knew the rumors.
“New York will be awesome!” she says.
“Ugh.” I cover my eyes. “I don’t want to move.”
“I know.” Her voice softens. “I know change is hard. But I also know how strong you are.”
I swallow and nod even though she can’t see me. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Your dad will call later.”
Before I know it, I’m on a plane jetting toward New York, with only the duffel bag I packed for our road trip. I’m going to a city I don’t know, an arena I don’t know, a team I don’t know. I have no idea where I’ll live or how I’ll get around.
My body is buzzing with adrenaline and I can barely sit still on the plane. I keep thinking about my old team—my friends, the great times we’ve had together. Fuck, I’m going to miss them. I think about Cora, the girl I’ve been seeing. What the fuck do I say to her? We’ve only been going out for a month. That’s not long enough to ask her to move to New York, and I don’t think I want that anyway. I think about whether this wouldn’t have happened if I’d done something different…but what?
And I think about the future, imagining the worst…failure. There are a million what-ifs.
I have to shut those down, though. I need to use some of the self-talk I learned in the hospital all those years ago, when I thought I might never play hockey again. Our life isn’t a book written by someone else…I have to create my own story line.
I’ve tried to do that, but this is a plot twist I didn’t expect, and it’s thrown me.
The team has sent a car for me. In the arrivals area, I see a man holding a sign with my name on it and I stride toward him.
“Josh?” He holds out a hand, which I shake. “I’m Mike Higgins, manager of team services. Great to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“Welcome to the Bears.” He leads me out to a black SUV waiting for us. We jump into the backseat, and soon we’re winding our way out of LaGuardia and heading to the Apex Center in Midtown Manhattan.
“You probably have a lot of questions,” Mike says. “I’m here to make it easier for you any way I can. We’re going straight to the arena. It’s game day, but obviously you won’t be playing tonight.”
“Good thing, since I have no equipment.”
“It’s being shipped,” he says. “But you’ll get to meet the guys and Coach Meknikov. He’ll talk to you about that and when he’ll put you in the lineup. We’ll need to get photos done right away, and…” He goes on about a whole bunch of shit until my head is spinning. “We’ve got a hotel room for you for tonight and however long you need it,” he says. “Near the arena. But we’ll help you find housing if you’d like. There are quite a few players who live on the west side. It’s reasonably close to the arena and an easy drive to our practice facility.”
West side, east side, I don’t know the city or what the hell he’s talking about. I feel like my chest is caving in, waves of heat then cold washing over me. I know I haven’t heard half the stuff he’s telling me, which makes me feel even more overwhelmed because I need to know what’s going on.
“Sounds good,” I manage to say to him.
I pull out my phone, which has blown up while it was in airplane mode. The guys have heard the news and there are messages from them, posts on Snapchat and Instagram. I better let Cora know. I dial her number but get her voicemail. She works in marketing for a big airline and is probably in a meeting. Damn. I ask her to call me when she can. Jesus, I hope that’s before she sees the news on TV or social media. That is going to suck big-time if she hears it from someone other than me.
I keep a smile in place as I’m introduced to about five hundred people at the Apex Center. My new teammates are all getting ready for the game in various ways, some sitting with headphones on, others warming up on the bike, some playing soccer. The place is humming with game-day energy. Everyone seems happy to meet me.
Except Easton.
“Josh.” He shakes my hand, his mouth a straight line. “Long time no see.”
“Yeah.” I arch an eyebrow. Play it cool, play it cool. I