"We're playing Sweden in the Olympics!" Herb yelled.

I cringed. The boys were down by one and were not playing like I knew they could. Jack had been benched due to a ligament tear. We smiled at each other when I stood with him and Herb on the ice when he was told he could play. We were happy.

Then the game came and the boys played like crap.

I was astounded.

At the moment, we were in the locker room after the first period. I wasn't listening to all what was being said. All I knew was that he was yelling at Mac. He had sustained an injury during the first period and was sitting with ice on his thigh. Considering I wasn't paying attention, I jumped when Mac jumped up.

Then they were back on the ice playing their hearts out. I barely watched as my thoughts took over and that was dangerous. I could get fired for that. But Herb was too busy yelling at the guys to pay any attention to me.

We tied the Swedes 2-2, thanks to Baker's final shot. That got Herb off their backs for a bit. He still wasn't happy but he was forgiving for the tie.

I waited outside the locker room. For some reason I really didn't care about being with the guys. I was still reeling over the conversation I had with Buzz. No one else knew about it because I hadn't thought to talk to Silky about it. I honestly didn't want to talk to it.

After an hour, most of which I knew Herb was yelling, they all started filing out. Silky threw his arm around me as we started to the bus. He was tired and hungry. They all were.

As soon as we dropped off all the guys stuff, we all went out. This time we chose a completely different restaurant than the one we went to the night before the Olympics. I wasn't up to going but Buzz talked me in to it, saying they already had reservations for everyone.

Mac was limping as he walked into the restaurant in his jeans and t-shirt. His coat he tossed on the chair beside me as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. There was a buffet here and the boys were having a ball getting food. Bah returned with a plateful, sat down and began to munch happily. I shook my head at him.

"Hey, good shot, Baker!" someone called from the other room.

Baker turned around and waved. "You'd be surprised how much notice we get when we do well." He said as he sat down.

"It was a good shot." Buzz said as he fished around his plate for his food.

The boys were louder as the beer started flowing. I sat back and watched, knowing full well some of them would have to be carried back to their rooms. Even though they tied, they had something to celebrate. They were the underdogs coming into this and it was a real confidence booster for them to know they were still in the running for the gold medal.

I really wasn't hungry so I stood.

"Where are you going?" Bah asked around his food.

"I'm going back to my room. I'm not really hungry." I replied pulling on my coat.

"Are you okay?" Rizzo asked. "You're not sick are you?"

"No, I'm just not hungry at the moment. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

I hugged Jack as he came back in the room and continued out the door. I walked a few feet before I heard someone coming after me. Silky was coming after me and that was confusing and exciting. We hadn't had a night alone since before I was offered the job as trainer.

He didn't say anything as he took my hand and walked with me. He didn't ask where we were going as I walked towards the park. I wanted to go to the ice rink in the park and he let me lead him there. We rented the skates and sat quietly to put them on. He wasn't used to the smaller skates but he didn't say a word.

It felt good to be back on the ice again, even if it was just a frozen pond. I had skated on frozen ponds all my life and this felt normal. We followed the flow of traffic and skated calmly. He got behind me and took both my hands. He pressed against me and skated.

I moved to the side and took one of his hands. It was cold but started to warm up the longer I held it. This relationship we had was so comfortable it was nearly impossible to believe. I was thankful it wasn't sexual. We hadn't talked about it and I don't think we even thought about it. I mean, I know he's a guy and I know what people say about guys. I witnessed it firsthand because all the guys on the team. Silky was just very laidback and he didn't pressure people.

We tired of it really quickly and as I took the skates back, he went to get hot chocolate. I sat on one of the benches and looked at my watch. It was getting close to midnight. Luckily there was two days between this game and the quarter finals. We would find out the next night who we played.

I had a feeling I knew what I was going to be talking about with Silky in the days to come. I wasn't dreading it but I knew it was coming. It had to be. We were this couple who didn't talk about much beyond the upcoming games.

Silky returned with two Styrofoam cups and handed one to me. I smiled at him as he sat beside me. We were silent as the drink cooled for a little bit. I decided we needed to discuss some of this.

"We need to talk, Silky." I said.

"Nothing good ever comes of those words." He replied.

"It's nothing like that. We've established to each other that we're a couple and the rest of the team knows now. What we need to figure out is what we're going to do after the games."

"You're not breaking up with me?"

I looked at him. His eyes were wide in relief. "No, why should I? Besides Buzz you're the only guy I trust completely. That's a lot too. Not to mention that…." I looked down at my cup, not really wanting to say what I was going to but needing to say it. "The truth of the matter is I've fallen hard for you, so hard I think I love you and it's all confusing because there's a possibility I may be drafted to be a trainer for a team somewhere out west or I could be one for a Northeastern team and…"

He stopped me with a laugh. "Minni, I love you as well. If you're concerned about what will happen to us after this, we'll just have to wait and see. There a possibility I could be drafted to a Midwestern team or a northeastern team. It all depends. We'll figure it out."

I smiled. At least that was in the open. After we finished our hot chocolate and threw our cups away, we wandered for a little bit, stopping to get ice cream before we went back to our room we were sharing with Buzz. The lights were out so we changed quickly and climbed in bed. Once nestled in Silky's arms, I relaxed.

This guy loved me!