Chasing Charli - Kat Mizera

1

Flights from the U.S.’s East Coast to Anchorage, Alaska, were long, and Miikka Laasonen checked the time on his laptop repeatedly. He just wanted to be home already. Well, he’d be down for a few drinks with the guys if they didn’t land too late, but it was already ten o’clock local time and they had another hour in the air.

The team he played hockey for, the Alaska Blizzard, had just finished a long road trip and they had a handful of home games coming up. Then hopefully the playoffs. There would be a lot going on and he was ready. It had been a long season, between coaching changes and a few players getting traded, but he lived and breathed hockey. Normally, he loved it, but he’d noticed in the last year he was a little lonely.

He had friends on the team and his friends and family back home, and his life was pretty good in general, but the breakup with his longtime girlfriend last fall hit him harder than he’d been expecting. The irony was that it wasn’t because he had a broken heart; it was the realization that he’d spent more than a decade waiting for a woman he hadn’t loved for a long time. It was disheartening and frustrating, considering all the potential girlfriends he’d missed out on along the way. They’d had an open relationship since they spent nine months of the year thousands of miles apart, but he’d always assumed they would be together so he’d stuck to the occasional hookup.

In retrospect, he’d been naïve, and the loneliness he felt now that it was officially over surprised him.

“Miikka.” One of the team’s assistant coaches, Drake Riser, sank into the seat next to him.

Miikka looked up in surprise. He liked the burly coach who’d just retired from playing last year, but they didn’t usually hang out on flights. “Hello, Coach.”

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.”

“It’s come to my attention that you haven’t done any of your community outreach obligations.”

Miikka groaned. A native of Finland, he didn’t speak much English and when he did, he tended to mix up words, phrases and grammar. He kept telling himself he needed to learn, but between games, practices, meetings and working out, when he had free time, he liked to relax. Learning English was too much like school and he’d never liked school in the first place.

“I know it’s a hassle, but you have to do it, Miikka. You’re the only guy on the team who doesn’t do any appearances, visit the hospitals, attend the season ticket holder events… It’s not optional.”

“But…” His voice trailed off. “This is difficult. My English…no good.”

Drake nodded. “I understand, but take one of the other guys and go to one of the hospitals. The kids don’t care if you can speak English as long as you have goodies to give away.”

Miikka only understood half of what Coach was saying, but he got the gist of it and nodded. “Yes, okay. But season is almost over now?”

“There’s always opportunities for community outreach, my friend.” He patted him on the shoulder, got up and moved to the back, leaving Miikka grumbling under his breath.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but it was so hard for him to talk to fans. He should have done something about learning English a long time ago but he’d put it off and now it was going to be a problem.

Leaning forward, he nudged his teammate and roommate, Logan Pelletier.

“What?” Logan pulled his headphones off and looked back at him.

“Go to Henley’s?”

Logan shook his head. “I’m wiped, man. Let’s go tomorrow night.”

Miikka wanted to protest but finally nodded. “Yes. Okay.”

He leaned back in his seat again and closed his eyes. He’d figure it out. He always did.

Walking towards her car in the parking lot of the school where she was a kindergarten teacher, Charlotte “Charli” Bartosiewicz was running late. She’d taken half a day off for an appointment with her optometrist and then had plans for an early dinner with a girlfriend, but it was hard to leave with crying five-year-olds clinging to your legs. She loved her students but they were a little needy sometimes and now she was barely going to get to the office in time.

“Miss Charli, are you leaving?” The loud little voice made her turn and she smiled fondly at Niko Petrov, one of her students, and his mother, Dani.

“I’m going to a doctor’s appointment,” she told Niko. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I