Page 9 of Coyotes Ever After

Boston’s worried. They get more aggressive, their defensemen all over me and Ford. One of our rookies, Tony Shepherd, scores on a power play.

When we surround him, Tony’s smile reminds me so damn much of myself when I was his age. Young and full of fire. He’ll never forget this moment.

As soon as play resumes, Trevor Morris is blatantly high-sticking and hits Ford, drawing a lot of blood from his nose. Ford has to go to the locker room for treatment.

Morris gets a double minor and we make the most of it. Ben scores on the power play and then Colby does, too.

We’re up 4–2 at the second intermission, but the mood in the locker room is still subdued.

“You good?” I ask Ford, who’s holding a towel beneath his nose.

He gives me a thumbs-up. Coach drills into us all the stuff we already know but probably need to listen to anyway.

Icing my knee doesn’t help much, but I pop some ibuprofen and ignore the pain. When we go back to our bench, I pay close attention to everything. The feel of the bench as I sit down. The smell of popcorn in the air.

It’s probably the last time I’ll do this. My final period as a pro hockey player. I want to remember every detail.

I do my shifts, but as the clock counts down, I have a surreal sense of being outside my body. The dream is so close. To go out on top would be everything.

Sergei wants to lay Trevor Morris out flat so fucking bad, but he knows better than to risk the penalty at such a critical moment in the game. He’ll remember, though. It’ll be nextseason, but Morris will get paid back for his hit on our team captain.

The arena is practically shaking as the crowd shouts out a countdown of the clock’s final thirty seconds. Then it’s over, and they erupt into cheers.

Ford tosses his stick and drops to his knees. Sal throws his mask aside and skates toward center ice, where the rest of us meet him.

We won. We just won the championship. Tears stream from my eyes as I embrace my teammates. Every painful minute with my knee was worth it. We’re on top for the first time ever.

Our coaches join us on the ice, all of us emotional. I wasn’t sure I’d ever know what this feels like.

It feels fucking incredible. I look up at my family and see everyone hugging each other. Shelby is grinning at me. I blow her a kiss.

Then I look up at the owner’s box and see Mila. Her hands are clasped beneath her chin and she’s beaming at us. This wouldn’t have happened without her. She believes in her team more fiercely than any owner I’ve ever seen.

“We did it!” Ford yells, embracing me. “We fucking did it, Fox!”

We fucking did. And I’ll never forget this feeling.

CHAPTER FIVE

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

Colby

I know as soonas I walk into the doctor’s office. Not only is Dr. Harlan there, sitting behind his desk, but there are also three other people in the room. The white coats give them away as doctors, too.

“Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, good to see you again.” Dr. Harlan stands and comes around to the front of the desk to shake our hands.

He introduces Mila and me to the other three doctors, and I fake smile and shake their hands, too. As soon as Mila and I are seated in the two chairs in front of Dr. Harlan’s desk, she takes my hand. That’s not something she usually does, so I know she’s feeling the same trepidation I am.

“Well?” Mila gets right to it. “I hope you have a new treatment for my husband and we didn’t fly all the way back here just to hear you’re still working on it.”

My wife is a lot more pointed than I am, as usual, but in this case, I’m glad she’s getting right to the point. We’ve been to this hospital in London three times in the past two months. And that was after many visits to a specialist in Denver and a hospital in New York. Long COVID has taken over my fucking life. I’m too exhausted to get out of bed sometimes, and even when I force myself to, I feel like shit all the time.

Fatigue. Headaches. Brain fog. I have all the symptoms, and they’re only getting more severe. Mila has been relentless about seeking answers and treatment options, but there’s just not a lot of certainty among the medical community about long COVID.

“Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, we do appreciate you making the trip here, and we do want to begin treatment immediately. However, the diagnosis isn’t long COVID.”

Mila scoffs. “What do you mean? Colby was diagnosed with long COVID a year ago. We know he has it. We just haven’t been able to find a treatment that works.”

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