Page 81 of Dreams
Me too,he told himself as he waited nervously for someone to answer the door.
The lock clicked and the door started to move, revealing Mrs. Scott with a grinning Evie beside her.
“Josh,” Mrs. Scott smiled warmly. “Come on in.”
“Thanks,” he said shakily. “Hey Ev.”
Evie reached her arms up with a giggle and Josh picked her up, giving her a hug, before putting her back down.
“Ev,” Mrs. Scott said. “Why don’t you go finish your movie?”
She started to protest, but her mom pushes her towards the living room as she led Josh into the kitchen.
Turning around, she said, “Oh sweetie, she isn’t here.”
The nerves in Josh’s stomach turned into a churning disappointment.
“Where did she go?” he asked.
“She’s with Sarah.” Mrs. Scott’s eyes held a sympathy that Josh suddenly couldn’t take anymore. He had to get out of there before he broke down.
“She left,” he said, more to himself than to her.
She nodded slowly. “You know how fragile she still is.” She spread her arms wide. “I wish it wasn’t like this, but I can only do so much for her. All I can say is, don’t give up on her quite yet.”
Josh walked back towards the front door, and it was all he could do to hold his head up. “She’s already done that. I can’t be the one to fix her this time. Not when I needed her to do the same for me.”
There were tears standing in Mrs. Scott’s eyes when he turned back to her.
“I’m sorry this is happening to you, Josh. Doug is torn up about it.”
“Thank Coach Scott for me, will you? For everything.”
She nodded, and he re-joined his brother.
“She wasn’t there?” Ethan asked.
“No,” he stated. “Let’s just pick up some of my things and get out of this city.”
Josh knew he shouldn’t be leaving just yet. He still had team obligations. They’d want meetings, and there’d be a press release, possibly a press conference. He had a contract, but in that moment, he wanted to get as much space between him and the team as possible. Space between him and hockey.
It felt like a divorce he hadn’t seen coming. He didn’t know how long it would take for him to forgive the game. For giving him what he wanted just long enough for him to taste it and then burning it to the ground.
“Damn it!” His fist collided with the dashboard and Ethan glanced sideways at him, but didn’t say a word.
Once they got some of his stuff from his apartment, they left Columbus behind.
Ethan said they were going home, but Josh couldn’t help but feel he was leaving it.
