Hailey had gone out on a date after a month of being in Los Angeles. She didn’t really want to, but she knew it was something she had to start to do at some point.

Some guy from work, Jake, had asked her to dinner and then to go meet up with some of his friends. It seemed perfectly harmless to her, something her and Mike had done more times than she could count, but it was scary as hell at the same time.

Jake was cute, he seemed nice, and he had helped her during her transition at work. However, she knew it would end badly by the time she arrived home that night.

Throughout dinner she kept analyzing how he was speaking to her, how he chewed his food, how he held his fork; everything the poor guy did irked her in ways she didn’t even know were possible. She tried though, she tried so hard to put a smile on her face and seem at least semi interested in his words just so he knew that it wasn’t his fault that she didn’t feel anything toward him.

After dinner they went to a local sports bar to meet up with his friends. While there the bar was showing the Flyers Bruins game. Hailey had managed to keep up with her boys, talked with Jeff once in a while, and tried to keep up the hope that they could make the Finals that year. However, it was now game four and they were facing elimination.

She watched intently until Jake interrupted her, “You a hockey fan?”

Hailey nodded, “Grew up in Philly.”

He shook his head, “I swear you hockey fans are of a different breed.”

She smiled, “We’re special.”

Jake looked at the television, “Care to explain the game to me?”

“Another time,” she touched his arm, “It’s hard to explain during game four of the playoffs when your boys are facing elimination,” she said with a sweet smile.

He smiled back at her, “Maybe you can come over and explain the next game to me?”

“Maybe,” she knew she wouldn’t.

Hailey turned back to the TV and let him talk with his friends. It was the third period and the Flyers only had one goal compared to the Bruins four, she knew it was over.

After the game ended she excused herself from the group and went to call Jeff quickly. She knew he wouldn’t answer but she wanted to at least tell him that she saw the game and that if he needed to talk she was there for him.

As she walked back into the bar her phone rang and Jeff’s number popped up, “Hey,” she answered, “You okay?”

“I’ll live,” he sighed, “Sucks though.”

“I know it does boo boo,” she coddled him.

“Wish you were here,” he told her honestly, “Someone else does too.”

“Who?”

“Richie,” he told her, “He’s a wreck Hails, he’s throwing his shit around, yelling at people, it’s bad.”

“Tell him to calm the fuck down,” she knew Jeff was capable of being assertive.

“It’s nothing I can say or do Hailey, this was what you were good at, these were the times he
would come running to you.”

Hailey let that sink in for a moment before responding, “It had to end at some point, he and I had a good run.”

“You miss him?”

She sighed, “Yeah.”

Jeff was quiet for a minute and then sighed too, “Want me to tell him?”

“No, he doesn’t miss me,” she knew that because he hadn’t contacted before or after she moved.

“He won’t admit it, but he does,” Jeff responded.

The two were quiet until Jake came out to see if she was okay, “I’ll be in in a minute,” she told him nicely.

“On that date?” Jeff asked.

“It’s awful,” she giggled, “I need to get out of here.”

Jeff laughed too, “Sorry kiddo. On the bright side, I’ll be out to see you sooner.”

“I can’t wait,” she smiled too, “I better go though. Tell the boys I’m sorry and miss them,” she
didn’t even think about Mike in that scenario.

“I will. Talk to you later.”

Jeff ended the phone call with Hailey and turned to a room full of depressed hockey players. He looked at Scott Hartnell and sighed, “Hailey?” Scott asked.

Jeff nodded.

“Richards could use her right now,” he looked at his captain, “He needs a good lay and a good conversation.”

“He needs the conversation more.”

“True,” Scott nodded with a smirk, “He’d like the lay though.”

“If it was with her, he would.”

Hailey went back into the bar and pulled Jake aside, “I have to get going,” she frowned, “I’m sorry.”

“I can take you home,” he offered.

“No,” she looked at the table of people, “You’re having fun, stay.”

“It’s fine,” Jake argued sweetly.

She kissed his cheek, “Stay. I’ll call a cab.”

“See you Monday at work,” he looked defeated.

“I’ll be there,” she said before she turned to leave the bar.

The cab ride home was filled with thoughts on her date and how she was moving in the right
direction with her life. Though the transition from Philadelphia to LA was beyond hard on her, she could at least say she tried and was going to keep trying for another few months.

It wasn’t until she arrived home and looked at her phone again that she thought about Mike. Jeff had just texted her to tell her that Mike was already getting hammered.

Jeff had kept Mike out of their conversations all together until that night and Hailey was thankful. She missed her family and friends but she really missed the comfort of Mike’s arms around her when she slept or was upset. Since she had been in a constant state of depression since moving, she really missed him.

She spent many nights crying herself to sleep or dreaming of him. It made her wish she had just gone out on that limb and told him how she felt, but by his lack of actions since the night at her
apartment, she knew he didn’t feel the same.

The only thing Mike had left her with that night was a bruise on her hip from him latching onto her and a god damned puck. She knew it was the puck from his goal that night, but she didn’t know what it meant. In her heart she wanted it to mean that it was hers, that he was hers, and that he had made it just to show her that, but her brain told her that he was just giving her a souvenir like he would any fan.