Page 92 of Decidedly With Baby
Lily made a small noise that sounded more encouraging than “Ewww my parents arekissing.”
We both glanced down at her,content.
Knowing that at this moment, life couldn’t getbetter.
Too bad the feeling wouldn’t lastforever…
30
Josh
When I waseight years old, Billie, my best friend at the time, and I had gone to his house after school to play video games. Just like we did every day after school. And like any other eight-year-old who lived for his favorite game, I lost track oftime.
Okay, truth be told—I was kicking Billie’s ass at the game and was about to break our all-timerecord.
The part about breaking curfew? A minor inconvenience. Nothing a simple “I love you” to my mother wouldn’tcure.
Did I break the record? You’d better believeit.
I felt like a champion. Invincible. Ready to take on theworld.
Maybe that was why I hadn’t realized something was off the moment I stepped into my apartment—the night my mother had decided she was tired of being my mother and up andleft.
Apparently, some things neverchanged.
“Josh,” one of the assistant coaches said as I approached the dressing room. Since we were playing Colorado on their turf, I was still wearing my gray suit and white dress shirt. The tie had been removed the moment the team and I stepped into the arenabuilding.
I paused to see what he wanted while my teammates filed pastus.
“You’re needed in conference room A. Just down the hallway.” He pointed in the direction I needed togo.
I headed down the corridor, my thoughts on the upcoming game instead of wondering why I was needed in the conference room. Maybe if I had been thinking about that instead of the game, I would have been better prepared for what camenext.
I entered the room to find Don McDonald, the team’s general manager, at the head of the oval table. And that was when the alarms in my head finally wentoff.
Fuck.
“Have a seat,” McDonald said, gesturing to the chair across from him. In front of him was a closed file folder. My closed filed folder, nodoubt.
I would’ve rather stood but did as I was asked—my mind going through what I would tellHolly.
Double fuck—with a fuckedy-fire-truck thrown in for goodluck.
“You’ve been traded to Montreal. Tony Crisp, their GM, will call you shortly. You’ll be flying there tonight.” He got up andleft.
And there you hadit…
From experience, this was pretty much how it went down for everyone. There wasn’t even a chance to say good-bye to myteammates.
And there were no words to convey how I felt, even if the trade didn’t come as a hugesurprise.
I sat there for a moment, all kinds of thoughts stomping through my head. The most common ones centered on the theme of how my father had failed me and Holly’s father had put his career ahead of hiskids.
And now I was about to be nodifferent.
After a few seconds or minutes or hours, I dialed Holly’s cell. Several rings later her phone clicked tovoicemail.
“Hey, Holly.” Fuck, how was I supposed to do this? “I’ve been traded to Montreal. I’m flying out tonight. I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you. Give Lily a kiss for me. Bye.” I ended thecall.
