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Bridget stared at him for a minute.
“What? I’m not invited?”
She smiled. “No, you’re welcome to come. We can put you in goal.”
Troy didn’t trust that smile, but he’d gotten what he wanted, so he let it slide.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND Michelle tentatively walked into the local hockey arena for the party. Tommy was sticking close to her, while Angie ran ahead toward the change room. Michelle entered it behind her and was immediately bombarded by a chaos of voices and bodies, all of them strangers.
Troy soon followed her. He’d dropped them off at the door while he parked the truck. For once, Michelle was happy for his swagger. He hollered “Bridget” and one of the redheads popped up and came over.
“Michelle, Angie, Tommy, so glad you could make it!”
“And me?” Troy asked.
“Troy, I’m so glad you brought them,” she answered him with a grin.
Michelle decided she had been right last week. She liked this woman.
Bridget yelled for some other people, and Angie and Tommy were led over to be sized for skates. Michelle politely refused the invitation. She was a mediocre skater, and had brought along her textbooks, hoping to get a chance to study while the kids had fun. Angie was soon rushing out to the ice, and when Michelle saw that Tommy was being taken care of by Bradley, she relaxed, waved them off and headed out to find a quiet place to review her notes.
She found a seat halfway up the stands, and watched for a few minutes to make sure the kids were all right. Angie was showing off for Troy.
Apparently, before the hockey game started, there was some other game that involved hopping on ice, skating backward and squatting down. She was a little concerned about Tommy, but the other Blaze player, Bridget’s husband, was keeping close by him and helping him. She appreciated that she’d had one bit of luck, at last. She’d met some seriously nice people.
She pulled out her notebook and read over the test again. She hadn’t had a chance to go through it after last week, and she was still struggling with the amortization and allowance accounts. The teacher had given the class another assignment and more materials to read this week. It honestly seemed that the answer to every question that came up was “create a new account” and Michelle was losing track of them.
She sighed when she read her dismal grade again, and tried to follow the red X’s to trace where she’d gone wrong. She was so absorbed she didn’t notice someone had joined her till she was right beside her.
An attractive, self-assured woman had sat down.
“Hi. You must be Troy’s friend?” she asked.
“Neighbor,” she corrected. “I’m Michelle.”
The woman held out her hand. “I’m Karen. I’m one of Bridget’s sisters-in-law. Not one who plays hockey. She told me you’re studying bookkeeping?”
Michelle shook the other woman’s hand. “Trying to.” Michelle sighed. “I never thought I was an idiot in school, but maybe it’s been so long my brain has dried up. I really don’t get this.”
“Can I have a look? I’m a CPA, so I ought to understand some of it.”
Michelle’s cheeks flushed. She handed over the sheets with embarrassment. “I haven’t been in classes since I graduated high school.”
“Don’t sweat it. I’m happy to help. I get some sloppy work come across my desk, so if I can help you it might be good for me someday.”
She took a moment to read over the questions and Michelle’s answers. “Hmmm. Did you go over T accounts?”
“I missed that class, so I’ve been trying to figure out if they’re on the balance sheet or the income statement.”
Karen nodded her head. “Neither and both. Got some paper?”
Michelle pulled out a pad and forgot where she was as Karen went over what a T account was and how it helped. Either she was an excellent teacher, or Michelle did better studying near ice, because it finally began to make sense. They went over the amortization question Michelle had messed up on, and she was able to locate exactly where she went wrong and how to get to the right answer.
Karen nudged her to look up. There was some cheering on the ice, and Angie was doing her scoring celebration. Michelle stood up and cheered, hoping someone would give her the details on the goal before Angie grilled her on it. Michelle felt bad that she’d missed her daughter’s goal, but she was finally starting to understand bookkeeping, and that lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. Sometimes it seemed she had to pay for anything good with something bad. Some kind of karma scale perhaps?
She turned to the woman who had dropped out of nowhere to help her. “Thanks so much, Karen.”
“No problem. And I see Jee down there taking video on her phone. I’ll ask her to show you your daughter’s goal.”
Michelle would have been content to leave as soon as the game ended, but the group moved en masse to another room where there was a huge spread of food. Michelle was embarrassed that she hadn’t brought anything, and she didn’t even know the person whose party it was. But Troy was her ride, and she couldn’t leave till he did. As well, she’d lost Angie in the crowd, and found Tommy hanging close to Bradley. She was so happy to see Tommy with a friend that she thought she’d find a little corner where she was out of the way.
A pretty, very pregnant woman came over and introduced herself as Jee. She showed Michelle Angie’s goal and promised to email a copy of the video. Michelle thanked her. Jee’s husband, who turned out to be the birthday boy, called over to her, hoisting a toddler and then rubbing his hand on Jee’s protruding belly when she neared him.
Michelle grabbed her necklace. She could remember so well. Mitch, holding a toddler-aged Angie in his arms, listening to her babble away while he caressed a pregnant Michelle’s abdomen. That was when Mitch had still been her Mitch, before he went overseas. He’d been so handsome, so vital, the center of any group he was in.
They’d gotten married when she found out she was pregnant with Angie. It hadn’t been their plan, but Mitch had been thrilled with the baby, and with Tommy, too, when he was born. Michelle had been worried about swollen ankles and how she’d cope with a toddler and a baby, as well, but Mitch had always been a rock, helping out in any way he could. His parents hadn’t been pleased about the rushed wedding, but they’d loved their grandkids.
“You okay?” Troy was standing in front of her, holding a heaped plate of food. Michelle shook off her memories. She couldn’t afford nostalgia now.
“I’m fine. My mind just wandered.”
“If you need to leave...” he continued.
Michelle checked on the kids, still enjoying themselves. But they couldn’t impose any more on Troy than they already had.
“Do you want to go? I’ll get the kids. But I’m fine if you’d like to stay,” she said.
He grinned suddenly. “It’s kind of fun. I was an only child. I never had parties like this.”
Michelle smiled. “I have three siblings. It wasn’t quite this crazy, but pretty close.”
“Are they still in Winnipeg?”
Michelle’s smile faded. “No, scattered around the globe.” She answered his inquiring look. “Military.”
“Family trait?” he asked.
She nodded and then excused herself to find Bridget. She didn’t want to talk about her family, or her past.
* * *
TROY LET MICHELLE ESCAPE. He was pretty sure that was what she was doing. She didn’t like talking about anything very personal, or about her past. He understood, given what he’d found out about her husband’s death. Though he didn’t think she’d be happy to know how much of her past he’d uncovered.
She was prickly, and he wasn’t sure how to handle that. His relationships with women were mostly simple. They knew what he wanted, he knew what they wanted and they made each other happy for a while. His dad had drilled caution into his head—he’d said there would be people who would try to take advantage of him once he made it to the pros, so he was always careful. Of course with Michelle, this wasn’t a romantic kind of thing. He just felt sorry for her and wanted to help a bit.
With that thought, he looked for Bridget. Normally it wasn’t that hard to find a redhead in a crowd, but half the people here had bright red hair. He’d met Bridget’s dad, who also had red hair, and apparently she had five brothers supposedly all here somewhere in the crowd. He’d stopped trying to keep track. If they were anything like Bridget, their family must be bedlam all the time.
He finally tracked her down, standing near Mike. Troy hadn’t been happy when Mike was first traded to Toronto, but after that Cup run, well, you couldn’t go through something like that and not have a bond.
“Bridget, Mike. Nice party,” he said.
Bridget eyed him skeptically. Troy doubted she would ever get past their first meeting.
“So, Bridget, what did you think of Angie?” After all, he’d never been invited to any of Mike and Bridget’s social events. This whole thing was in aid of Angie.
“She’s good,” Bridget said. Mike nodded from behind her, arms wrapped around her waist.
“She’s really good, in fact,” Bridget continued. “But what exactly are you thinking of? Do you have any ideas? Or did you just want to pass it on to us?” Bridget asked.
Troy paused. He wasn’t quite sure. He’d hoped Bridget would have an idea. But he wasn’t going to dump everything on her lap. In fact, he wanted to follow how the girl did. He was responsible now.
“I didn’t expect to leave it all to you. They’re my neighbors. I want to make sure Angie can play the game she loves. It’s not fair that she can’t just because they don’t have the cash. I’ve got more than enough money, and I want to help out.”
Bridget glanced over at Michelle, talking to Bridget’s mother.
“Are you just going to offer it to her?”
Troy sighed. That would be the easiest thing, but...he was pretty sure Michelle wouldn’t take it. And if Angie ever found out her mother had refused it, things would be pretty ugly across the hallway. He wasn’t trying to make things worse for them.
“She won’t just take it. I was in trouble just for buying the kids those jerseys last week. I wondered if I could give them the money and say it was from the club.”
Mike and Bridget stared at him.
“The club?”
“Yeah, the team’s a hockey club. Her husband was in the military, and so was she. I asked if the club had some kind of program to help vets and their families. They don’t, but Michelle doesn’t know that. I can tell her I pulled some strings and got Angie sponsored.”
Bridget looked at him as if he was a little dim. “So you’re going to pay Angie’s fees but tell her mother that the Blaze is paying for it. What about Angie’s gear? Michelle said she didn’t even have skates. Are you going to cover that, too? You can’t give her a check, or transfer money to her from your account. She’d realize it was all from you.”
Troy sighed again. This shouldn’t be so difficult.
“I haven’t worked that all out yet. Maybe I’ll say there’s a credit at the store or something.”
Troy didn’t appreciate the pitying glance Bridget gave him.
He snapped his fingers. “A gift card, that’s what I’ll do. That could come from the club.”
Bridget crossed her arms. “Assuming you can pull this off, and that’s a big if, how are Michelle and Angie going to get to practices and games?”
“What do you mean?”
“You drove them here today because they don’t have a car. It would be pretty hard for the three of them to take public transit to games, and taxis would be expensive. Or are you thinking of another gift card to cover that, ‘from the club.’” Her sarcasm was obvious, but Troy wasn’t giving up.
Troy set his jaw. “I’ll find a way.”
Mike glanced over at Michelle then the kids, who were talking to Bradley.
“You really like these people?” he asked Troy.
Troy shrugged. “Michelle’s struggling. She won’t admit it, but Angie’s let things slip. I feel bad that she’s working so hard and having such a tough time. It’s tough for a kid when they have only one parent and not much money. Besides, she’s a vet, so we should help out, right?”
Bridget sighed. “Well, I won’t tell her what you’re up to, but don’t be surprised if it all blows up on you.”
* * *
MICHELLE RELAXED AGAINST the seat cushions as Troy drove them home. The kids were watching the video of the game on Michelle’s phone. Angie dissected her every move, making sure she still had her skills.
“Thank you,” Michelle said to Troy.
He gave her a strange look. “What for?”
“For taking us to the game. Introducing us to Bridget, giving us a ride today. The kids had a really good afternoon.”
Troy seemed to relax. Michelle wondered what he’d been worried about.
“I’m glad. Did you enjoy it?”
“It was good to watch the kids having fun, being kids. And Karen, one of Bridget’s sisters-in-law, helped me with some homework. So yes, I enjoyed it.”
“Then that’s good. The O’Reillys are nice,” Troy said agreeably.
“Do you spend a lot of time with the guys on your team?”
Troy shrugged. “Not Mike. The married guys are usually busy with family stuff when they’re not at games or team events. I hang out with the single guys.”
“I appreciate you giving up some of your weekend for us. That was more than generous. We don’t want to intrude, though. Tell me if Angie starts to become a nuisance.”
There was quiet for a moment, and Michelle tensed. Was he trying to find a tactful way to admit that Angie was bothering him?
“Don’t worry,” Troy said finally. “I’ll speak up if she becomes a problem.”
Michelle sensed that there was something going on here that she didn’t understand. But they were entering the condo garage and there wasn’t any more opportunity to press him further.
* * *
TROY TOOK ADVANTAGE of Angie’s openness to find out when he might be able to speak to Michelle privately. Angie was still young enough to think it was perfectly normal for a relative stranger to be curious about her family’s schedule. She’d mentioned there was a window of time after she and Tommy went to bed when Michelle studied.
So tonight he’d skipped out on going to the bar with some of the guys after the game and headed to her condo.
He rapped quietly on the door. He waited a moment, impatiently, and was about to knock again when she opened the door.
She had her hair knotted up on her head, and some glasses on. She was wearing a shirt and pants that looked comfortable and worn—probably pajamas. There were shadows under her eyes, and he hoped he could make this work to take away some of her worry. If his plan failed, she probably wouldn’t want anything more to do with him. He tried not to acknowledge how much that idea bothered him.
“Anything wrong?” she asked.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
