Slap Shot

The third installment in the DC Stars series, Slap Shot follows a single mother and executive chef who takes a job cooking for a professional hockey player, and the romance that develops as they share a home and a life.

Madeline Galloway, a 33-year-old executive chef at a Michelin-starred steakhouse in Las Vegas, loses her job when the restaurant is sold. As a single mother to six-year-old Lucy, who is deaf, Madeline is desperate for work. She finds a business card from Piper Mitchell, the DC Stars' rinkside reporter, who signed with Lucy at a game the previous season. When Madeline calls, Piper tells her about a Stars player who needs a private chef and invites her to DC.

Hudson Hayes, a 31-year-old defenseman and alternate captain for the Stars, has been unable to keep a private chef; previous hires violated his privacy, lied about their qualifications, or pursued him romantically. He is quietly grieving his mother, who died of breast cancer several years earlier. His best friend and team captain, Maverick Miller, and his teammates are his primary support system.

Piper arranges a casual dinner where Madeline and Hudson meet. Madeline does not know Hudson is a professional athlete. Her cooking stuns him, and they agree to a formal interview at his condo. During the interview, Madeline reveals she has a daughter, and Hudson reassures her that Lucy is welcome. Impressed by her approach to his nutrition and by an improvised Crunchwrap Supreme from his near-empty pantry, Hudson offers her a salary of $250,000.

When Madeline and Lucy arrive in DC, they stay with Piper and her boyfriend, Liam Sullivan, a Stars teammate who has been learning sign language. Madeline's apartment search proves disastrous, and Hudson offers his four-bedroom condo, arguing it is logistically practical. Before they move in, Hudson meets Lucy at an ice cream shop. She asks to be his friend, and he accepts.

The three settle into a domestic routine. Madeline asks Hudson not to bring women home while Lucy is present; he explains he values emotional connection over casual encounters, a worldview shaped by his parents' devoted marriage. Their schedules rarely overlap at first: Madeline leaves prepared meals with sticky notes, and Hudson leaves thank-you notes each morning. An early-morning incident in which Madeline mistakes him for an intruder and throws a banana at him, hitting his neck, breaks any remaining formality.

Hudson gradually integrates into their life. He helps sew Lucy's Halloween costume, buys a booster seat for his car, and watches Lucy so Madeline can have time to herself. Since he cannot yet communicate with Lucy in American Sign Language (ASL), he brings teammates along for activities like library story time. Madeline, meanwhile, forms her first close female friendships through the team, including with Emmy Hartwell, Maverick's wife and the first woman to play in the NHL.

At the team's Friends and Family skating night, Hudson teaches Lucy to skate and patiently guides Madeline around the rink. Emmy tells Madeline that Lucy has natural ability. Their bond deepens during a late-night balcony conversation after Hudson suffers a shoulder injury and Madeline cuts her finger in the kitchen. Madeline tells Hudson the full story of her ex-husband, Clark, who left after Lucy was diagnosed as deaf at one month old. Hudson reveals that the flower tattoo on his thigh honors his mother's memory and tells Madeline she reminds him of his mother.

The holiday season intensifies their connection. At Thanksgiving with the team, Lucy signs that she is thankful for Hudson's dogs and her mother. At a charity gala, Hudson tells Madeline she looks "fucking gorgeous" in her green dress, and they dance together. On Christmas morning, they exchange gifts: Hudson gives Lucy stuffed animals resembling his golden retrievers, Gus and Millie, and Lucy gives him hand-drawn pictures of their life together, moving him to tears.

On New Year's Eve, Hudson tells Madeline he has been thinking about kissing her for weeks. She kisses him first, and the kiss becomes passionate before fireworks startle them apart. Days later, Madeline tells him the kiss was not a mistake but should not happen again: Lucy's stability and their working relationship are her priorities. They agree to remain friends, though both privately chafe at the word.

Meanwhile, Hudson begins secretly learning ASL, enlisting Piper's help and meeting twice weekly with a tutor at Gallaudet University. He practices in front of his mirror and studies on plane rides, determined to communicate with Lucy directly.

Their "friends" agreement erodes steadily. After Madeline wears another player's jersey to a game, Hudson traces his fingers down her back and tells her to wear his name next time. The turning point comes on a day when everything goes wrong: Lucy has a meltdown at school, Madeline's father is undergoing heart tests, and dinner falls apart. Hudson takes over, ordering pizza, calming Lucy, cleaning the kitchen, and buying Madeline roses. When she finds the spotless kitchen and Hudson playing Barbies with Lucy, she recognizes what she has been avoiding: She has real feelings for him.

Madeline tells Hudson she hates the word "friends" because it diminishes what she feels. She kisses him, and their physical relationship begins. Madeline proposes ending the employer-employee arrangement so their dynamic is no longer transactional: She will cook because she wants to, and he will support her and Lucy.

After months of practice, Hudson sits beside Lucy and begins signing. He introduces himself and tells her he has been learning for her. Madeline sobs; Lucy's own father refused to learn sign language. Lucy gives Hudson a name sign, the ASL sign for "hockey" combined with fingerspelling his name, a deeply meaningful gesture in Deaf culture.

Their happiness is tested when Clark appears at a Stars game and approaches Madeline, referring to Lucy as "our daughter." Madeline gets Lucy away and retreats with Piper's help. After the game, Hudson confronts Clark physically, and Madeline intervenes, telling Clark that Lucy is hers and that she never wants to see him again. The confrontation gives Madeline closure.

On Mother's Day, Madeline gives Hudson flower seeds to plant on the balcony in his mother's memory. Hudson tells her he loves her, and she says it back immediately. She voices her remaining fears: She does not want to remarry or have more children. Hudson tells her he wants her and Lucy, and that is enough.

The Stars pursue a second consecutive Stanley Cup. Before a road game, Hudson visits his mother's grave in Georgia. In game seven of the Finals, with the score tied in the final minute, Hudson whispers "For you, Mama" and fires a slap shot into the net as the buzzer sounds. He brings Madeline and Lucy onto the ice to celebrate.

In an epilogue set 18 months later, the family's life is settled. Hudson's father, Duke, visits regularly and has learned to sign. After a game, Lucy presents Hudson with adoption papers so he can legally become her father. He agrees without hesitation, calling it the easiest answer of his life. The novel closes with the three of them on the couch, Hudson affirming there is nowhere he would rather be.