I don’t know who, but someone just pours a bottle of champagne over my head, and when I finally get to my locker, the gray Stanley Cup shirt that they left hanging is all wet. I laugh and take off my pads while Evan places the cup in the middle of the table in the room. The center table is empty, but the buckets of champagne bottles are everywhere. I undress and take another dry T-shirt from the pile and put it on along with my shorts.

When I look up, I see that they are filling the top of the Cup with champagne, and everyone is taking a drink from it. I still can’t see as everyone is up, and people are still spraying champagne everywhere. The music now goes on with “We are the Champions,” and everyone sings at the top of their lungs. I don’t know how long I stay in the locker room, but when we finally leave, it’s no surprise that we are the last ones in the buildings. All the wives and children have gone home, and when I finally walk into my apartment, wearing my suit and baseball hat, I’m not expecting her to be waiting up.

“Hey,” I say quietly, walking to her. “Why did you wait up?”

“Are you kidding me?” she says, wrapping her arms around me. “I didn’t even get to kiss you.”

“I know,” I tell her and lean my head down and kiss her like I wanted to kiss her on the ice. I kiss her with all the love I have for her. “I didn’t know if it was okay for me to kiss you or not,” I tell her. “I didn’t know how to act, and I think we should have talked about it before.”

“Mark, they call you Private Mark for a reason,” she says, smiling. “I didn’t expect you to break out of that role. Besides, what we have is private, and it’s ours, so it was more than okay.”

“Where are my parents?” I ask her, taking off the hat.

“They are staying at my place,” she says, and then she turns and walks out of the room, and it’s only then I realize she’s wearing one of my jerseys. “I also took it upon myself to have some champagne chilled,” she says, walking up the stairs, and we don’t sleep that whole night. There is champagne everywhere. The bed is soaked in so many places, I laugh when I reach over for her and my hand sticks to her.

“What time is the party?” I ask her, and she just looks over at me, her chest rising and falling. “We have to go. It’s a big deal.”

“I know,” she says. “We also need to order a new bed.”