A Feel For The Ice Ch. 01

Hayden looked over and shook his head, managing a small smile for his teammate. "Nothing, Oz," he replied, using the goalie's nickname. "Just tired."

"Yeah, that was a rough game last night," Carter said with a nod. "I'm glad Coach is starting Jamie tomorrow night. I could sure use the night off."

Hayden nodded in agreement. He'd love to have a back-up around so he could sit out the occasional game. A moment later he shook his head and gave himself a mental slap upside the head. He loved to play hockey; he had all his life. For now, that's what he could focus on; the game. He was good at the game and he knew where to put the puck without giving it any thought. He didn't need a woman to know all of that. Nodding to himself, he leaned his head back against his seat and half-turned to look out the window.

Just as he was starting to drift off to sleep, the phone in his pocket vibrated, startling him back to alertness. Beside him, Carter chuckled before moving back to his own seat. Hayden glared at his retreating back as he reached into his pocket for his phone. He didn't recognize the number but answered anyway, figuring it might be one of his friends back home.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Zimmerman?" a child's voice greeted him.

"Yes?"

"Hi, Mr. Zimmerman," he said. "My name is Riley Willis. I met you after the Colorado game."

Hayden sat up straight as he realized who it was calling him. It wasn't Anna but it was damn close. "Hey, kiddo."

"Do you remember me?" Riley asked, his voice hopeful.

"Of course. How could I forget you and that sign you'd made for me?" Hayden replied.

Riley made some sort of squealing noise and there was soft laughter in the background. Hayden's stomach clenched and he strained to hear more, hoping it was Anna.

"I watched the game last night, too," Riley said, his voice still hovering somewhere light years beyond excited. "You were awesome."

"Thanks, kiddo," Hayden replied. "I'm sorry we lost for you, though." He was sorry he lost for himself and the team. Even though everyone kept telling him he wasn't at fault, he sure felt like he was.

"It's OK," Riley told him. "You're still my favorite player."

Ah, from the mouths of babes. Hayden sat back in his seat with a ridiculously pleased smile spreading across his face. It did no end of good to know that some fans never lost faith in him. All his stress from the previous night and early morning just lifted away.

"I really liked when you knocked that one guy against the side and he fell and you skated off and almost scored but then they gave you the penalty and that was stupid because it's not like you hit him all that hard," Riley said, scarcely drawing breath between words.

"Oh, well, you know, refs have to do their jobs, Riley," Hayden said. "I probably shouldn't have hit that guy and I hope you don't go around hitting your opponents either."

"I don't," Riley replied and sounded terribly upset over that fact. "Mom says I shouldn't and anyway, we're not allowed in my level because we're too little and they don't teach you to hit until later when you're bigger."

"Well, that's good," Hayden said and grinned at Riley's conversation. For an eight-year old, he was remarkably verbose. "How is your team doing? Are you playing a lot?"

"Yeah!" Riley exclaimed. "My team is called the Flaming Dragons and we played last Saturday and I won the game. Well, my mom says I won because I scored like fifty goals and she says I'm the best player out there but I don't know because my friend Taylor, he's bigger than me and sometimes he's faster so he gets to the puck before me but I think that's just because his legs are so long..."

On it went for several minutes. Every so often, Hayden interjected with a comment but for the most part, Riley was content to ramble on about his team, and about his friends Nick, Taylor and Jimmy. Hayden didn't stop smiling the entire time. He had several young cousins back home in Sweden and many of the guys on the team had young kids so he had a bit of experience. Of course, being on the Red Wings meant they were involved in community events with different children's groups, schools and that sort of thing. For some reason, Riley struck him as such a good-natured kid that Hayden didn't mind listening as he talked about his birthday party that he was apparently already planning; even though his birthday wasn't until January 26th.

"Hey, you know who else's birthday is on that day?" Hayden asked when Riley paused to draw a breath.

"It's not yours," Riley answered.

Chuckling, Hayden nodded. "That's true. No, you've got the same birthday as Wayne Gretzky."

"That's what my mom told me," Riley said, his bored tone implying that it was old news to be linked to that player.

"Wayne Gretzky used to be my favorite player," Hayden confessed, wondering if the Great One would ever have held on through a conversation like this. From what he knew of Gretzky, Hayden figured he probably would have. He seemed like that kind of guy.

"My mom says she liked him too when she was a kid," Riley said.

"Oh yeah?" Hayden put one more mark in his mental 'pro' column. "Is your mom there with you now?"

"Yup," Riley replied. "She gave me your number and said I should call you to tell you about my game last Saturday."

Which he had. At great length. Hayden chuckled as he recalled Riley's account of his brilliant spinning goal. "Oh, she did, did she?" he said.

"Yeah and now she's telling me I have to get off the phone," Riley replied, sounding sulky.

"I don't mind talking with you, kiddo," Hayden replied and he meant it.

"See, Mom!" Riley cried. "Mr. Zimmerman wants to talk to me!"

Hayden listened for a response but heard only a muffled feminine tone, nothing clear.

"But Mo-om..." Riley whined, apparently unhappy with her response.

"Now, Riley," there was her voice, much louder this time and Hayden swallowed as he heard it.

"OK," the boy grumbled. "Thanks for talking to me, Mr. Zimmerman. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Well, I'll be sort of busy with practice and the game but how about I call you the day after that?" Hayden suggested and could have laughed at his inspired idea.

"OK," Riley replied. "I've gotta go now. Bye!"

"Bye, Riley," Hayden said and waited as the phone was passed on. Hayden half-expected Anna to hang up without saying anything but his stomach clenched when he heard her soft voice come over the line.

"Hi, Mr. Zimmerman," she said.

"Hello," he replied with a grin. "Anna, right?"

"You remember?" she asked incredulously.

"Of course," he said. "You and Riley were hard to forget."

She laughed, a breathless sound and Hayden shifted as his jeans suddenly got a whole lot tighter. "I'm sorry that he took up so much of your time," she said. "I didn't think he'd keep you on the phone for..." she paused and then gasped. "Thirty minutes! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," Hayden assured her. "I had a great time talking to Riley. He's a good kid and holds a conversation better than a lot of men my own age."

Again she laughed and Hayden bit back a groan at the effect her laughter had on him. Thank God Carter had moved away before Anna had come on the phone.

"You're very sweet to say that, Mr. Zimmerman," she replied.

"Hayden, please," he urged her. "And I meant it. He's great."

"Thanks," she said, the note of pride obvious in her tone. "Hayden," she added a second later.

Oh Christ, he thought as all the blood left his head in a hurry. Say something before she hangs up! "Uh, I don't know if your... if Riley mentioned that he... uh... wanted to talk to me again?" he said.

"I heard him say that and if you don't want him to call, that's totally fine," Anna said. "I'll explain to him that you're very busy and he can't keep harassing you."

"No, I don't mind," Hayden replied quickly. "But I said I'd call him the day after tomorrow."

"Oh."

Hayden held his breath as he waited for more of a response. He was almost afraid she'd hung up on him when he heard her soft exhalation.

"So, I guess... you'll need... our number?" she asked.

Hayden let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and nodded. Then he spoke out loud with a mental shake when he figured out she couldn't see him. "That would be great. If you don't mind, of course."

"No, not at all," she replied. "Why would I mind? I mean, you already gave us your number so it's no big deal if I give you ours, right?"

Hayden wasn't sure if she was looking for a response to that but he figured he had nothing to lose at this point. "I think so," he said. "I promise not to call in the middle of the night."

"Oh? You're not a drunk dialer?" she asked, surprising him. She giggled before he responded and then he couldn't gather his wits fast enough to respond. "I'm just kidding, Mr. Zimmerman. Uh, Hayden."

"I figured," he said, his voice coming out thick. He shifted his seat again. His jeans were very snug. "Not a drunk dialer. Not a drunk!"

She laughed again and he smiled, closing his eyes as he savored the sound.

"That's good. Can't be seen about town with a drunken Swede," Anna said. "Oh Christ," she muttered a second later. "I'm... I'm s-sorry. That sounded... Oh jeez."

He chuckled at her stammer and pictured the blush covering her cheeks. It had only been one night two weeks ago but her face was stamped on his mind. "Aside from the drunken part, that all sounds like something I was thinking anyway," he confessed.

There was no response for a moment and he was really afraid this time that she'd hung up. After double checking, he spoke again. "Anna?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was breathless.

"Was that too forward?" he asked.

"Was...? Uh, no. Not really. Unexpected."

"Unwelcome?" he hedged, sucking in a breath as he waited for a response.

"N-no," she stuttered.

Grinning, Hayden opened his eyes to look out the window. "So can I have your number?"

"Sure," she replied and told it to him.

"So," he said after tucking the piece of paper with her phone number on it into his pocket. "What are you up to?"

She laughed. "God, I don't even know. I was grading papers when Riley first called you but I don't even remember what grade I teach at the moment."

"That's probably the nicest thing a woman has ever said to me," Hayden said.

"Oh, please," Anna replied and laughed again. "What a line! You use that on all the single mothers you meet?"

"Ah, so you are a single mother."

"Oh, I... uh... yeah, I thought... you knew," she said, stammering again.

"No," he replied honestly. "I remember you were with some guy at the game. I thought he might be a boyfriend or something."

"God, no!" she exclaimed, to Hayden's immense relief. "That was Kevin, our neighbor. He got tickets for the game and asked us to go with him. He's not my boyfriend."

"Good to know," Hayden murmured.

"Yeah," Anna added on a soft exhalation.

For a moment, they both fell silent. A minute later, the bus driver announced they were approaching their destination.

"Listen, Anna, I have to go for right now," Hayden said, truly regretting having to hang up the phone, especially when they were just getting started. "But we're just about to check into our hotel. Can I call you later?"

"I thought you were going to call Riley the day after tomorrow?" Anna replied in a confused tone.

"I will," Hayden agreed with a smile. "But I'd like to call you tonight."

"Oh. Oh! Uh, OK," she stuttered.

"Great. Tell Riley to be good and I'll talk to you later," he said.

"OK," she replied.

"Bye, Anna."

"Bye, Mr. Zim- uh, Hayden."

Chuckling, Hayden hung up the phone and dropped it into his jacket pocket. He began to hum a tune under his breath as the bus unloaded. The loss the night before was now a distant memory and all he could hear was the breathless laugh of Anna Willis.

***

Anna wasn't sure how she managed to get dinner prepared that night. After that, she wasn't sure if she even put soap in the sink when she did the dishes. She was sitting at the dining room table staring into space when Riley's voice broke through her tumbling thoughts.

"Can I go to bed now, Mom?" he asked.

Blinking, Anna turned her head and focused on her son. He was staring at her with sleepy eyes and yawned as she looked at him.

"Of course, sweetheart," she replied. "Go on up and I'll come in a minute to tuck you in."

Riley nodded and walked out of the room, heading for the stairs. Anna watched him go and replayed Riley's half of the telephone conversation in her head. He'd been so thrilled to phone his favorite player that he'd scarcely drawn breath between stories of school and hockey. Anna wasn't sure how Hayden had managed to keep up but when she'd spoken to the hockey star, he'd sounded genuinely pleased to speak to Riley.

And to me, she added silently, heat creeping up her neck as she recalled their conversation.

"I'd like to call you tonight," he'd said and it gave her goosebumps now to think of it.

Of course, he could have been trying to get her off the phone in a polite way. Not that she recalled any conversation with any man ever ending like that. The only one who called when he said he would was Kevin and even he was unreliable at times.

Sighing, Anna set her red pen down on the table and walked upstairs to tuck Riley in. A short while later she found herself wandering aimlessly through the house. She tidied the already tidy kitchen and she folded the blanket from the couch that Riley had tossed on the floor earlier. Lastly, she organized her homework into a neat stack and went upstairs.

There's no use in trying to work anymore tonight, she thought, telling herself that she wasn't getting ready for his phone call. She fully expected him not to call, no matter how much she was hoping he would.

She got ready for bed, changing to her long-sleeved, nearly worn through pink flannel pajamas. She brushed her hair and teeth and washed her face with cold water, hoping that would erase some of her whirling thoughts. After that was done, she reclined against her pillows and cracked open her most recent bargain book find. The words swam before her eyes and she gave up after rereading the same page five times. Just as she was about to turn her light off, the phone on her nightstand rang.

She froze, her hand hovering in midair near the switch for her bedside lamp. Staring down at the phone, she wondered if she should ignore it. After all, she hadn't allowed Riley to call Hayden Zimmerman just because she'd wanted to talk to him. Then she had and he'd been so charming and sweet. Had it all actually happened?

Answer the phone, you moron! she ordered herself, scooping the receiver up before it stopped ringing.

"Hello?"

"Anna," Hayden said from across several state lines. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't pick up."

Me too, she replied silently and bit her lip before responding out loud. "I was just... getting out of the tub." The tub?!? What the...? Stupid, stupid! she silently berated herself.

On the other end of the line, Hayden chuckled; a deep, warm sound that had her relaxing into her pillows again. "All right," he said. "I didn't think we'd reached that point yet, but I'm not complaining."

"Point?" she echoed. "What point?"

"The point where you tell me when you're naked," he replied casually.

She gasped and covered her face with one hand. "I'm not naked!"

"But you just said you were getting out of the tub!" he said and laughed. "Do you bathe in a swimsuit?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I'm not... I wasn't... oh, to hell with it. I'm moving to Canada."

Hayden's laugh turned full-bodied and Anna wished she could bury herself in a hole. "I'm pretty sure they still have telephones and bathtubs there."

"Yeah, you're probably right. And hockey players," she added.

"Oh, God, yeah," Hayden agreed. "The place is wall-to-wall with hockey players. And coaches and fans and fanatics."

Anna smiled. "So you think I'd fit right in?"

"Well, your son certainly would. He seems to know everything there is to know about the sport."

"Sometimes I think he does," Anna confessed, more than a little impressed with her son. "I used to be the one explaining things to him and now he's the one telling me why you've just been sent to the penalty box."

"Oh, ouch," Hayden breathed. "That was low."

Anna giggled. "Well, that was for making fun of how I bathe."

"I'd never make fun of that," he countered. "I'd at least need to see it firsthand before passing judgment."

A blush spread across Anna's face and she squeezed her eyes shut. "I..." she started to speak but couldn't form an entire sentence.

Hayden's warm chuckle filled her ear and did wonderfully strange things to her inner workings. "It's all right," he said. "I'll let you bathe yourself. For now."

"So... uh, how was the game?" she asked, desperate to change the subject while she was still capable. She'd never been one to engage in phone sex, so she couldn't even be certain if that was where the conversation had been headed, but she knew she wasn't ready to find out.

"Which game? Last night's?" Hayden asked.

"Sure."

With another chuckle, Hayden told her about it. He sounded upset over the loss and Anna got the feeling he was shouldering most of the responsibility for it.

"You're not the only player on the team, Hayden," she said when he paused.

"I know. I was the only one to get the penalty that allowed the other team to score though."
"Oh, please," Anna scoffed and rolled onto her side, no longer uncomfortable with the conversation. "I watched the game, Hayden, and two of your teammates received penalties before you did. One of those power plays resulted in a goal for the other guys, too."

"But my penalty was during overtime," Hayden groused. "It was stupid."

"Fine. It was stupid. Now don't ever make the same mistake again."

Silence greeted her comment and she wondered if she'd gone too far. "Hayden?"

"I'm here," he said in a low voice.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It just caught me by surprise since that's exactly what my coach and my captain said to me," he told her.

She smiled. "Are you saying I could be a coach?"

"Or my captain," he added.

"Sounds like a fantastic job," she mused. "Bossing a bunch of over-grown adolescents around and smacking them in the ankles with hockey sticks when they get out of line."

"I can picture it now," Hayden replied with a hearty laugh.

Anna grinned, picturing it as well. Although when it came time to take a swing at #40, she aimed higher; more in the cute butt area.

"Is Riley still up?" Hayden asked after another moment.

"No. He asked to go to sleep about an hour and a half ago," Anna replied.

"He asked to go to sleep?" Hayden repeated in surprise. "Wow. I didn't think kids did that."

"Most probably don't but occasionally, Riley will," Anna explained. "Usually when he's had a big day."

"Today was a big day? What happened?"

"Well, he went to school, passed a spelling test, came home and got to phone his hero," Anna said.

"His hero? Who the hell is that?"

Anna giggled and pressed her warm cheek to the cool pillow under her head. "I'm not sure. There was this weird guy with a beard who was just giving his phone number out at a hockey game we went to. I think Riley recognized him, but I'm not sure."

"Huh, weird guy," Hayden repeated. "You think I'm some weird guy who gives his phone number out to everyone?"

"Well, no, obviously not," she replied. "But there was this other guy with no teeth behind you and of course I couldn't turn him down when he asked me out..." Anna let her voice trail off when she realized they were getting back into flirtatious territory. By the sound of Hayden's answering laughter, she thought she might be too late.