Page 29 of From Fling to Ring

Thank you for your kind words

Seriously, Ty! She’s way cool

I can give you her ## and you can ask her out

oh crap, gotta go. Here comes my boss

don’t lose your job goofball. Just because I am a super successful pro athlete does not mean I’m giving you a penny

Tyler, did you know ur adopted?

hey, that’s my line!

Okay, so the kid sister likes Lucy, which is kind of amazing because she never likes anyone, at least not any of the women I bring home.

But of course she likes Lucy, how could she not? Lucy asked her questions about herself and listened to us talk about our childhood without flinching. She asked intelligent questions about hockey rather than pretending she knew everything.

She’s real. That’s the bottom line. I guess I haven’t brought a lot of ‘real’ women around. Instead, I’ve kind of sat back and let interested women approach me. There’s certainly no shortage of them when you’re a pro athlete, and I’m guilty of reveling in all the women pursuing me. Truth is, I was a status symbol for many of them, something I didn’t bother to correct. I’ve spent way too much being lazy and indifferent, frittering away my limited free time, hanging out with the wrong women for the wrong reasons.

The locker room bench I’m sitting on shakes as someone plops down on it next to me. “Good heads up play today, man.”

Chuck’s joined me on the bench, all showered and ready to go, his wet hair perfectly pulled into one of those man bun things some of the younger guys are wearing. He presses a gel ice pack to one of his knees through the fabric of his trousers.

“Thanks, Chuck. I appreciate that.”

It is amazing how, on the ice, we guys get into each other’s heads, anticipating moves and reactions. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it’s magic.

“Hey, you’re joining us for dinner tonight, right? I’m heading out in a bit with Rake, Jonas, and some of the other guys,” I say.

“Yeah. I’m down,” he says.

He might be dating Daphne, which I consider to be a grave mistake, but he’s still a good guy.

“Hey, Chuck,” I say.

“Yeah?”

“Not sure if you know, but I dated Daphne a while back. I didn’t want to tell you and put a damper on things for ya, but I figured you ought to know.”

“Yeah, I knew. No worries. To be honest, I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be hanging out, anyway.” He gets to his feet and tosses his ice pack in the garbage. “Some of us are Ubering to the restaurant. See you there?”

“Sure thing, Chuck.”

As soon as he’s gone, Jonas finds me. He sits down on the spot that Chuck just vacated, his jaw tight and his gaze glued to his phone.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

He looks up at me and the only way to describe his expression is tired. I know the guy has a lot going on, and I feel for him. Being a single parent is hard in any circumstance. I watched my dad attempt to do it. But when you have to be on the road half the time, that adds another layer of complexity.

“Oh, I was just Facetiming with one of the kids, who was having a meltdown with the nanny.” With a sigh, he rubs his hands over his eyes.

I pat him on the back. “You’re doing a great job, man. You know I grew up with only one parent. And I turned out okay.”

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Not sure I’d go as far as to say that, my friend,” he laughs.

Rake rounds the corner to join us. “What’s so funny? And why aren’t we heading to dinner? I’m fucking starving.”

Jonas and I get up and we head for the door.

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