Page 18 of The Game Changer

“Right, have a good day. Call me later?” I ask her as she grabs the creamer I left out and adds some to the mug before placing the lid on it. She grabs her purse, keys, coffee and bagel as she heads for the door.

“Of course! You have a good day, too, and I want to hear how your call goes with your agent.”

With Jill off to work, I head in and take my own shower before making breakfast for myself. With those things out of the way, I get to work on my main task of the day and that’s getting these hard conversations finished.

Now that it’s mid-morning, I pull out my phone, tapping my agent’s contact. The phone rings a few times before his deep voice comes across the line.

“Johnathan,” Greg greets me. “I was wondering when I’d hear from you again.”

“It was time,” I agree with him.

“So, how’d things go the other day?” he asks, since he knew I was seeing Dr. Price again.

“Not the news I wanted to hear and because of that, I’m retiring,” I tell him, and feeling good about the decision. I think this is the first time I’ve said those words and genuinely felt like it was the best decision.

“I’d anticipated that might happen,” Greg states. “I’ll give Laura Erickson-Lee and Daniel Johnston a call and let them both know. Are you available today if either of them wants to meet in person?” he asks, referring to the owner and general manager, respectively, of the Eagles organization.

“I am, or anytime this week, really,” I tell him.

“Sounds good, let me give them a call and I’ll get back to you, don’t go far from your phone.”

I hang up with Greg and actually feel lighter now that the first call of many is done and over with. My phone buzzes in my hand, and I expect it to be Greg, but see my sister’s face pop up on the screen requesting a FaceTime call, so I hit the accept button and hold the phone up.

“Uncle J!” Mason yells when the call connects and he sees my face.

“Hey, buddy, what’s going on?”

“See my new truck?” he exclaims, holding up a little mini truck to the camera. I can only see one of the tires because he’s blocking most of it with his chubby hand.

“That’s awesome, who got you that?” I ask him.

“Nana did,” he tells me, referring to Stephanie’s mom.

“That was nice of her,” I tell him as he wiggles and shakes the phone all around. I have to look away as the constant movement can make me feel sick at times. “What’s Mom up to?” I ask, referring to my sister. To help differentiate between his two moms, Cindi is Mom and Stephanie is Mama.

“She’s makin’ me some lunch,” he tells me as he starts to climb up on a chair at their kitchen counter. He sets the phone down, probably in a little holder they have, as it no longer shakes, and I can see him fully.

“Nice, think she’d make me some lunch?” I ask my nephew.

“You’s too far away, silly,” he tells me.

“I guess you’re right, I’ll just have to make my own lunch. What are you having?”

“Grilled cheese and soup, the red kind!” he exclaims.

“Tomato soup!” I hear Cindi call out in the background.

“Omato soup,” Mason repeats, missing the t at the beginning.

“Sounds like a yummy lunch,” I tell him. “Think I can talk to Mom now?” I ask him and he obliges and turns the phone around so I can see my sister as she stands at the counter making food. “Hey, sis.”

“How’s your day going?” she asks. “You called Greg yet?”

“I actually just got off the phone with him not even a minute before Mason called. He was expecting my call and was already prepared for me to deliver the news that I did. Said that he’d get the ball rolling and would call me back shortly once he’d contacted the team.”

“I’m glad that you’ve started the ball rolling, so to speak.”

“I’m finally coming to terms with everything, I think. While I haven’t found a counselor yet to talk to, I talked to Richard and Madison yesterday for a few hours and with Jill last night. She’s had some good perspective and ideas for me.”

---