Page 103 of Playing to Win

“Well, since you’re having a bad day, fine. I love you. Now, what about dinner?” I stood up, but he pulled me back down.

“I don’t care about dinner. I just want to snuggle with my girlfriend, who loves me, until this headache goes away.”

Epilogue

Hey, Jaydon

Braydon

The camps were going well.

Being back where buildings didn’t overwhelm the skyline, where you could see weather approaching over the land energized me. The sky was incredibly blue and the air so much cleaner than in Toronto. These past few weeks, sharing the RV with Jayna and whoever was helping us at the camps, had been a step back to my previous life. It grounded me, reminding me that my sport was not the center of the world. I needed that perspective to deal with how our season ended.

Jayna had it organized so we arrived at each of the locations with a list of the kids signed up and whatever equipment we could provide in the right sizes. We had an open session first thing, and sometimes Jayna would find the kids who wanted to participate but were too timid. They were often girls, or the kids the others thought were weird. Thanks to Cooper and Frank, we could give a few kids in each place a scholarship.

Luke had been with us for a week, Bats for another. Ducky apologized but bowed out—he was determined to train all summer to do better next season. Faith and Hunter came one week. It was eye-opening to see how the girls reacted to two professional women players. A couple of my college teammates showed up, and this last week, Luke again.

I appreciated what they did to help, not just the kids participating but me too. My teammates reassured me it wasn’t all my fault, but I had a lot of work to do to improve my game. I didn’t know what the Blaze planned, but I’d fought to get where I was. And I’d keep fighting.

Meanwhile, I had the best girlfriend, great teammates, and these camps made me feel like I was making a difference. Doing something good.

My phone rang. My agent. Jayna and Luke had things under control, so I stepped away from the parking lot where they were doing drills on rollerblades and answered.

“Hey, Stacy. What’s up?”

“Good news, kid.” My heart rate dropped. “The Blaze want to keep you. Petrov is coming back, but De Vries is not. You’ll be the backup. We agreed that you need more starts so you’re ready when you’re called on in an emergency. Report to training camp in September. And if you don’t fuck up, you’re staying on the big team.”

“Thanks. Thanks so much.”

“Not a problem, kid. You screwed up last March, but you did the right thing to recover.”

“And in June.” Sure, there’d been that video in March, but it was June that worried me.

“If you’d pulled off a win in that game in June we’d be asking for an extension with some big numbers. What happened was just hockey. Now, play right this year and we’ll be in great shape to get you a better contract when this one expires next June.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She hung up, and for a few minutes I enjoyed the relief. I’d thought I would stay with the Inferno, though a trade wasn’t inconceivable. Staying with the Blaze—I was making it. I’d been keeping in shape this summer, but it was time to step up the conditioning. And since Jayna had lined up work in Toronto, it meant no long-distance.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jayna wrapped her arms around me.

“Call from my agent.”

“Good call, I assume from that big smile on your face?”

Iwassmiling. I hadn’t known. I tried to straighten out my expression, but it wouldn’t work. “The Blaze want to keep me.”

“Of course they do. But congrats. I told you it wasn’t your fault.”

She and a lot of people had, but I’d made a mistake. Coach Salo would be on my back on that one, and Petey. And I couldn’t wait. “So…” I paused.

“So?”

I turned around to watch her face for her reaction to this question. “I’ll need a place closer to the arena and practice facility. Luke will probably stay at the townhouse and get another roommate.”

Jayna raised her eyebrows. “Oh, is that so?”

I shrugged. “I might want a roommate.”

---