Page 25 of My Wife
“It only took me three college degrees to realize that what I wanted to do didn’t require any of them.”
I sigh. “I’m still not sure what I want to do.”
“Open a bakery. Your Bundts are the best. Did you see the new Old Mill building? They have spaces available.”
I nod. “I do need a job.”
Cara taps the air like a Christmas light blinked on—it’s her favorite holiday and she still has red and green candy in the bowl on her desk. “That’s it. You could be Ellis’s assistant.”
“An assistant like you? I’m hardly hockey-qualified. The only things I know about the sport are only translatable through sign language.”
“I mean the personal assistant to one of our players. My father put him on ice for a couple of weeks.” She returns to her seat behind the desk.
I sit back down in the leather chair. “If he’s a hockey player, isn’t that his preferred habitat?”
“I mean he got in trouble. Technically, Dadaszek took himoffthe ice for some R&R. Something is up with number forty-five. I think my father knows, but hasn’t mentioned it to anyone. Yet he just named him captain. Baffling. The man has his mysterious ways.”
“Hmm. I’m always up for helping people, but does he want an assistant?”
“What Ellis needs and what he wants are likely two vastly different things. Half the time these guys are so single-minded about the game, they let their personal lives fall by the wayside. Their health, relationships, and other responsibilities suffer because of it.”
The idea of helping someone in need has always uplifted and inspired me. I spent the better part of my life on the receiving end of charitable people who went out of their way to help. However, back then, I was hidden so far in my shell that I never revealed how much their kindness meant to me.
There was the Nelson family who always sent me to kindergarten with a homemade lunch. Then Mr. and Mrs. Jaronisky who brought me to church. Oh, and the Reids. Even though their daughter hardly talked to me at school, she is the sole reason I survived freshman year … and algebra.
Everything changed when I came to Cobbiton. Grandma Dolly worked a miracle and helped me see all the good in the world. She drew me out of my self-imposed silence and fear one cookie at a time. Then I met Cara and I found my BFF forever—except during that little blip in Los Angeles when I dropped out of everyone’s lives and nearly got sucked into Sorsha’s lizard cult.
Cara says, “He could benefit from someone as uplifting as you.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Is there something I should know?”
“Professional athletes have a lot on their plates. Pierre dwells in Pierreville, but he’s an anomaly. They’re under so much pressure to perform, it can get the better of them. I think Ellis is struggling with that a bit. Plus, he comes from a legendary hockey family, so I imagine not only does he compete with the other teams in the league, but also has to vie to keep up with his brother and his dad’s legacy.”
“That sounds like a lot for anyone to manage emotionally.”
“Manage? Ha. More like push it deep down into the dark and then let it explode out of him on the ice.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a defenseman and our team thug. Need to put the fear of pucks and sticks and blades into someone? Ellis is our man. Suffice it to say, he has had some past anger management issues. Actually, it’s primarily between him and one other player. Henri Valjean.”
Cara gets a call and answers professionally and confidently. So much has changed in three hundred and sixty-five days, yet I feel like instead of taking any steps forward, I’m back where I started.
I’ve gleaned that Mr. Badaszek runs the show on the ice and Cara now takes care of everything off of it. She was a perpetual student for years, earning multiple degrees, but she’s found her calling. It gives me hope that someday I will too … even though I don’t know exactly what that is.
When she hangs up, I say, “Are you authorized to hire me? I don’t want you to get in trouble for giving your bestie a job. I might be able to apply at the diner again.”
Cara kicks her feet onto the desk and pretends to smoke a stogie. “I call the shots ’round these parts, pardner.”
We both giggle.
She drops her legs and adjusts her swivel chair. “Back to Ellis. The thing is, as far as I know, he’s single so it’s not like he has anyone to confide in or to have a life with off the ice. I imagine things can build up, you know?”
“How sad.” How familiar.
“Yes and no. I think it’s circumstantial.”
“Is he hideous?”
