Page 4 of Shot on Goal at a Second Chance
I’m not surprised. Becks always said she’d own a team one day, but I brushed it off as a young girl’s daydream. But she had fire. I’ll give her that much.
The last time I saw Rebecca was shortly before I moved to Canada to play on an AHLaffiliate team, which then led to making my NHL debut. Over the years, her name came up on occasion, but our paths never crossed again.
How did I miss hearing Rebecca bought a hockey team?
“Yeah, I remember her.” Because she never fully left my thoughts.
Chase appears lost in thought for a moment, then leans forward, his voice lowered. “Isn’t she the one you?—”
“Just leave it, okay?” I grind out my words.
Chuckling softly, he sits back in his seat. “Guess that answers my question. I’ll send over the contract later today so you can look it over before you sign. Sound good?”
I nod. “Thanks. I appreciate you putting this together.”
“No problem.” He hesitates, his gaze bouncing between his food and me as if he’s trying to figure out how to say something. “You know what they say about old flames.”
“Nope. And I don’t want to know.”
He holds his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Message received. But man, I wish I could be there when you see her again.”
Laney’s name scrolls across the top of my phone screen as I’m about to get into my sedan. “Hey, peanut.”
“How’d your meeting go?” Background noises of agrinder and someone placing a coffee order filter in through the connection.
“Hello to you, too. Are you at work?” A large truck drives by, so I plug my free ear to hear better.
“Yeah, I don’t have much time. So, how’d it go?”
I really don’t want to break the news to her at work. “Call me when you get home, and I’ll fill you in.”
She sighs. “You didn’t get it, did you?”
Historically, the kid tended to perceive things ahead of most. And still does, it seems. “No, but I did get an offer.”
“Where?”
“Sarabella, Florida.”
“Sweet! I can come visit and hang out on the beach.”
“You’re not upset?”
Laney has always had a knack for surprising me. One of my favorites is still the morning I woke up to a smoke alarm going off. At seven, Laney took it upon herself to make her uncle pancakes for his birthday. The first round hit the garbage, along with the pan. But her second batch was pretty tasty.
“No, are you?”
“Kind of. I wanted to be closer to you.”
“I told you, there’s no point. I have no intentions of staying here after I graduate. California is my end game.”
I let out a long exhale. “Well, good. I was afraid you’d be upset.”
“Nah. I’m good. And it’s not like Connecticut is that far away.”
“Far enough.”
“Closer than Cali.When do you go?”
