He Shoots, She Scores

With Carrie
“Nate! Deal with your daughters!”
“Oh no, they’re only mine when they’re bad what did they do now?”
“Look at your son and tell me” Nate turns the corner into the kitchen to see Jeremiah sitting in his booster seat at the table with makeup on, he rolls his eyes and sighs
“ABIGALE, MADISON, AND EMERSON, HERE NOW!” he bellows up the stairs 15 year old Abby, 11 year old Maddie and 5 year old Emmy make their way down the stairs “Why does your baby brother have makeup on his face and paint on his nails?” he says running a hand through his hair in frustration
“I was reading Daddy” Emmy says throwing her hands up in defense
“That’s believable because you are your mothers daughter, but unlikely because you look guilty little girl” Carrie tried her hardest not to laugh behind him as she took a makeup remover wipe to Jeremiah’s face and nail polish remover to his nails.
“I don’t even wear makeup daddy” Maddie says
“That’s because you are an 11 year old hockey player, but you certainly wear nail polish”
“I” Abby starts and Nate narrows his eyes
“Don’t even try it little miss thing coming down here with your face all painted up trying to say you didn’t put makeup on your brother. No I’m not buying it from any of you and you are all grounded”
“DAD!” They all whine
“I don’t want to hear it girls, he is 2 years old and a he! Could you please for a minute stop teasing him by making him look like a clown and be normal and push him down into the sand or something”
“Don’t give them ideas” Carrie says still trying to get the red nail polish off her son’s fingers
“Ow mommy”
“I’m sorry sweetie”
“Smells yucky”
“I know”
“All 3 of you are grounded for a week, to the house, no phones so hand them over Abby and Maddie, no internet, no tv, and no tablets even if they are for reading Emmy”
“Dad! You can’t do that!” Abby protests
“I can’t?”
“No its, its child abuse”
“Hm, let me consult your mother on that one”
“No! She knows all the laws” Emerson says
“No that is not child abuse, its social suicide”
“Sounds good to me, electronics, mine, now.”
“Yes sir” they mumble hanging their heads and heading up the stairs
“Be a girl is hard” Jeremiah says as Carrie gets the rest of the nail polish off his fingers
“It sure is bud” Carrie says with a smile
“Just wait until you attempt to understand them little man” Nate says running a hand through his hair. “See Carrie you said your Criminal Justice degree was useless, and I don’t think it was I think it makes times like these almost funny”
“Sweetie why don’t you go see if Isabella is in her back yard you can go play with her and the other boys while your sisters sit and pout” She says shaking her head with a smile at Nate “That degree was totally useless”
“Ok mommy”
She watches as his little toddler legs carry him out the back door and to the gate connecting her and Lacey’s back yard, he pushes through it with ease giggling as Max greets him hello with slobbery dog kisses. Knowing he was safe under Lacey’s watchful eye Carrie did up the last of her dishes while Nate gathered the electronics from his daughters. After a while they wandered over to their backyard sitting on the porch with their friends
“I was waiting for your girls” Lacey says nodding to the juice boxes pop and snacks out for the kids
“Grounded” Carrie says
“All 3 of them?” Tyler asks and Carrie nods
“They put makeup on Jeremiah”
“Again?” Tyler and Lacey ask at the same time
“They went further this time and painted his nails too”
“I have pretty much cut them off from everything for a week, Maddie isn’t even going to be playing hockey this week”
“Nate, babe that’s harsh they’re in the playoffs and she’s on a points streak you have to let her play”
“She’s grounded, and we have to stand our ground”
“Glad you weren’t my dad” Tyler snorts
“Me too that would be awkward” Nate says with a laugh
They watch the kids play for a while in silence the girls only moving to make coffee. When Isabella lets out a scream four sets of concerned parent eyes turn towards the sand box. Tyler takes a step towards the end of the porch to correct his boys when Jeremiah steps up helping Isabella get the sand out of her pig tails and calling all of her big brothers meanies before marching away taking Isabella by the hand, her giggling as they walked toward the porch
“Oo he’s mad I’ve seen you with that look before” Carrie says nudging Nate as the 2 toddle their way along
“Look at her ogling him, her savior” Lacey laughs
They make it to the porch and cautiously up the stairs
“Izzy ok now yes”
“Uhuh”
“No be sad Izzy”
“I not, cookie” she says innocently sharing her animal crackers. The Gerbe smile that broke across Jeremiah’s face made Carrie’s heart melt, and just like that the 2 toddled their way back down the stairs and to the sand box hand in hand
“Oh no” Tyler says
“What?” Carrie and Lacey ask in unison
“Babe our daughter just fell head over heels for that Gerbe smile, I seen it”
“She’s 2 Tyler, she can barely put together a sentence”
“I know that smile” Nate says looking between Carrie and his son “And we are in big trouble, that smile only comes out when we’re in love”
“I am with Lacey on this one” Carrie says with an eye roll
-14 years later-
Abby was married, living in Anaheim with a 2 year old little boy and an NHL player husband, Maddie was now 25, she was a 2 time Olympic gold medal women’s hockey player living in Florida, pregnant with a little girl and married to a Tampa Bay Lightning player. Emerson was 19 just starting college at Buff State working towards her teaching degree and Jeremiah was 16 a sophomore in high school with a hockey stick and an NHL dream.
Jason was 22 already living his NHL dream as the backup goalie for the Sabres wearing jersey 61 to show support for his mothers old volleyball number of 16 (a retired Sabres number). Michael and Ryan were 19 both playing college hockey with dreams of getting into the draft and Isabella was 16 a sophomore at the same high school as Jeremiah and as book smart as she was pretty.
With Nate
“Dad, I don’t want to go to some stupid dance, I don’t even know who to ask”
“Really?” Nate asks his son with raised eyebrows
“I don’t talk to girls really dad, I just play hockey”
“What about Izzy you talk to her all the time”
“Dad she’s my best friend I can’t just ask her to go to the homecoming dance with me”
“Well why not?” Carrie asks walking into the living room
“She’s my best friend”
“Exactly” Carrie says with a knowing smile and her son’s cheeks turn beet red
“Ask her, the worst she can say is no” Nate says and Jeremiah’s smile falters
“Yeah, the absolute worst she can say is no”
With Tyler
“Daddy, I don’t want to go to some stupid dance I’d rather just read”
“Exactly why you need to go Bella”
“Daddy, I go by Izzy, and its only home coming not anything big”
“She goes by Izzy cause that’s what Jeremiah calls her” Lacey coo’s
“MOM!” she squeals turning the color of a tomato
“There baby girl, go with Jeremiah, he’s your best friend you’ll have fun”
“Daddy, I can’t just GO to a DANCE with the CAPTIAN of the hockey team just because he’s my best friend. This is high school”
“But”
“No buts dad”
“Isabella, if YOU go with him that means no other girls will” Tyler says and he sees her blue eyes light up a bit
“I don’t know”
“Doesn’t hurt to ask” Lacey says
“Yeah princess worst he can say is no”
“Oh no, what if he does say no? I can’t ask! He’ll say no and my life will be over!”
As she makes her way up the stairs in a panicked run Tyler turns to his wife
“I called this when she was 2”
“You’re an ass”
“Love you too baby” he says with a wink
-2 years later-With Carrie and Lacey
“Mom, does this look like the right purple to match my dress?”
“Um, I don’t know its close, Carrie what do you think?”
“I don’t know I think I like the other one better, this one looks a little too blue”
“MA! Is it really this important to be in matching colors Izzy? Its only prom” Jeremiah was met with 3 pairs of eyes that said it all “Ok, ok it’s that important”
“Mom, I’ve got it!” Emerson says walking towards them
“It’s perfect!” Izzy, Lacey and Carrie say in unison
“I know right! Here Jeremiah”
“This looks the exact sa-” he stops mid sentence to see now 4 pairs of eyes with one irritated eyebrow cocked in the air “Changing, I meant I’m changing”
He walks into the dressing room changing quickly and comes back out facing everyone again
“Ya know what I think the purple shirt purple tie is too much, maybe a white tie” Carrie says and her Lacey and Emerson set out around the store to find the perfect shade of white tie
“What’s wrong?” Izzy asks sitting next to him and brushing down that one stubborn piece of hair that was secretly her favorite
“This is crazy Izzy, we’re doing all this for prom it’s not like it’s a big important event right?” he looks to his left to see her expression “It is a big important event huh? Why does this have to be complicated Iz why can’t we just go, talk to our friends dance have fun and come home why does it need to be a production? We don’t match any other school day”
“Prom is like” she stopped for a minute thinking a smile creeping up on Jeremiah’s face as she scrunched her nose in thought “It’s like draft day for girls, in a way, the girl who looks the best and who matches the guy she is with the best gets all the attention like the first overall draft pick”
“Then my mom is right purple on purple, not gonna work” Isabella just laughed leaning her head against his shoulder
“So, what are we doing after high school?” she asks looking sheepishly into his big brown eyes
“Well I’ll be comparing draft day to prom to see if you’re right” he says with a smile she doesn’t return
“No Jeremiah, what are WE doing after high school?” he looked into her blue eyes losing his concentration mesmerized
“I- I don’t”
“FOUND IT” Carrie yells across the shop “Look Izzy isn’t it perfect?”
Jeremiah watches her face turn from serious to playful in the time it takes his mother to round the corner and inwardly he sighs in frustration at himself
“Yes, Mrs. Gerbe you were right it’s perfect!”
With Jeremiah
“Hey dad?”
“Yeah?” Nate says entering the hockey room from where he was on the other side trying to fix the leaky basement bathroom pipes
“Can we talk about something over a little sticks?”
“Bud I’m in my 50’s” Nate starts but one look in his son’s eyes makes him grab the stick and kneel in the opposite net “What’s up kid”
“I dunno, we went shopping today”
“Prom right?”
“Yeah, and Izzy asked me what we were doing after high school and I made some crack about the draft and” Nate sent the ball sailing behind his son and sighed as his dad marked his point “And, I don’t know it just got weird and I think I did something wrong cause she got all quiet”
“Izzy’s always quiet” Nate says as he retrieves the ball from behind him while his smirking son puts a point on the board
“No she isn’t”
“Well what did she want you to say?”
“How am I supposed to know!?” Nate only smiled when Jeremiah threw his hands up in the air
“You listen”
“Dad-”
“Listen” Nate says more forcefully and his son shuts up “Women say exactly what they want to say, you just have to know how to hear it. Now Izzy asked what “we” are doing after high school right?” His son nodded and Nate marked another point for himself on the board “Ok so she said it all right there, the 2 of you have been pretty much skating around dating since you were toddlers and your mother and Mrs. Ennis hate that Enzo and I were right. But she is saying it all in that sentence Jeremiah, she knows you’re going to New York this year and why does she know that because she has 3 brothers that have gone before you 2 to the sabres and one to Calgary, she knows that part. What she wants to know is…”
Nate stares expectantly at his son
“If I knew the answer dad clearly we would not be having this talk” Jeremiah says in frustration sending the ball flying over his dads shoulder
As Jeremiah marked his point on the board Nate sighs “Jeremiah when mom tells you to clean your room or get your laundry down stairs she means”
“That I should have known to do it yesterday”
“Exactly”
“And this has what to do with Izzy?” Jeremiah asks as Nate marks another point
“How long have you been dating her now?”
“7 months, 2 weeks and 3 days”
“Shit, if I could remember how long I was with your mom like that I’d probably…. Never mind”
“Ew dad”
“Anyway, son I’m not going to be here every time you need to know what she wants to say. I’ll give you this one but you need to learn it on your own like me. Her words ‘what are we doing after high school’ you’re going into the draft, possibly going into the NHL, that’s you only you no one else can do that for you but what she wants to know is at the end of that do you still want her standing next to you”
“I don’t think I get it dad” Nate sent the ball flying into the net getting the 5th point and winning the game
“Do you love her, because if not you’re going to lose her faster than you just lost that game”
Jeremiah got up off the floor and headed quietly up the stairs
With Nate
“So” Nate hears a voice and looks up into his wife’s eyes “how long have we been together?” she says eye brows raised
“32 years beautiful, with a life time to go”
“Good boy”
“Still feels like 7 months 2 weeks and 3 days”
“I heard your boy talk flattery will get you nowhere” she says menacingly “Or will it?”
He stands pulling her tightly into his arms “oh it will” he says with a smirk
“If you score the next goal”
“Deal baby” Nate kicks the ball towards the goal on the other end of the floor “Gerbe has the puck, he shoots” he says as the ball rolls towards the goal at the last second Carrie sticks her foot out redirecting the ball with a small kick sending it back into the net behind Nate
“She scores. Now what?”
“I win anyway, I have you”
With Izzy
She was sitting on her bed reading a book when her phone buzzed she looked at the text from Jeremiah and sighed walking down the stairs and to the back porch
“Hi” she says as he opens the gate between his yard and hers
“Hey, we ok?”
“Yeah why wouldn’t we be”
“I don’t Iz, you went all quiet today”
“What do you want me to do Jeremiah? I’ve had 3 brothers go into the NHL 2 of them are still here I get to at least see them but Ryan is in Calgary, that’s not only a different country it’s the west coast of that country. Is it wrong to want to know where I stand if you leave?”
“What? Izzy what are you talking about, you’re always going to be right here”
“What if I don’t want to stay here? What if I want to study abroad at Oxford? What if I want to get my English degree and teach, what if I want travel the world, or what if I want to marry an NHL prospect”
“You can do all that if you want I don’t want to stop you. I don’t know what I want Isabella I really don’t I’m 18 and I want to go to a good team that’s all I have right now”
“That’s all you have?!” she was yelling now, at almost midnight and Jeremiah bit his tongue “So your parents don’t matter? Your sister doesn’t matter? I don’t matter?”
“I didn’t say”
“You didn’t have to, that’s what you implied. God I was so stupid to think that growing up together being best friends, then dating, how could I be so stupid to even think that meant anything to you. Do you even care about anything but that damn game!”
At that she turned and slammed the back door in his face locking it and running up the stairs to her room. She had tears running down her face as she shut her phone off ignoring his text messages. She shuts her light off and tries to sleep
With Tyler
He wakes up early, as always and makes his way down the stairs Max close to his heels. He walks into the kitchen making a pot of coffee when Max growls
“Ok, ok you have to pee I get it” he says walking to the sliding glass doors, he opens them and Max bursts out and Tyler jumps “Jeremiah Nicholas why the hell are you sleeping on my porch?! You scared the shit out of me, I’m too old for that!”
“Sorry Mr. Ennis, Izzy and I had a fight”
“So you sleep on my porch?”
“I was hoping she’d wake up first so I could apologize”
“I can’t believe I am about to say this, but like her mother she swings first and asks questions later when waken up and I don’t feel like going through that so you go wake her up”
“Thanks Mr. Ennis”
“Keep the door open, you have 5 minutes, don’t make me come up there. Your dad is my best friend it’d be a shame if I killed his only son for taking advantage of my only daughter”
“Message heard and received sir”
Jeremiah ran up the stairs and knocked quietly on her door
“Daddy its Saturday, I’m not getting up early go away”
Jeremiah twisted the door knob slowly opening her door, through the dim light he could see her blonde hair sticking up everywhere, she rolled over towards the door eyes still closed
“What dad”
“Izzy, I”
“Jeremiah? Get out of here!” she says throwing a pillow at him which he catches effortlessly
“Izzy listen to me” he says sitting on the end of her bed
“Why do you look wet?”
“It rained last night”
“You slept outside of my house?”
“I was hoping you would wake up first, I scared your dad” she almost laughed, but set her face in a hard line the same look her father got in the faceoff circle Jeremiah cleared his throat trying to ease the tension in the room, the way he figured it he had 3 more minutes “Iz I don’t know what is going to happen at the draft, I don’t know where I’m going to be come October. I can’t even say for sure what’s going to happen next week. This is life things don’t always go as planned I’m going to mess up because as my mom says I’m a Gerbe guy it’s what we do”
“What’s your point?”
“My point is this, I don’t know what the next 5 years is going to bring I don’t know what the next month is going to bring I can’t plan everything out perfectly cause it won’t happen, but I know right now, today, actually for the last 18 completely petrified years of my life I’ve been hopelessly in love with my parents best friend’s daughter, who happens to be my best friend and who I really hope loves me too”
“You what?” she says stunned
“You heard me” he says with that smile the one his mother says is just like his dad’s that made Carrie melt at 20 having the same effect on Isabella
“Jeremiah I don’t know what to say”
“As long as it’s not I hate you, get out, or we’re breaking up I don’t care if you don’t figure it out for another 7 months 2 weeks and now 4 days” her eyes widen in surprise
“You, I can’t believe, but”
“You’re stuttering beautiful”
“I’ve been crying all night thinking all you know how to think with is a hockey stick, you bust in my room while I’m in my pajamas I know my hair is a mess and I have makeup running down my face and you say you love me and expect me not to stutter? And then just to make sure I’m thoroughly melted into what my mother calls the love of a hockey player puddle you call me beautiful when I know I look like shit”
“Wouldn’t happen, not even if you were covered in the stuff. Not at 4 with sand in your hair and mud on your dress, not at 10 wearing the shorts I wore the swim park while I wore my swim trunks cause your shorts got dropped in the pool, not at 14 with braces, and certainly not now”
She wipes her eyes leaning over turning on her beside light “You remember all that?”
“Every moment that’s had you in it I remember, because I love you Isabella Anne”
“I love you too” she says as a tear slides down her cheek
“No baby, don’t do that, don’t cry. Not for me I’m not worth your tears”
“Oh please you are worth so much more than that” she says leaning across the bed kissing him softly