Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance Kate Willoughby (read full novel .TXT) 📖

“All right, boys, it all comes down to this,” my dad said. “Wayne Gretzky was captain of all four of the NHL teams he played for. Am I full of shit?”

“I know for a fact he was captain of the Oilers,” Briggs said.

“Give me a break, Briggerton, everyone knows that,” AJ said.

“What about LA?” Birdy asked. “Did your dad play with him, Bramley?”

“No, that was before my dad.”

“But still,” Birdy said. “You don’t have any idea? Maybe your dad mentioned it in passing?”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember every word my dad ever said.”

“Okay, guys, come on,” Seb Hunter said. “We can get this one. Dom said he was on four teams. Who are the other two teams?”

“The Rangers and the Blues, I think,” Birdy said.

“Oh, yeah. He went to New York to play with Messier again before he retired,” Hunter said.

“But was he captain there?” Pete asked.

Hunter groaned in frustration. “I don’t know. I’m trying to picture him in the Ranger jersey and damned if I can remember if there was a C on it.”

They argued about it a little longer, but even though there had been no consensus, they told my dad he was full of shit, only because he’d fooled them so many other times during the course of the evening.

My dad laid both hands on the table and leaned forward, a slight smile on his face. “Well, boys…”

My teammates all seemed to be holding their breath.

“You won! Congratulations,” my dad said with a laugh. He closed the folio on his credit card and handed it to the waiter, who had hung around to hear if he was making an extra hundred. He looked disappointed, but I knew my dad would make good on that too.

“Which team didn’t make him captain?” Briggs asked.

“It was the Rangers who didn’t give him the C.”

“That makes the Rangers dumber than shit, doesn’t it?” Birdy said. “I mean, he’s the greatest hockey player who ever lived.”

“The C doesn’t automatically go to the best player, son,” my dad said. “Not to toot my own horn, but even though I was usually the top scorer on my team, I was never captain. No. You need a leader to be captain. Someone who will put the team ahead of everything. The guy who demands more of himself than anyone else, who knows how to motivate the team. That was never me,” he said, laughing. “I’m way too selfish.”

By the time we left the Blue Spruce, my dad had gained a couple dozen new fans. When he gave you his attention, it was like stepping into the sun after a month of cloudy skies. He posed for selfies with my teammates, the restaurant staff and several other patrons. It should have been a fun evening, and for the most part, it was, but as was often the case with my dad, he had an agenda tonight and I needed to confront him about it.

Back at the apartment, I asked AJ if he wouldn’t mind going up without me, that I needed a word with my dad.

“Sure thing, Forts,” AJ said handing my dad the keys to the Camaro. “Thanks again for dinner, Dom, and letting me drive your car. It was great.”

“Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for feeding my kid. See that he eats a vegetable once in a while.”

“Will do,” AJ said with a two-finger wave goodbye.

I turned to my dad. “I know what you were trying to do back there at the restaurant.”

“What? You mean like eat dinner?”

“Come on, Dad. You were really sly about it, but you were trying to convince the guys I’d make a good captain.”

“I was? Because I’m pretty sure I never said, ‘Hudson should be captain.’ I didn’t even talk about you.”

“That’s because you’re too smart for that.”

“Aw, he thinks I’m smart. And I didn’t even go to college.”

I gave him a hard stare.

“All right, fine. Is it a crime for me to want you to be captain? Christ. You know as well as I do you’re the best man for the job. You came out of your mother a leader. I could see you were captain material when you were five years old, playing with your friends. You would organize everyone into teams of approximately equal strength and make sure the other boys played fair, especially against the littler kids. Everyone listened to you because you had their respect and you stepped up and got the job done.”

I shook my head. “Look, Dad, I appreciate the dinner. All the guys did, but I don’t want you trying to buy me the captaincy—no, don’t even deny it. And besides, I’m only a junior and they usually pick a senior to wear the C.”

“Ah, but the Graham boys have gone to Vegas and Seattle, and I talked to your coach and he says even though that Bramley boy and some other kid…”

“Kurlander.”

“Yeah, that was the name. Your coach said even though those boys are seniors, you’re obviously the better candidate. He could be blowing smoke up my ass, but I don’t think so. Your work ethic has always stood out. I saw to that.”

“You’re missing the point. The point is, if I get the captaincy, I want it to be because they think I’m the best choice, not because D-Day Forte schmoozed the fuck out of them.”

“Actually, son, you’re the one missing the point. The real point—the only point that matters—is that you’ve been drafted, yes, but you’re not in the NHL yet. I know guys who were drafted higher than you and then floundered around in the AHL for most of their career, only getting called up once or twice. That will not be you, not if I can help it.

“The Dragons are looking at and weighing everything you do against who they already have on the farm team. This year, you’re going to leave everything on the ice, every game because that’s