Page 12 of When Alec Met Evie
“Sort of?” she answers. “Lessmyviolin, and more just stringed instruments in general. I’ll be learning how to build them, repair them, refurbish them.”
“Megan said you’ll be a luthier? I honestly didn’t even know that was a thing.”
“Most people don’t. At least, not people who aren’t musicians.”
“Why’d you pick it?” I ask, mostly because I really like listening to her talk.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. My degree is in violin performance, and I’m sure I’ll get back to that eventually, but since I’m raising Juno on my own, I needed something with more flexible hours. As long as there are people whoplaystringed instruments, there will always be a need for luthiers, so I figured…good job security? Plus, this is a really greatopportunity. Victoria is one of the best in the business, so I’m lucky I get to learn from her.”
I step to the side while Camden and Nathan bring in Evie’s mattress and lean it against the wall.
“There are a few pillows in the back if you can’t handle anything heavier,” Nathan says, eyeing the crate of books with a grin.
The last few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time with the trainers after practice, icing my knee, babying it like I have to if I have any hope of staying in the game. But then yesterday on the ice, Coach Davis made a comment about my age.“You aren’t as young as you used to be, Sheridan. This season, you have to play with your brain as much as your body.”
Since then, the guys have been ribbing me with merciless consistency. My level of play hasn’t been impacted—at least I don’t think it has been—so the teasing has all been very good-natured. But I’m guessing if the guys knew the kind of pain I’m ignoring, they’d take the whole situation a little more seriously.
Still, I can’t fault them for what they don’t know, and I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it yet.
“What was that about?” Evie asks as we watch Camden and Nathan walk back to the pod.
“What was what about?” I ask. “The teasing? They just like to make fun of me for being old.”
She eyes me curiously. “Okay. But it seemed like your face did a thing.”
“A thing?” I raise my eyebrows, but it’s not lost on me that Evie just picked up on something being off when, so far, none of my friends have done the same.
Less than an hour later, we finish unloading, and Evie closes up the pod.
While she walks back to Ruth’s to check on Juno, I head inside the house with Felix to take a look at the water damage.It’s bad. Worse than I expected. There’s no way she’s moving in until this place has been completely gutted. It’s going to need new floors, new baseboards, possibly even new drywall.
“What do you think?” I ask Felix.
He runs a hand through his hair. “The sooner you get someone over to start cleanup, the better. We could do a little with a push broom, get some of the standing water out, but it’s really a job that should be tackled by professionals.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m texting you the number of the guy I know. He did fast work at my place. He could probably have guys out here before nightfall.”
“You think I should go ahead and call him? Even with the landlord not knowing what’s up?”
“I would,” Felix says. “The longer the water sits, the worse things will get and the longer Evie will be without a home.”
I nod as my phone buzzes with Felix’s text. “All right, cool. I’ll call right now.”
I follow Felix out to the porch, where he says goodbye then heads down the driveway to where Van is already climbing into Nathan’s Bronco. The three of them wave before Nathan pulls away from the curb, probably anxious to get on with their evening.
There’s still no sign of Evie, so I drop onto the porch steps and call the number Felix sent me. It only takes a few minutes to explain the situation, and the guy on the phone assures me he’ll have someone over to assess the damage and begin water removal within the hour.
While I’m on the call, my phone buzzes several times. By the time I end the call and open my texts to see, I already know what I’m going to find.
Sure enough, my teammates have blown up the dream team text thread we keep going between us. A while back, a journalist referred to the Appies starting line asThe Dream Team,so werenamed our text thread as a joke. There are eight of us all total, seven who still play for the Appies, plus Wyatt who was with us last season, then signed with the Bruins and moved to Boston. Most of the time, I’m happy to stay connected with my teammates.
Other times, the dream team texts make me want to throw my phone into the nearest lake.
Nathan
A heads up for those of you who weren’t present. When Alec saw Evie for the first time, he basically swallowed his own tongue.
Camden
Can confirm.
