It's been over a year since we moved to Boston and after the initial hesitance I quickly got into the grove of my new life. Nathan quickly got his business started and began hiring right away as jobs poured in at a steady rate. I quickly made friends both from the company and people I had met over my time. My closest friend still was Jacob who I literally ran into my first night here.
"Shit I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He asked as he held a hand to steady me.
"It's alright I should look where I'm going." I said checking my nose for blood.
"Don't worry about it. Is your nose okay?" He asked leaning a little closer to check it.
"Yeah it should be okay. I'm Jessica." I said holding my hand out.
"Jacob, nice to meet you." He said smiling.
We quickly became friends from there. I found out he worked in an ice rink and he was fascinated that I worked as a subcontractor. He met Nathan and I met his girlfriend Lindsay and we all got along pretty well.
"Hey Jess the ice is free so you can head out there." Jacob said as I walked in the rink.
"Thanks man." I said walking into the rink. I quickly laced up my skates and headed onto the ice, the rush of cold air hitting me in the face. I grabbed a net from the corner and set it up before grabbing my stick and pile of pucks and dropping them on the ice. I skated around a bit shooting the puck into the net easily.
"Hey!" I heard someone shout from the sideline. I looked over to see a guy standing there. I skated over to him and noticed he looked about my age and cute.
"Yeah? Can I help you?" I asked politely.
"I was just wondering if you maybe wanted a practice partner. I'm a goalie." He said. I noticed he had an accent and tried to pinpoint it.
"Yeah sure that sounds fun. I'm Jessica by the way." I said sticking my hand out. He smiled and got on the ice with all his gear on and helmet in hand.
"Tuukka." He said shaking my hand.
"You're not from around here are you?" I asked as we skated over to the net. I began collecting the pucks from the back of the net.
"No I'm from Finland." He said.
"Very nice, my sister in law is from Finland." He smiled and put his helmet on and I skated back to center ice. I skated towards him with the puck and shot it fairly straight and he easily caught it. I skated back around the net and tried again, except going more towards the side. We did this for a while when I finally scored.
"SCORE! Jessica has scored on the Finn!" I shouted out to the empty rink making him chuckle.
"You got lucky!" He said sweeping pucks at me.
"You wish. That was a fair goal my friend." I said lining up for another shot. We shot back and forth for the next hour or so, talking here and there. I managed to get a few on go but majority of the ones I shot he caught.
"You're good." I said skating to the bench and grabbing my water bottle.
"You're not bad yourself. You're pretty good. Do you play?" He asked and shook my head.
"Not more them causally. I just enjoy the sport." I said. He nodded to the benches and I followed him over.
"So I know you casually play hockey, what else?" He said sitting down and grabbing a water bottle.
"Well I grew up in Denver, Colorado. I have four older brothers who all loved sports so I grew up playing pretty much all sports; basketball, baseball, hockey, swimming, tennis. When I was in high school I joined my oldest brother's contracting business. So when my brother Nathan moved out here for his own business I followed him." I said looking at the ice.
"Wow. So you build houses?" He asked.
"A little bit, I do a bunch things here an there. Drywalling, spacaling, stain cabinets etc. I'm pretty much a jack of all trades." I said smiling at him.
"Jack of all trades?" He asked confused.
"Like I know a little bit about a lot of different things." I explained. "What about you?"
"Well I'm from a small town in Finland and I began playing hockey early on. I knew I wanted to be a goalie since I started skating and my godfather was a goalie so it seemed natural. At 15 I moved to Tampere to pursue hockey and then I joined the Finnish air force as part of my mandatory service. Then I played for the national team. Eventually I came to the US and have been bouncing between Boston and Providence playing for the Bruins franchise." He said waving his hand around.
"Wow so you're gonna be playing for the Bruins?" I asked.
"Well I don't know about that. Right now I have to make it permanently to the Bruins." He chuckled.
"Keep playing like that and you will. So you're currently with the providence bruins or the Boston bruins?" I asked.
"Providence. They called me up to play a game, I believe against the Maple Leafs." He said.
"Cool. When is that?" I asked.
"I think in a week. Are you gonna go to the game?" He asked.
"If you're playing I just might. Well I guess it depends is it in Boston? Cause if its in Toronto I'm afraid you're on your own buddy." I said bumping his shoulder.
"Aww man!" He said hanging his head playfully.
"But I'll watch it definitely!" I said.
"I'll be sure to get a win for you." He said casting a wink my way.

Notes

Thoughts?