Page 59 of Puck Shots
“Cosmo, honey,” Mom calls, walking towards me with her arms already stretched out for a hug. I need it, and the second she’s got her mom arms around me as soppy as it sounds, I totally feel the love. Mom’s always been a hugger. In fact, we all are, the whole Parks family are huggers. Well, except Dad. He’s more a slap his hand on your shoulder and give it a squeeze kind of guy, but even he gets in on this one.
“You nervous, son?” he asks, and Mom lets me go.
“What’s he got to be nervous about, Jo? He’s obviously impressed them already with them paying for us to fly out here and back.”
“You flew?” I ask, looking at Dad.
“Your mom called to confirm the time for dinner and they offered. Seemed rude to decline, besides, your mother’s never been in business class.”
“It was lovely, even if it was for only a short time. Maybe now I’ll convince your father to upgrade us for our trip out to England next year.”
“You’re going to see Brent?”
“That’s the plan. Who knows, with how things are going with him and Camden, we all could be flying out for a wedding before long.”
“Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Lyn. The boys only just met.”
“It’s obvious they belong together.”
“Should we go in?” I interject.
“Yes, okay, so I was looking up what we should ask them on the flight over,” Mom says. “Apparently, you should have at least three questions prepared. Do you have any prepared?”
I shake my head.
“I figured I’d wing it,” I say, and Dad laughs.
“That’s our boy, letting the cosmos steer your future.”
When I was growing up, they never missed a chance to remind me I was their little cosmic surprise. They thought they were done having kids, they had four already, Brent, the twins Calvin and Tony, and our sister, Rachel. Mom even thought she was going through the change, and yep, I only know what that is because I’ve listened to this story about a bazillion times. She went to the doctors and came home with a positive pregnancy test, laughing about how the cosmos had other plans for their family. I was the cosmic joke, and then I was born and I was just, Cosmo.
“I wrote down a few,” Mom says, passing me an airline napkin. I read off the first one.
“What do you often wish college players knew before joining the NHL? I guess I could ask that.”
“I like the one about focus,” Dad says, and I scan the rest and then read it off.
“If you were in my shoes, what do you think I should focus on this year?”
“Yep, that one. It shows you’re looking to impress them.”
“He’s already impressed them,” Mom adds.
“I like this one,” I say, reading off the last on the back of the napkin. “What off-ice habits do you see in your top pros that I could start now?”
“That is a good one,” Dad says, slapping his hand on my shoulder. “We better get in there before they think you’re not interested at all.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I say, and I walk ahead of them through the doors into the first of what is hopefully many nights like this with many interested teams. But fuck, even if it’s just tonight with this team, I’m cool with that if it gets me the future I’ve dreamed of, the one I’ve worked my butt off for all these years.
“Cosmo, nice to see you again,” Greg Love says as soon as I’m through the door. He’s the advisor who has been talking to a few of the guys on campus for the last two years. Hopefully, he wasn’t watching me and my parents outside.
“Nice to see you again, too, sir.”
“Please, call me Greg. And these must be your parents, Lyn, and Jo?”
“Yes, umm, sorry, Mom, Dad, this is Greg Love. He’s an advisor for the NHL.”
“So you’re not an agent then?” Mom asks.
