Cross Check

Grant and Amelia’s friendship deepens through playful text messages where they share secrets and exchange compliments. They arrange to get sandwiches when her team travels to his city. Later, Grant has dinner with his sister, Hannah, who confides in him about feeling mentally drained from her skating career. The conversation shifts to Grant’s lack of a dating life, and he admits he would like a serious relationship. As he describes his ideal partner to Hannah, he realizes that he is describing Amelia. Internally, he accepts he has a significant crush on her. When Hannah offers to set him up with a woman who fits his description, Grant declines, making an excuse about his busy schedule. His real reason is that no one else could be Amelia, the only person he truly wants.

After Grant picks Amelia up, he reveals their plan to go to Pete’s Café is ruined because the restaurant is closed due to an electrical issue. He suggests an alternative: They can make meatball subs at his apartment and he can get her help practicing his one-timers for the upcoming All-Star Skills competition. Despite potential concerns about boundaries, Amelia agrees. At his apartment, they share an easy and flirtatious rapport while cooking. Amelia finds herself attracted to Grant and later catches him looking at her as well. During their conversation, Grant recalls a minor detail about her from years ago, making Amelia feel special and seen. After a meal filled with laughter, they agree it’s time to head to the rink to practice.

Grant takes Amelia to the team’s private practice facility to help him train for the All-Star Skills event. She provides expert coaching on drills for passing and stick handling, and Grant immediately implements her feedback, improving his performance. He tells her he appreciates her competitive nature and that she never has to change for him. 

After the drills, they decide to race. Amelia easily wins the first heat. During the second race, while skating neck and neck, their skates collide. Grant catches Amelia to break her fall, pulling her down on top of him as he lands on the ice. The close physical contact creates a palpable tension between them. Becoming flustered, Amelia abruptly pulls away, makes a quick excuse about a team meeting, and rushes off to get an Uber, leaving Grant alone on the ice. He is left confused by her sudden departure, wondering if she fled because she felt the same intense spark that he did.

Grant arrives in New York with Maverick for the NHL All-Star weekend. Before the Skills competition, they encounter fellow player Brady Williams acting inappropriately with women despite his wedding ring. Grant runs into Amelia and Emmy, sharing a flirtatious exchange with Amelia, who wishes him luck. During the competition at Madison Square Garden, Grant is motivated by Amelia’s presence in the crowd. In the final obstacle course round, he recalls her previous coaching advice about his slap shot power, makes eye contact with her, and completes the final shot to win the overall Skills event. After winning the trophy and $1 million prize, Grant finds Amelia in a hallway and compliments her jewelry. She reveals she minimizes wearing jewelry and makeup while coaching to avoid being judged on her appearance rather than her ability. Their flirtatious conversation ends with a plan to possibly meet at a club and a light touch from Amelia that leaves Grant flustered and certain he will never get over his crush.

Amelia arrives at the club to find Emmy, Maverick, and Grant already seated at a table. Maverick and Emmy leave together, leaving Grant and Amelia alone, and the two flirt openly as their physical attraction intensifies. Grant convinces her to dance, and on the floor, their closeness and conversation deepen their mutual desire. Feeling she is about to do something reckless, Amelia decides to leave before things go further. She rejects Grant’s offer to walk her back to her hotel but promises to let him know when she is safe. In her room, aroused from the encounter, Amelia fantasizes about Grant while masturbating, resulting in her most intense orgasm ever. Afterward, she receives a text from Grant. She tells him her night was a “10/10,” privately vowing to keep her new fantasy a secret.

Jude, the Goldminers’ head coach, summons Amelia to a surprise meeting with the team’s CEO, Shane Ketteringham. They reveal that the current associate coach, Elliot Putnam, is leaving to accept a head coaching position with a PWHL team. To Amelia’s shock, they offer her the newly vacant associate coach job. Overjoyed and emotional, she accepts the promotion. Later that evening, after receiving many congratulatory messages, Amelia calls Grant. She confides in him about her excitement but also her fears and imposter syndrome. Grant reassures her that she is talented and deserving of the position. Expressing his wish to celebrate with her in person, Grant decides to book a flight to visit her in Denver the next day.

Amelia celebrates her promotion to associate coach with her friends, Lainey and Sienna. During their brunch, Amelia confirms that tonight will be her first official game in the new role and reveals her ambition to seek a head coaching position, possibly next season. She leaves to pick up Grant from the airport, telling her friends only that she is meeting someone. Privately, Amelia feels anxious about their reunion, questioning the nature of their connection and hoping her attraction isn’t serious. When she picks Grant up, his in-person congratulations boosts her confidence. After she shares that pancakes are a meaningful comfort food for her, Grant insists they go get some immediately to properly celebrate her achievement.

Amelia takes Grant to her favorite pancake diner, where she privately admits to herself that she is still intensely attracted to him. Grant encourages her to stop “dulling down” her passions and be her authentic self around him. They agree to be each other’s designated pancake and sandwich providers, ensuring future meetings. Grant reveals he brought fake sideburns to wear as a disguise at her first game as associate coach. Amelia also catches Grant covertly writing in a notebook.

Back at Amelia’s apartment, Grant takes in her personal space, noting that she rarely shows this side of herself to others. Despite their deepening connection, Amelia resolves to focus on her career and end any potential romance. Before she leaves for the arena, Grant offers her sincere encouragement. During the game, head coach Jude gives Amelia full control, and she confidently calls the plays, leading to a successful hat-trick goal. Amid the crowd’s celebration, Amelia looks up and sees Grant in his absurd disguise, looking only at her.

When Amelia’s team is in Washington, DC, she and Grant have a picnic near the Washington Monument. Amelia tells Grant their friendship has become “confusing” and insists they need to create distance and limit their communication to focus on hockey for the remainder of the season. Grant is hurt but agrees. The following night, his team defeats hers, and Amelia leaves the arena without a word, leaving Grant feeling heartbroken.

During the playoffs, Grant struggles with Amelia’s request for space and her subsequent months of silence. After a team workout, he attends a “girls’ night” with Piper, Lexi, Emmy, and Madeline. He asks for their advice about a female friend who abruptly cut him off, vaguely explaining that a romantic relationship would be complicated due to her high-profile job. The women theorize that this friend likely developed feelings for him, panicked because a relationship could impact her career, and chose to cut contact rather than face the issue. This gives Grant an important revelation: He had been selfishly focused on his own feelings without considering the professional sacrifices Amelia would have to make if their relationship was public. When asked if he would wait for her, Grant answers yes without hesitation. He resolves to be patient, believing Amelia has feelings for him and is worth waiting for.

Amelia watches the final Stanley Cup game with her friends, missing Grant intensely after two months of silence. When the Stars win, she sees Grant celebrating on television and begins to cry. She sends him a brief congratulatory text. Later that night, a distraught Grant calls from a hospital; his teammate Riley survived an accident with a drunk driver who ran a red light, but his leg will have to be amputated. Grant is devastated. After comforting him over a video call, Amelia immediately books a flight to Washington, DC, to be with him.

Overwhelmed after Riley accident following their championship celebration, Grant isolates himself in his apartment. He relives the moment Maverick received the phone call about Riley at the club. Annoyed by a persistent knocking, Grant opens his door to find Amelia, who has flown across the country because he said he wished she was there. Grant immediately breaks down, and her presence brings him a sense of peace and relief. As she begins to care for him, he realizes how deeply he feels for her. Amelia offers comfort, reminding him to focus on the fact that Riley is alive. Grant invites her to stay in his spare room, and she agrees to remain as long as he needs her, providing a glimmer of hope amidst his sorrow.

Grant wakes from a nightmare about the crash and Amelia comforts him. She asks him to recount the good things from the night of the win, and he shares memories of the celebration. They decide to stay in to avoid media attention, ordering dinner to eat on the balcony. During their meal, Grant expresses his anger at the drunk driver responsible for the accident and voices his anxieties about what his and Riley’s lives would be without hockey. Amelia reassures him of his value beyond being an athlete and points out that Riley could still have a future in the sport through coaching or scouting. The emotional conversation culminates in Grant and Amelia confessing they missed each other terribly during a time they weren’t speaking. They promise to always be there for one another, reaffirming their importance in each other’s lives.

During her visit, Amelia and Grant fall into a comfortable routine, but their close proximity intensifies Amelia’s attraction to him. After a flustered encounter in the hallway where her towel slips, she decides the situation is untenable and books a flight back to Denver for two days’ time. That night, the sexual tension culminates in a near-kiss on the couch, which is interrupted by a phone call for Grant. Afterward, he confesses how much her presence has helped him recover, and they pinky-swear to never go silent on each other again. They fall asleep watching the movie and wake up intimately intertwined. Startled by their closeness and her own desire, Amelia hastily pulls away, waking Grant. They share an awkward exchange before retreating to their separate bedrooms, leaving Amelia to grapple with the memory of being held by him.

Grant wakes up with intense sexual thoughts about Amelia, who is asleep down the hall. After relieving his frustration, he joins her and outlines a plan for her last day before she flies home. They spend the day kayaking on the Potomac River, getting pizza, and visiting an outdoor flea market. There, Amelia adds to her matchbook collection, and Grant buys a frame for his annual team photo, reflecting on how his team is changing. For his final surprise, Grant takes Amelia to a Dashboard Confessional concert—a band he knows she loves. She is overjoyed, and they have a perfect night enjoying the music from a VIP box. As they drive home, an exhausted but happy Amelia calls it the best day of her life. Grant internally agrees, realizing that every day with her feels like the best, which makes her impending departure incredibly painful for him to contemplate.

Grant and Amelia send a series of text messages over the summer and into the fall. They exchange holiday and birthday wishes. Amelia sends Grant hockey-stick-shaped matchbooks for his birthday, and separately Grant later sends Amelia new matchbooks for her birthday. They discuss the upcoming season schedule, noting they will see each other three times. Grant shares his team’s ongoing struggle to cope with Riley’s accident and recovery. The exchange ends with them sending each other selfies—Grant in a crop top, Amelia with her tongue out—reaffirming their strong connection despite the distance.