Page 56 of Looks Real Good Now
“Morning, Liam, you been for a run?” he asked.
“I went on half a run, aborted it, and bought pastries instead.”
“A wise choice,” he said.
“Just you up?”
“In the house yes, but Stassie and Aaron went for a pre-breakfast walk.”
“They couldn’t persuade you to join them?”
He tapped his puzzle with the end of his pen. “It seemed like the only time I might get to myself to get through mycrossword.”
“Oh, I’ll leave you to it,” I said as I picked the box up.
“No rush. Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about. I want you to know that this comes from a place of love and there is no pressure or expectation attached.”
He set his pen down and I started to feel nauseous, like I was about to get told off for something.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“My assistant coach told me he was leaving at the end of the season, which means I am in the market for a new one. Now, I don’t know if coaching is something you would consider, but I would like to offer you the position.”
“Oh.” It was the only thought in my head. There was a lot about retirement that I’d been enjoying. The free time. Not having to worry about being at the rink on time. Life was less stressful when I didn’t have to go through my entire game day routine. And the day-before-a-game prep. And the post-game wind down. I loved sleeping in my own bed every night and I didn’t miss the travel. But on some level, I did miss hockey. Skating with Lenny the other day had reminded me of how much I liked being around the ice.
High school hockey would require less of me than pro hockey did. It would keep me close to the ice and would open me up to a whole other aspect of the sport that sounded interesting to me. I was wary about orienting my life around the sport again, but I was looking at a man who managed to be a successful coach for years and raise a family, so I knew that balance was possible. I was more wary of the fact that if I said yes to this, then it would mean me putting roots back down in Westchester. A place thatAlana very much did not live, even if she did still call it home.
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now. I appreciate that it’s a lot to consider. Let me start with this, I know you’ve never coached before in the capacity that I am asking you to, but you did help me with the summer programs for a few years before you went pro, and you were great at that. You have a very analytical way of viewing the sport that I think would be invaluable. But more important than that, you respect when enough might just be enough. I know the past few months can’t have been easy for you, with people constantly telling you that you shouldn’t have retired, but you’ve stuck to your guns and that is an admirable trait. You know that life outside the rink is sometimes more important, and I think that kind of understanding might be crucial to some of these kids when faced with the reality that going pro might not be in their timeline. Plus, you work as a nice counterpoint to me. You made it to the NHL. I peaked in college.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“You didn’t peak in college, Coach. I wouldn’t have been half the player that I was if I hadn’t had you in my corner every step of the way. If you say the way I view the game is analytical, it’s because of the way you taught me to play it. I got good at shooting because you made me run drills until I could find any pocket of the net in my sleep. You were the one who taught me that balance is important. You set realistic expectations for every single one of those players on that ice, and we were all better for it. Plus, you have those kids of yours who turned out pretty well, and I don’t know if they would be the same people if you were always travelling for hockey.”
“One of my kids could not be more apathetic to hockey ifthey tried,” he pointed out. I smiled.
“Apathy is better than hatred if you ask me. And she’d hate it. If you picked professional hockey over her and Aaron, she would have learned to hate the sport and maybe even you, and then who knows where we’d be?”
She wouldn’t be in my life, that was for sure. And my life without Alana in it was like the sun without the moon. It just didn’t work. Even when she left me, she was still somewhere in my orbit, and I was better for it.
“I’m not asking you to do that either. Pick this sport over her. I know that she has a life in Detroit, and I know that you must have some roots there too. Asking you to move back here would be a lot and if you decide that staying there is what is best for you, for her, then so be it. But I want you to know that the offer is on the table.”
“When do you need to know by?”
“End of January.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll let you go take those up to Alana now,” he said as he picked up his pen and immediately filled in a clue.
34
Alana
There was a shift on the bed that jogged me awake and as I blinked my eyes open, I saw Liam settling on the edge, two plates in hand.
“Morning,” he said.
“You sound like you’ve been awake a while,” I replied, my voice cracking as it tried to find its way back to consciousness.
“Awake enough to have run 2k and bought you a pastry. Pistachio or hazelnut?”
