Page 9 of Time to Shine

“He makes it hard to resent him, though. He’s a good guy. Chatty as fuck, but fun. Small doses, y’know?”

Even after the short interactions Landon had had with Casey, he could tell the guy would probably get exhausting quickly. He also wasn’t surprised Casey had no trouble finding people to hook up with. Not only was he pretty, he seemed to not even consider the fact that someone might not like him, which would make it a lot easier to shoot his shot.

Basically the opposite of Landon, who would rather die than attempt to chat someone up in a bar. He’d honestly have no idea what to do next if the person he’d managed to flirt with suggested they go have sex somewhere. Even imagining that scenario made his stomach hurt and his pulse speed up.

Landon typed out: I’m staying in.

He hesitated before hitting send, because did anyone even care if he went out or not? He sent the message and put his phone down on the bed beside him.

“You’re not coming out?” West asked, eyebrows raised.

“Nah,” Landon said, hoping he sounded relaxed and cool. Then something occurred to him. “Unless...did you want me out of the room? Are you planning to bring someone back here?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a girlfriend. Though I may ask for an hour or two to FaceTime her one of these nights.”

“Right. Got it. No problem.” In Landon’s experience, having a girlfriend or even a wife at home didn’t necessarily mean hockey players weren’t going to hook up with strangers on the road. If West really was faithful to his girlfriend, that would make this road trip a lot more comfortable for Landon.

“Found it!” West triumphantly held up his phone charger. “We’ve got two hours before dinner. Gio and Petey have a PlayStation set up in their room, if you wanna come check that out.”

It was a nice offer, and Landon appreciated it but, “I think I might try to nap,” he said. “Thanks, though.”

“Okay. It’s Room 2417 if you change your mind.” With that, West left, phone and charger in hand.

Landon stood and went back to the window. The sun was low in the sky, the beginning of what looked like a beautiful sunset.

He thought about calling his mom. He brought up her number on his phone and hovered his thumb over it. He hadn’t spoken to either of his parents in over a week, beyond a few texts, and he hated himself for that. In the past year or so, their conversations had been lighter, reminding him more of the way his family had been before tragedy had torn them to shreds, but he was still on edge whenever he spoke with them. Lately all he wanted to say was “I’m sorry” a million times, but not over the phone. Right now, he just wanted to hear their voices, and to attempt to convince them that he was thriving.

The sun was a lot lower by the time he finally called them.

Mom answered right away. “Landon! Is everything okay?”

He winced. He really needed to call them more often. “I’m fine. I’m in St. Louis and just...wanted to call you.”

Mom exhaled slowly. “It’s nice to hear from you. We watched the first period of your game last night. Sorry we couldn’t stay awake past that.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t playing anyway.” Halifax was three hours ahead of Calgary, which made watching the games live difficult. Especially for people like his parents who had to be up early for work.

“They showed you, though. On the bench. You looked handsome.”

Landon smiled wryly. “Well. That’s the important thing.”

An awkward silence fell between them, as it often did. They stood in for all of Landon’s unsaid apologies, all of the resentment he was sure his parents carried, and all of their mutual pain and grief.

“Oh!” Mom said. “Dad just got home. I’ll put you on speakerphone.”

“Okay.”

A few seconds later, his dad said, “Hi, Landon. How’s Calgary?”

“Good. I haven’t seen much of it. Mostly the arena and the hotel.”

“He’s in St. Louis now,” Mom said, in an impressed tone that made St. Louis sound like Paris.

“Did you see the big arch?” Dad asked.

“I saw it, yeah. It’s hard to miss.”

“Are they treating you well in the big leagues? Making friends? How about Niskanen? It must be hard to believe you’re teammates with him!”

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