“You played hockey here?”Arne asked, voice excited.
“I played almost everywhere.”
“I remember.”I hadn’t thought before answering, but I’d gone to as many games as I could when we were dating.
“Did you see him play, Mommy?”
I froze.I hadn’t told Arne about the past between Justin and me.Justin’s smile was gone.
“Yes, Justin and I were…friends.”
“Wow.Could we see him play sometime?”
I still couldn’t move.If I said tickets were too expensive, would Justin offer some when the team was playing in Vancouver?I shot Justin a glance, but he crossed his left hand over to open the door.“I should get in there.”
That distracted Arne, but he’d come back to it.
I helped Arne out, and then we hurried to catch up to Justin.The door was open and he led the way to the home team locker room.There were a couple of men already there, and an equipment bag that readJustin Johnson.They must have brought it from Toronto.A big difference from the days when he’d had to lug his gear around on his own.Back when I’d been with him.
“JJ.Good to see you.”
Justin nodded.“This is the PSW who’s helping me while my hand is out of commission.Mia and Arne, this is Carlos, who takes care of our equipment, and Alan, one of our trainers.”
Alan nodded our way.“Hope you’re taking good care of our guy.Uh, you wanna watch from the stands?”
I looked at Justin.“Do you need me…”
He shook his head.“If Carlos is here, he can help with my skates.”
Carlos nodded and started to pull things out of the bag.I recognized the dismissal and led Arne out of the room.
“Who were those guys, Mommy?”
I hadn’t been in this arena for years, but I remembered how to get to the seats.“I think they work for Justin’s team.They’re here to see how he’s doing.”
“They’re from the Blaze?That’s his team, right?”
“Yeah.”I led Arne up to a seat that was close enough to the ice to get a good view, but far enough away that if we talked, we wouldn’t disturb anyone.I’d brought a backpack with distractions for Arne, but he was more interested in the arena around us.And he had questions.What were the lines on the ice for?What were the banners hanging down?Where were the hockey nets?
Finally, Justin came out with the two men from the team.The trainer had a clipboard, the equipment guy some pucks and sticks.
“Are they going to play, Mommy?”
“No, sweetie.This is just to see how Justin is doing.”
Justin grabbed a stick with his right hand, the bright colors Arne had added showing on the cast.He tried to hang on to it with his fingers, but the cast made it too difficult.With a shrug he passed it back.
Carlos took the stick and pucks away and came back with some cones that he set out around the ice.Then he and the trainer shuffled back to the boards and Justin began to skate slowly.Warming up, I told my son.
Justin had to be a little rusty—it had been weeks since he’d been on skates.I couldn’t tell though.He lapped the rink effortlessly and then skated in patterns around the cones.After each round, he got faster.Then Alan talked to him, and he skated in reverse.
Arne’s eyes were wide open as he watched.“He’s so fast, Mommy.How can he skate backward?”
I tore my gaze away from Justin reluctantly.He wasn’t flashy but effortlessly competent.I’d always loved watching him skate.“All the players in the NHL are fast, sweetie.They skate a lot, so they get good at it.Except maybe the goalies.They don’t have to cover the whole rink like the skaters.”
I hadn’t seen Justin skate since we’d been together, and it brought back so many memories.Good ones.Ones I’d tried to forget.When I was watching one of his games, I’d focus only on his play when he was on the ice.Calm, capable, trustworthy, just like him.Which made the whole punching Alek Denbrowski incident even more out of character.No wonder the team was worried about him.
They spent about thirty minutes altogether on the ice.Sometimes Justin was talking with the others, sometimes he was skating, doing drills of some sort.I’d expected Arne to get bored and want his tablet, but he’d been fascinated the whole time.I hoped it was Justin and maybe the skating.If it was hockey, I was in so much trouble.