Page 49 of Hitting the Goal Line
The perfect ending to a shitty night.
The only one to blame here is me.
If would have broken up with Theo a long time ago, I would have saved myself all of this heartache.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BLAKE
I hangup the call with Sophia and turn off my phone before I slide it into pocket in my jacket. Today is too much of a big day for my phone to go off at random times.
Selena waves me over and from the look on her face, everything is set. They’re probably just waiting on me to start.
“Sorry,” I say, walking over to her, wiping my hands against pants. “I was talking to Sophia.”
Lennie smiles at me at the mention of my best friend. “Is she excited that you’re doing this?” she asks as we walk over to the conference room that is reserved for today.
I shake my head. “She doesn’t even know,” I answer, bowing my head a little bit.
“You didn’t tell your best friend that you are about to sign your first professional contract?” she asks bewildered by it all.
“I want it to be a surprise. We’ve talked about me doing it after the season ended, but I haven’t told her that I’ve started the process and have been in negotiations.”
The hockey season ended for Montana state a few weeks ago. We were one point shy of making it out of regionals butunfortunately we couldn’t pull it off. I was a little butt hurt after the season ended, because our team had the potential but the loss opened up the door up for negotiations between me and the Dark Knights. I wanted that rookie contract and this was the perfect time for me to get it.
Keeping it from Sophia was something that I thought about because I didn’t want to distract her from her classes. Ever since she started the nursing program, she has been putting everything that she has into school, not swaying even a little, and I didn’t want to give her this news and cause her to lose her focus. Keeping her concentrated on school, on the nursing program, was only part of the reason why I didn’t tell her, thought, there’s definitely more to it.
More that I’m not sure she will go for.
I can’t sign an NHL contract and then leave for Chicago without my best friend.
That girl has been with me since I was five years old. She has gone to every single game since we meant, everything from youth hockey to high school to college, she has been there for it all. She deserves to be there for the pro level too.
I wasn’t joking when I told her I had a surprise, I just didn’t mention that said surprise might also extend to her too, if she’d let it.
“She’s going to choke you to death when she finds out that you did this without her,” Lennie answers, shaking her head at me.
“Probably, but she won’t stay mad at me forever.” We walk into the conference room and everything becomes all that much bigger.
The Dark Knight’s general manager and their head coach, Shawn Anderson, are currently standing a few feet away from the door talking to my agent and my brother. All the while, my mom and Isaac stand on the other side, having a silentconversation. Eighty percent of the most important people in my life are here to watch me do this today. The day would have been better if Sophia was here, but hopefully my surprise to her makes her not being here for this all that more worth it.
Everything just got a whole lot more real.
“Blake, are you ready to do this?” Hunter asks from across the room.
I look over at my brother and give him a nod. When I thought of this moment ten years ago, I never would have picture Hunter here.
Ten years ago, I hated my brother so damn much because he was dad’s favorite. Because he was going to live with him so that he could concentrate on football and leave Jainie and I behind. I thought he was a douchebag and a half and I wanted nothing to do with him.
Now, I can’t picture this moment without him. He’s been there every step of the way. If I couldn’t have Sophia here with me, at least I have him.
I walk over to the table where a stack of papers sits in the middle and I feel like a little kid at Christmas.
The general manager and Coach Anderson take a seat on one side of the table, and my mom, Isaac, my agent, and Hunter take a seat in the other side, leaving a chair open for me.
This is it.
Taking a seat, it feels like my stomach is going to jump out my body, and that my hands are going to drown in all the sweat.
