florida to impart some of his veteran wisdom to his teammates, but somehow Micah didn’t think Daniel was this smiley at Thunder practices. At one point he showed his notebook to Jake, and Micah was glad he hadn’t given