still flying after that game you guys did for her.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“Her sports hero put together a game just for her to watch and let her meet the entire team. She’s not going to forget that. Guaranteed. And her mom belongs to some support groups that are probably full of kids who’d probably be interested.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. I know at least one focuses on kids with migraines, and another deals with sensory issues in general. I have no idea how many of the kids or their parents are into hockey, but from what Haley’s told me, I think quite a few would jump at the chance to go to something like that without all the lights, noise, crowds, smells…”
He was nodding as I spoke. “Okay. So there’d probably be some interest. I’ll definitely talk to Richard, then.”
“Great! Let me know how it goes.” I was thrilled he was getting the ball rolling for something like this, but it couldn’t be what had him so nervous. Proceeding cautiously. I asked, “You sure you’re okay? You seem kind of…on edge, I guess?”
His eyes flicked away again, and he shook his head. It was hard to tell if it was the camera, or if his face had really gained a shade or two of color. “I’m good. I’m always a little twitchy before a game.”
“You are?”
“Yeah.” He laughed, suddenly sounding a bit nervous. “You’d think I would’ve gotten over that during my college years, but…” He shrugged tightly. “Guess not.”
“I guess that is a lot of pressure.”
“You’re not wrong.”
I still felt like he wasn’t telling me something. Like he’d worked himself up over something, but he’d lost his nerve and gone with the PR thing instead. I wanted to press and make sure he was really okay, but maybe right before a game wasn’t the best time to be dissecting something like that.
I didn’t get a chance to anyway, because Jase glanced off-camera again and tensed a little. Meeting my gaze again, he said, “Okay, everyone’s coming in to get their gear on. I have to run.”
“Okay.” I grinned despite my worry and my usual disappointment that our conversation was coming to an end. “Will it fuck with your concentration if I say I’ll be watching the game tonight?”
Jase laughed, sounding a little more relaxed and doing all kinds of things to my pulse. “Not at all. And I’ll be back in town in a couple of days. See you then?” The hope in his eyes made my toes curl.
“You better believe it. See you soon.”
We ended the call, and I released a breath. I didn’t like how edgy he’d been, or how he’d seemed to shy away from whatever it was he’d wanted to discuss. Maybe it would be better addressed in person, and it was a safe bet that right before a game was the worst possible time. So I’d wait until I saw him again, then feel him out and see what happened.
In the meantime, while I waited for tonight’s game to start, I went into the kitchen. My mind was still on our conversation as I cleaned up the dinner dishes from earlier, but it shifted away from what we hadn’t talked about to what we had. He was really going to try to put together more events like the one they did for Dallas? Good God, I could think of a ton of kids who’d love to come to things like that. If Haley told her online support groups, they’d probably start blowing up her inbox, and the in-person groups would lose their minds too.
I had a feeling even those who weren’t into hockey would still want to come because it would be an event that actually took their limitations into consideration. Dallas had gone to plenty of things like that just because it was something relatively normal she could go to without winding up in agony for the rest of the night. Like when one of the paint-your-own ceramics places had started doing events off-site (away from their shop, which had a lot of strong chemicals and smells) using only acrylic and watercolor paints that had little if any scent and didn’t require harsh chemicals. Nick and Dallas had probably gone to half a dozen of those in the last two years. She’d never had any great desire to paint, but it was something fun she could go out and do, and they’d had a ball. We’d all learned a long time ago that when normal outings were that