Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) - Amy Aislin Page 0,13

at Calder, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder and addressed Andy. “You ready to play some games?”

“Yeah!” He didn’t move. In fact, he was clenched so tight, legs braced and shoulders tensed up to his ears, that he’d fall over like a stiff board if Tay pushed him.

“He’s still learning to skate,” Dakota said.

Holding his hands out, palms up, Tay said, “Want to hold my hands and I can pull you?”

“Um . . .” Andy looked at his dad, back to Tay. “Maybe Imma stay right here.”

“Right here, huh?” Tay mused, scratching his chin. “Right in front of the entrance? What if someone wants to go in or out?”

“I’m little. They can go around me.”

Throwing his head back, Tay laughed. He might’ve had a crush on Dakota, but if he wasn’t careful, he’d end up falling for Andy too.

“Why don’t we move over just a bit, okay?” Picking Andy up by the waist, Dakota moved him several feet to the left. Andy stood stiffly, arms balanced at his sides.

“Hang on, I have an idea.” At each end of the rink were skate trainers, essentially metal contraptions for kids to hang on to as they learned to skate. Tay grabbed the smallest one he could find and towed it back to where Dakota was gliding Andy forward by the waist. “Did you lose Calder?”

Dakota jerked his head to the side. “He found a friend.”

Tay searched the crowd of parents taking pictures of their kids with some of the players and found Calder in conversation with Lacroix nearby. “Cool. Here, Andy. This might help. Grab the railing here, and as you skate, this will help hold you up.”

“Okay.” Andy still didn’t move.

Shoulders shaking with silent laughter, Dakota dropped onto his knees behind Andy. While Tay held the trainer steady, Dakota guided Andy’s mittened hands onto the rubber grip on the top. “There you go. How’s that?”

“’Kay,” Andy said, shoulders loosening a little. “Imma stay like this now.”

Dakota’s eyebrows rose. “The whole point is to skate.”

“No thank you, Daddy.”

Turning a laugh into a cough, Dakota stood and inched closer to Tay. “Got any bright ideas?” he murmured.

Tay shrugged. “Sometimes kids just aren’t ready to learn to skate.”

“Daddy, I wanna shoot pucks like that girl o’er there.”

That girl was several years older than Andy, maybe nine or ten, and she appeared to know exactly what she was doing as she shot a pile of pucks at the unmanned net.

“Sure.” Dakota nodded once. “How are we going to get there?”

Andy draped his torso over the trainer and pushed off the ice with his skates, traveling a couple of feet nearer to the net. “I’m doin’ it all by myself, Dad.”

“I see that.”

Tay held out a hand for a fist bump. “Good job, little man.” The girl was gone, so by the time they arrived at the net, it was just the three of them, everyone else too busy playing games or signing things or taking pictures. Over by the boards, a bunch of equipment had been laid out. Helmets, pads, and hockey sticks in various sizes, as well as pucks and additional skate trainers. Tay grabbed three sticks and used one to gather the pucks from inside the net, setting them in a neat row in front of Andy. He passed the smallest hockey stick to Andy, who took it with a little “Ooh” and a shiver of excitement. Still clinging to the trainer with one hand, though.

“Thanks,” Dakota said when Tay handed him a stick. “I haven’t played since high school and it was just recreationally. Let’s see if I remember how to shoot a puck.”

“It’s like riding a bike,” Tay said with a wink. “On ice. And your pedals are skinny blades that don’t get any traction.”

Dakota’s laugh wormed its way into Tay’s belly, and they spent a few too-long seconds grinning at each other over the top of Andy’s head.

“How d’ I do it, Tay?” asked Andy, drawing Tay’s gaze away from Dakota’s dark gray one.

“Make sure you’re steady on your feet so I can take the trainer away.” Tay waited for Andy to find his balance with help from Dakota, then moved the trainer aside. “Now you want to hold your stick here and here.” He demonstrated on his own stick. “Bend your knees. Good. And then you just . . .” Giving a puck a love tap, he sent it into the net six feet away. “Now you try.”

Andy copied Tay almost exactly, tongue stuck between his teeth. He