When Mika and Kara sat on the porch to eat some late lunch, Kara was still thinking about what she should do now. She had hardly eaten a thing all day long which wasn’t like her. Lunch didn’t look much better. So far she’d had one bite of her burger. Mika couldn’t deal with that. Seeing Kara so exhausted from crying and sad made her want to cry as well.
“You have to eat something, Kara.” These words made her friend look up. “You can’t just not eat anything at all. We still have to go to the game later.”
“I can’t go.” Kara pushed the plate away and looked over the city. “I just can’t.”
“Yes you can and you will.” Mika moved Kara’s plate in front of her again. “You love him. What if he feels the same way? The way he looks at you and the way he acts around you… Tuukka thinks he’s got feelings for you.”
“You’re talking about me to Tuukka?” Kara’s head shot up. Had Mika really said that?
“I didn’t tell him anything, he mentioned it to me. Benoit has seemed so much happier in the last few weeks and he knows what has been going on between you two.” She reached for her friend’s hand.
“We pretty much agreed that we would break it of if one of us developed feelings for the other one.” Kara sighed. This was even more exhausting than crying for hours. “Okay, I’ll go to the game. But I have to get an earlier flight home. I have to fly back today.”
“Are you sure that you want to do this?”
“Yes.” She got up from her chair and took the plate. “I will go to the game with you and drive to the airport from there. As soon as I get home, I will be able to concentrate on work and start writing.”
“Don’t you have to go to the other games as well?”
“I’ll talk to Coach Claude. I have enough information to start writing and if I need some more, I can always come back.” She moved to the door, but turned around once more. “Plus, if I get on a plane straightaway, you’ll have this whole house to yourself and Tuukka and you should enjoy that time.”
She quickly put her plate in the fridge and went on to the guest room. The bracelet was still sitting in the box on the nightstand, making her close her eyes and take a deep breath. She loved it. It was perfect and so was Benoit, but she couldn’t wear it. Not today, not when she would see him.
While she dropped the box in her suitcase, she called the airline to change her flight. She was lucky and got a flight that left immediately after the game. She would have to leave at least before the third period started, but she was sure that Mika would manage without her. After all, she’d see Tuukka after the game and he would only leave the following day around one o’clock.
She put the suitcase on the bed and changed into the clothes she’d wear for the game and then later the flight. Not Benoit’s jersey, but at least a Bruins hockey t-shirt. She couldn’t go to the game wearing nothing Bruins related. She put everything else she’d taken out of her suitcase back inside and closed it.

Benoit watched Kara in the locker room before the game. Something was wrong with her. She looked exhausted. He couldn’t even concentrate on what the coach was saying. By now everybody knew that Kara stayed behind in the locker room. He’d told them that she’d always said something to him before the games and they’d seen what had happened in the first game. He didn’t care whether they believed him or not, but he wouldn’t walk around telling everyone that she kissed him before a game.
When everyone filed out of the room, Kara went up to him, kissed him very lightly and turned around. “Good luck.” These were the only words she spoke. Something was definitely going on and he needed to find out.
“Wait.” He reached for her wrist and made her stop. He took a few steps to get in front of her, running his hands up her arms. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.” Her eyes were focused on the floor, because she didn’t want to look him in the eyes.
“I know that it’s not nothing.” He put one finger under her chin and made her raise her head so that he could finally see her eyes. “You’re not wearing the bracelet. Did I do something wrong?”
“No!” She took a step back and ran a hand over her face. “The bracelet is perfect.”
“Then what is it?” He reached for her again, but she stepped even further away from him.
“I can’t do this anymore.” It was barely more than a whisper, but in a completely silent room, he heard her perfectly.
“What do you mean?”
“Us. I can’t do this anymore, Benoit, okay?”
“Why the hell not? What is so wrong about this?”
“It just is, okay?”
“No, that’s not a good enough answer for me.”
“Benny, move your ass. You need to be on the ice!” The Coach looked into the room and at his forward.
“Good luck for the game”, Kara said and left him there to take her place in the crowd next to Mika.
Concentrating was very hard for Benoit throughout the whole game. Their little chat was playing in his head over and over and over again and he couldn’t make sense out of it. He’d have to talk to Kara again after the game.
Frustration hit him in the last period. They were trailing 2-0 and the Kings were just about to make their third goal. Luckily Tuukka was able to spare them that humiliation and it stayed at 2-0. Nobody on the team talked in the locker room. The only voiced that filled the room was Claude Julien’s. He was right with everything he was saying.
Benoit couldn’t wait to get out of there. A quick shower and then he was out, just to find only Mika standing there and waiting for them.
“Where’s Kara?” That was the only thing he was interested in.
“On her way to Boston.”
“Come again?”
“She’s on her way to Boston. She needs some time alone and she wants to start writing.” Mika crossed her arms over her chest. She looked pissed and he had no idea why.
“I have to talk to her. She came to me and said that she couldn’t be with me anymore.” This was pathetic, but he didn’t know what else he could do. “You’re her best friend, Mika, please tell me what’s going on with her.”
“Because I am her best friend, I can’t tell you that.” Even though she would love to do it. “Do you care about her?”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Of course I care about her.” What kind of question was that? “What is going on?”
“I really can’t tell you. I’d love to, but I can’t betray her trust. All I can say is, that you should try to talk to her when you’re back in Boston.” She took a deep breath, pondering over whether to say the next words or not. “She cares about you. A lot! I think that night you got injured showed that.” Her view drifted off to behind his head and a smile spread out on her face.
At least he now had some kind of information. He didn’t really know what to make out of it, but he would figure it out. He was still frustrated and pissed and needed some sort of distraction, because there were still more than twelve hours left until they would head to Boston and he could try to talk to Kara. He knew that Marchy and Segs wanted to go to a few bars and he would join them.