“You okay?” Troy was standing in front of her, holding a heaped plate of food. Michelle shook off her memories. She couldn’t afford nostalgia now.
“I’m fine. My mind just wandered.”
“If you need to leave...” he continued.
Michelle checked on the kids, still enjoying themselves. But they couldn’t impose any more on Troy than they already had.
“Do you want to go? I’ll get the kids. But I’m fine if you’d like to stay,” she said.
He grinned suddenly. “It’s kind of fun. I was an only child. I never had parties like this.”
Michelle smiled. “I have three siblings. It wasn’t quite this crazy, but pretty close.”
“Are they still in Winnipeg?”
Michelle’s smile faded. “No, scattered around the globe.” She answered his inquiring look. “Military.”
“Family trait?” he asked.
She nodded and then excused herself to find Bridget. She didn’t want to talk about her family, or her past.
* * *
TROY LET MICHELLE ESCAPE. He was pretty sure that was what she was doing. She didn’t like talking about anything very personal, or about her past. He understood, given what he’d found out about her husband’s death. Though he didn’t think she’d be happy to know how much of her past he’d uncovered.
She was prickly, and he wasn’t sure how to handle that. His relationships with women were mostly simple. They knew what he wanted, he knew what they wanted and they made each other happy for a while. His dad had drilled caution into his head—he’d said there would be people who would try to take advantage of him once he made it to the pros, so he was always careful. Of course with Michelle, this wasn’t a romantic kind of thing. He just felt sorry for her and wanted to help a bit.
With that thought, he looked for Bridget. Normally it wasn’t that hard to find a redhead in a crowd, but half the people here had bright red hair. He’d met Bridget’s dad, who also had red hair, and apparently she had five brothers supposedly all here somewhere in the crowd. He’d stopped trying to keep track. If they were anything like Bridget, their family must be bedlam all the time.
He finally tracked her down, standing near Mike. Troy hadn’t been happy when Mike was first traded to Toronto, but after that Cup run, well, you couldn’t go through something like that and not have a bond.
“Bridget, Mike. Nice party,” he said.
Bridget eyed him skeptically. Troy doubted she would ever get past their first meeting.
“So, Bridget, what did you think of Angie?” After all, he’d never been invited to any of Mike and Bridget’s social events. This whole thing was in aid of Angie.
“She’s good,” Bridget said. Mike nodded from behind her, arms wrapped around her waist.
“She’s really good, in fact,” Bridget continued. “But what exactly are you thinking of? Do you have any ideas? Or did you just want to pass it on to us?” Bridget asked.
Troy paused. He wasn’t quite sure. He’d hoped Bridget would have an idea. But he wasn’t going to dump everything on her lap. In fact, he wanted to follow how the girl did. He was responsible now.
“I didn’t expect to leave it all to you. They’re my neighbors. I want to make sure Angie can play the game she loves. It’s not fair that she can’t just because they don’t have the cash. I’ve got more than enough money, and I want to help out.”
Bridget glanced over at Michelle, talking to Bridget’s mother.
“Are you just going to offer it to her?”
Troy sighed. That would be the easiest thing, but...he was pretty sure Michelle wouldn’t take it. And if Angie ever found out her mother had refused it, things would be pretty ugly across the hallway. He wasn’t trying to make things worse for them.
“She won’t just take it. I was in trouble just for buying the kids those jerseys last week. I wondered if I could give them the money and say it was from the club.”
Mike and Bridget stared at him.
“The club?”
“Yeah, the team’s a hockey club. Her husband was in the military, and so was she. I asked if the club had some kind of program to help vets and their families. They don’t, but Michelle doesn’t know that. I can tell her I pulled some strings and got Angie sponsored.”
Bridget looked at him as if he was a little dim. “So you’re going to pay Angie’s fees but tell her mother that the Blaze is paying for it. What about Angie’s gear? Michelle said she didn’t even have skates. Are you going to cover that, too? You can’t give her a check, or transfer money to her from your account. She’d realize it was all from you.”
Troy sighed again. This shouldn’t be so difficult.
“I haven’t worked that all out yet. Maybe I’ll say there’s a credit at the store or something.”
Troy didn’t appreciate the pitying glance Bridget gave him.
He snapped his fingers. “A gift card, that’s what I’ll do. That could come from the club.”
Bridget crossed her arms. “Assuming you can pull this off, and that’s a big if, how are Michelle and Angie going to get to practices and games?”
“What do you mean?”
“You drove them here today because they don’t have a car. It would be pretty hard for the three of them to take public transit to games, and taxis would be expensive. Or are you thinking of another gift card to cover that, ‘from the club.’” Her sarcasm was obvious, but Troy wasn’t giving up.
Troy set his jaw. “I’ll find a way.”
Mike glanced over at Michelle then the kids, who were talking to Bradley.
“You really like these people?” he asked Troy.
Troy shrugged. “Michelle’s struggling. She won’t admit it, but Angie’s let things slip. I feel bad that she’s working so hard and having such a tough time. It’s tough for a kid when they have only one parent and not much money. Besides, she’s a vet, so we should help out, right?”
Bridget sighed. “Well, I won’t tell her what you’re up to, but don’t be surprised if it all blows up on you.”
* * *
MICHELLE RELAXED AGAINST the seat cushions as Troy drove them home. The kids were watching the video of the game on Michelle’s phone. Angie dissected her every move, making sure she still had her skills.
“Thank you,” Michelle said to Troy.
He gave her a strange look. “What for?”
“For taking us to the game. Introducing us to Bridget, giving us a ride today. The kids had a really good afternoon.”
Troy seemed to relax. Michelle wondered what he’d been worried about.
“I’m glad. Did you enjoy it?”
“It was good to watch the kids having fun, being kids. And Karen, one of Bridget’s sisters-in-law, helped me with some homework. So yes, I enjoyed it.”
“Then that’s good. The O’Reillys are nice,” Troy said agreeably.
“Do you spend a lot of time with the guys on your team?”
Troy shrugged. “Not Mike. The married guys are usually busy with family stuff when they’re not at games or team events. I hang out with the single guys.”
“I appreciate you giving