Her alarm went off at seven-thirty. She’d been up late with Brooks on the phone and dragging herself out of bed to play Tetris with all her worldly possessions and a U-Haul sounded like the last thing she wanted to do. Unfortunately, she was not capable of twitching her nose and making the move happen without actual effort.

After an energy bar for breakfast, she started piling boxes up by the door for easy loading. Derrick has promised to be over at by nine o’clock with the U-Haul she’d rented. Luckily, the late April day was perfect for moving. The forecast was sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s. Dusting her hands off on her shorts, she sat down on the couch and surveyed the wreckage of her apartment. This was her last night here. She was going to pack up the bed tonight and crash at Derrick’s house before heading out the next morning.

She was nervous about the move, her new position with the company, and Brooks. Looking forward to spending time with him was like being a glutton for punishment. Like being a dehydrated and sitting next to a glass of cold water you couldn’t touch. But it felt good and for now that was enough. She’d live in his guest room for a couple weeks until she could find her own place.

Just before nine, a U-Haul pulled up in front of her building. She hurried over to open the door before Derrick had a chance to knock. When it swung open to reveal Brooks, her jaw drop to the floor.

“Hey, penguin,” he said with a warm smile. Before she could respond, he was across the threshold and giving her the biggest hug she’d ever had. His arms were wrapped tight around her and his face was bent down and buried in her hair. Her arms had gone around on neck on instinct, which pressed her body fully against his. She couldn’t quite think straight.

“What? What are you doing here?” she asked.

Brooks pulled back and said, “To help you move.”

“How did you know where I live?”

“I called your brother. He met me at the airport this morning.”

“Why?”

He casually tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I wanted to help, but I didn’t know if I’d be ready to play or if we’d advance to the next series. Didn’t want to let you down by not being able to follow through on a promise, so I waited until the loss last night to buy a ticket to Pittsburgh for early this morning.”

“Oh.” She was floored.

“This is the only good thing about being eliminated.”

Derrick walked up behind Brooks and clapped him on the back. “Surprise!” Derrick said to Marie. “I brought you some muscle.”

Marie swallowed. Muscle, indeed. That’s all Brooks was. Maybe she’d get to see him with his shirt off today. The sling was gone and he looked much more comfortable.

“You can’t lift things--your shoulder.”

Brooks shook his head and slipped inside her apartment. “I’ve been lifting weights for the past week. Nothing too heavy or strenuous, but I’m not completely out of commission. Just easing back into it. I’ll be ready for full off-season training in another couple weeks.”

While Brooks wandered around her apartment, surveying the boxes, Marie looked at her brother. He was smiling. “He’s totally in love with you, Marie,” Derrick whispered.

She was going to have a heart attack. Her heart was beating too hard, too fast. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she hissed.

Derrick shrugged. “Just sayin’. He flew out here to help you drive the U-Haul to D.C. That’s a pretty big deal.”

“He’s a nice guy,” Marie replied under her breath.

“Who’s a nice guy?”

They both turned to look at Brooks. He’d heard her. “You,” Marie responded. “Stop being such a nice guy or you’ll make me like you too much.”

Brooks smiled broadly. “Not possible, penguin. Not possible at all.”

*************************************

It only took them about three hours to fill the U-Haul. Marie had spent the past two weeks donating things she no longer wanted or needed to cut down on the amount of things she’d have to move. She stood in her empty apartment and looked at the bare floors and walls. It felt strange. She was going to be living with Brooks Laich. At least temporarily. That was strange too.

Looking out her living room window, she saw Brooks and Derrick talking by the U-Haul. She couldn’t hear their conversation, but they seemed to be deep in it. Brooks was talking, moving his hands occasionally. Her brother’s head was down and he was nodding. Then Derrick looked up at Brooks and said something. Brooks nodded and continued talking. What were they discussing? The move? Her? She would kill Derrick if he told Brooks she had feelings for him.

Finally, the two men shook hands and Derrick clapped Brooks on the shoulder twice with his free hand. Marie turned away from the window and walked outside. “What’s going on out here?” she asked.

Derrick smiled at her. “Nothing. Let’s go get some lunch.”

They went to an Indian place that Marie loved. She wanted to have it one last time before she moved away and couldn’t get it whenever she liked. Afterward, Derrick and Brooks drove the U-Haul to her brother’s house while Marie followed in her car.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Derrick’s backyard. His two boys were enamored with Brooks, despite his being a member of a rival team. They were so star-struck it didn’t matter. Brooks took it all in stride, signing just about everything that could be signed and letting the nine-year-old and eleven-year-old take pictures of and with him. Marie sat on the patio with Jenna and watch them talk Brooks’ ear off by the fire pit in the center of the back yard.

“He’s good with them,” Jenna said. She hadn’t recognized Brooks. Despite being married to a hockey fanatic and having two sons who loved the sport, Jenna knew nothing about it.

“Yeah, he is,” Marie agreed.

“Not too bad on the eyes either. It should be a crime for a guy who looks that good to have a way with kids and want to help you move.”

Marie smiled at her sister-in-law. “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Derrick thinks you’re secretly dating him, you know.”

“I’m not. I wish I was.”

As if sensing they were discussing him, Brooks looked up from the remote control monster truck the boys were showing him and smiled at Marie. She shook her head and held her pointer finger up to give him a little wave.

“You should make a move. He seems like he’d be receptive. You know he keeps watching you, right?”

“I don’t think I’m his type.”

Jenna hummed in thought. “He turn you down?”

“I never asked.”

“So ask.”

“I don’t want to ruin what we have. I’d miss him if he wasn’t in my life.”

Jenna took a drink of her iced tea as she watched the boys run over to their dad at the grill and then hurry back to Brooks. “You’re in love with him.”

Marie felt her shoulders slump and her body fold in on itself. “Probably.”

“Definitely,” Jenna said. “He’s being a little too nice for friends only. Flying here to help you move. Offering to drive the U-Haul back. Letting you stay in his house.”

“He’s a nice guy.”

“No guy is that nice,” Jenna said with a roll of her eyes. “Unless he wants something more than friendship out of it.”

“Mom!” Matt, the older boy, ran up to Jenna. “Brooks said we can practice with him the next time he comes back to Pittsburgh.”

Jenna laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “That’s great, buddy. He’ll teach you all the tricks so you can be a great player like he is.”

When Matt ran off, Jenna looked over at Marie. “The next time he comes back, huh? Sounds like he’s your boyfriend.”

“He’s a nice guy.”

“And you’re a blind fool,” her sister-in-law said.

****************************************

They’d had burgers and potato chips for dinner on the patio, followed by a few beers and adult conversation once Matt and Aaron had had their fill of Brooks. Everyone went to bed at a respectable hour. Brooks took Matt’s bed and Marie slept on the couch. Matt told everyone several times about how jealous the other kids at school were going to be when they found out an NHL player had slept over.

The next morning they hooked her car up to the trailer and Marie climbed into the U-Haul with Brooks. He insisted on driving, and she wasn’t about to tell him no. Pulling the trailer with her car on it was intimidating. He was more qualified than she was to do something like that.

Conversation during the four-hour drive to D.C. was light and fun. Brooks gave her his survival tips for the city, promising to show her around. Marie relentlessly made fun of his choice in music when he insisted on the classic rock station. Really, she didn’t mind it, but she like to tease him.

They were only a couple miles from his house when she realized something important. “Don’t you go home during the summer?”

“Home?” he asked.

“Home to Canada. Most of the guys do, don’t they?”

“I think of D.C. as home now, I guess. I usually go visit my family for two or three weeks, but I spend most of the summer here. If I travel, then it’s just for off-season training.”

“Oh, I was worried that I’d thrown all your plans off.”

He glanced over at her and smiled as he came to a stop at a traffic light. “Don’t worry about me, penguin. I’d stick around for you any day.”

“You’ll kick me out if I become a pest, right?”

“Never. I’m going to lock you in my room and never let you out.”

She laughed, trying to ignore the possible innuendo. “Don’t go all serial killer now.”

His phone rang and he answered it, giving a couple short responses.

When he hung up she said, “Hot date?”

“With three other Caps. They’re waiting for you at my house.”

“For me?” Marie’s eyes widened.

“I asked for backup. You’re not lifting a thing, but you are going to tell Greenie, Fehr, and Erskine where to put all your stuff when we get to my house.”

“Brooks,” she whined. “I don’t want to make a big deal and inconvenience these guys. You’re all tired, and I can carry my own stuff.”

“It’ll take them less than an hour. I can’t have my girl lugging her own boxes around.”

She sucked in a deep breath, pondering over the use of “my girl”. She didn’t have long to think about it because within a minute he was pulling up to his house. She’d seen it the night she brought him dinner, but it had been dark. It looked brand new. The yard was landscaped, and the grass was green. And the garage was, thankfully, huge. Three men stood out front, and she recognized each one.

Brooks was out of the U-Haul and greeting the three guys before Marie could even get her seat belt off. He pulled open the passenger door and offered his hand to help her out. Fucking gentleman. It was almost too much, especially with the other three guys there. They were giving him a strange look. Probably because they were wondering why he was making such a big deal out of such an average chick.

“Long time, no see,” Mike said, putting an arm around her shoulder. He smelled like expensive cologne and looked like he belonged in an edgy fashion magazine.

“Yeah, how have you been?”

“I’ve been better, but there’s always next season,” he said, letting her go. He introduced her to the other two guys.

Marie suppressed the blush that was forming on her cheeks. She hated being the center of attention. “Hi, nice to meet you both.” She shook their hands and then said, “For the record, I wanted to do this myself, but he snuck around behind my backs and called you guys.”

“Don’t worry about it,” John Erskine said.

“They don’t have anything better to do, the bums,” Brooks said, coming up behind Marie and putting a hand on her back to let her know he was there.

He’d opened the back of the U-Haul and the three guys filed over to start unloading. Brooks held his hand out for her keys. She handed them over so he could get her car off the trailer and park it in his driveway.

All Marie could do was stand back and answer questions about where each box went. She directed her clothes and a couple other boxes of personal items to the bedroom, but most everything was packed away in one side of his garage. True this his word, it took Brooks and his three teammates less than an hour to unload the U-Haul.

Mike and Eric Fehr offered to drop the rental off for her. She told them no, but Brooks came up behind her and snatched the paperwork out of her hands. He passed it and the keys over to Mike. “Thanks, Greenie,” he said.

While Eric and John were sweeping out the back of the U-Haul, Brooks grabbed their empty water bottles out of the cab.

“Thanks for taking it back,” Marie said to Mike.

“No problem.” He shifted on his feet. “So what’s up with you and Brooksy?”

“Huh?”

“Roomies now?”

She laughed softly. “Temporarily.”

Mike stepped closer to her and lowered his head. “He talks about you all the time, you know.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “And he’d kill me if he knew I just told you that. So don’t stay anything to him.”

Marie’s eyes were wide. “I... uh, okay. I won’t say anything. What does he say about me?”

Brooks was approaching. Mike saw him and smiled at her.

“Is he bothering you?” Brooks asked.

She shook her head, still confused about what Mike had just said.

“See you around,” Mike walked off to join Eric. John Erskine yelled goodbye to everyone as he slid behind the wheel of his car.

Within a few seconds she was alone with Brooks, standing in his driveway and feeling like she’d just been picked up and tossed around by a tornado. “I need to sit down and catch my breath,” she told him.