Page 54 of Offensive Plays

She laughs. "Hell no. Modeling was something I picked up to get revenge on my mom for leaving me and Zane."

"What?" I say incredulously.

"Oh yeah," she says slowing down and skating next to me. "She's like this famous European model. Still looks like she's twenty. It's crazy."

"So how does you being a model get revenge on your mom?"

She shakes her head. "When I first saw her on a magazine cover... I just couldn't believe my eyes. My mother. Flesh and blood. There in front of me. No calls. No visits. Just out there living an entire life without her children."

"That's rough."

"Yeah, well... Zane already had hockey. I knew he was going to be something big. That was his way showing her that he didn't need her to make a name for himself. And I thought, what better way to get to her than the same way she did to me. On the cover of a magazine. Let her see the daughter she abandoned. Let her feel the pain of seeing someone that could've meant something to her, just living."

Libby holds resentment. That's clear as day.

"Have you ever tried... I don't know... just talking to her?"

She looks at me with a face that says, "Seriously?"

"Sorry, what was I thinking. That would be too easy? A revenge plot is so much better," I smirk.

"Yes it is, Michael."

"But have you ever stopped to wonder if maybe she'd see your picture and not think twice about it. Just go on living. And you would've wasted all that time holding on to this grudge for what?"

She stops abruptly, and snow sprays out under her skates.

"No," she says softly. "That would somehow be worse."

I stop and turn to her. She looks broken. So beautifully broken. I wish I could take the pain away. The abandonment she feels from the person who should've been her biggest cheerleader.

That's when it hits me. Libby is the way she is with the people that she loves, because she never wants them to know what it feels like to be abandoned. Forgotten. She's chosen the other extreme. To give all of herself freely and without question.

I skate up to her and take her hand. She looks up at me. And for the first time, I see something in her gaze that wasn't there before.

"Looks like you two got an early start," a voice calls out from the stands.

We both let our hands go and look around frantically. Izzy is a few rows up waving at us, a camera already in her hand.

"Hey, Iz, " I wave back.

She brings the camera back up to her face and snaps some photos. How long has she been there?

"Just pretend I'm not even here. You guys are so cute," she whistles.

I look at Libby who shakes her head and whispers, "Uh... I didn't think this through."

My face falls, "What are you talking about?"

"Hey, Izzy?" she calls up to the pregnant team photographer. "You think we can delete those and start over?"

Izzy looks at her camera. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, Rina asked me to help with social media stuff so I'd like to work with you for the shots if that's okay."

I turn to her. "She did?"

"Yeah, she did."