Read Online OneManAdvantage by Kelly Jamieson - Free Book Online Page B

happily. “And a baby.”
    As usual, Logan couldn’t live up to his two older brothers,
who’d led the way with their hockey talent and now were thrilling their mom
with their girlfriends and babies. “Not to put a damper on your excitement,”
Logan said dryly. “But Jase won’t have full custody of the baby. And we’re
still not certain it’s his. Don’t get too excited about it, Mom.”
    After a short pause, she said, “I suppose you’re right.”
    Damn. Now she sounded sad. He sighed. “I just don’t want you
to be all disappointed and heartbroken if it turns out to be not even his
baby.”
    “He’s pretty sure it is.”
    “I know, but…never mind.”
    “Okay. Back to me going to California. I’ll check into some
flights and see what I can arrange.”
    “Thanks, Mom. I’ll pay for the flight.”
    “Of course you will.” She laughed.
    It would take a huge load off his mind to have all that
stuff looked after. How else was he going to do it? They had a steady schedule
for the next few weeks. “Okay, I gotta go. I’m at the Jeep dealership.”
    * * * * *
    Nicole was running around the arena Wednesday night during
the game, attending to various things—ensuring there was enough food for the
media up in the press box and for staff downstairs, making sure Ryan had the
list of game shots required by both the team and the NHL, making sure
everything was set up for the post-game media scrum—so she didn’t have time to
watch a lot of the game. But she did stop a few times to watch. There was a
feeling that this was a pivotal game for the team after the trade, Logan’s
first game. She found herself looking for him on the ice and on the bench.
    Too bad they were losing.
    It was against the defending Stanley Cup champions,
but it wasn’t a great start for Logan. Although he himself was playing well.
From the press box, she watched him take a face-off in the neutral zone,
control the puck and race the length of the ice to beat the Pittsburgh
goaltender on the glove side, sending the crowd into a frenzy. She smiled.
    The next time she looked, he was being checked hard into the
boards by a Pittsburgh player, and she winced.
    Obviously one player wasn’t going to turn things around for
the team immediately, but she could see subtle differences. Some of the players
who’d been lackadaisical lately seemed to have more energy, more fire. Scott
had put Logan on a line with Dewey and Tyler, as Fedor had suggested. It was going
okay, but she still thought it would work better with Adam instead of Tyler.
But then she wasn’t the coach. She was just the Communications Assistant.
    Logan came that close to scoring again near the end
of the third period, and even though the Caribou pulled their goalie in the
last minutes of the game, they lost three-two. But there was reason for
optimism based on some of the action, so although the game went in the loss
column, it didn’t feel horrible. At least to Nicole. She couldn’t help but wonder
how Logan was feeling after his first game. But she wasn’t going to seek him
out to ask. No, she was not.
    The next afternoon, she watched Logan posing in front of the
camera for headshots, the photographer’s lights shining down on him in the
photography studio. Team photographer Ryan Sender chatted with Logan as he
shot, talking about―what else?―hockey. They talked about the loss last night
and Logan didn’t seem too broken up about it. He seemed to be a pretty
easygoing guy, yet she kept getting glimpses of something beneath the surface.
His nearly constant smile, easy laugh and nonchalance on the outside made him
seem carefree and charming, but she sensed that he used that charming exterior
to cover up something else. Obviously he had to be serious about his career,
about hockey. He wasn’t all about fun and games, despite the jokes and smiles.
He had to have passion for the game and a determination to succeed, to get
where he was. She’d seen hints of that passion and