Page 10 of For the Win

I pull air in through my nose and let it slowly out.I breathe in courage and breathe out doubt.If it doesn’t kill me, it makes me stronger.

I’ll call back Gary Jones in the morning.Aaaaah!

4

HARRISON

I’ve been playingin Santa Monica for two weeks now.Six games.I’m feeling pretty good.Working hard.

We’ve won five of those six games.I have four goals, four assists.Not too shabby.

And yet, I have a feeling I’m still not doing my best.

The first game I played after getting called up was against the Long Beach Golden Eagles, which is our big local rival.The fans get super worked up for every “Beach Barn Battle” against the Eagles.A lot of Eagles fans come too, so the atmosphere in the Coliseum is pretty crazy.

It was a big game for me.The two teams are adversaries because of more than just a local rivalry.My half brother Matthew owns the Eagles, and my other half brother Mark is the coach.This is a confusing, long story, but Matthew apparently bought the team after Dad fired Mark as coach of the Condors.He fired him because he was pissed that Mark and Matthew were suing him, accusing him of stealing money from them.It’s nuts, but we’re trying to sort out this crazy conflict.

So, a bunch of my family was at that game.My dad comes to every game, obviously, as the team owner, but my mom, Everly, and Ash were there too.And because it was the Eagles, Mark and Matthew were there, and I was playing against my nephew Jean Paul, known as JP.

We lost that game, which was disappointing.Personally, I felt good about how I played.I was still irritated about the little talk I’d had with Coach where he basically told me I was lazy and I needed to get off my ass.Maybe that lit a fire under said lazy butt, because I was determined to show him he was wrong.

You don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for.

The loss just made me even more determined to do better.Hockey’s a team sport and it’s not about me showing off for my family, though I’ll admit I want to impress them; it’s about winning.We need towin.

I’ve been working with Stan on transitions.He got Bellsy to come and practice with us and he’s a damn good D-man, so it’s been great.He gets us doing one-on-one drills, making me backcheck then transition to offense, and a bunch of other drills.

There are only three weeks left in the regular season.We have a playoff spot locked up, but we still don’t know if we’ll have home-ice advantage, since we’ve been neck and neck with Vancouver in the points race.Every time we get ahead of them, they win and jump over us.

It’s Saturday.We practiced this morning, but we don’t have a game tonight.We just got back from a short road trip where we had back-to-back games in Denver and Phoenix.

It’s great having a Saturday night off, but I’m spending it with a bunch of family.

Not that I don’t love my family.I do.But we have a lot of, er, issues.

For this family meeting, I don’t have to come all the way from Pasadena.Asher and I drive together from our place on Pine Street to our nephew’s place in Marina del Rey.

Our dad had two kids with his first wife, our half brothers Matthew and Mark.Théo is Matthew’s son, so yeah, he’s our nephew, but he’s only two years older than us.

“Hopefully this shit is getting fixed,” Asher mutters as he drives along Lincoln Boulevard.

“Yep.”

There’s been a black cloud over the family for years.Maybe I should say “clouds.”When my dad remarried, the family was pretty upset.His first wife had died only a couple of years before that, and our mom is twenty years younger than him.You can see why the family thought she was marrying him for his money and that Dad was blinded by her youth and good looks.Dad’s sons from his first marriage had a hard time dealing with Mom and Dad having kids while they were also having kids.So there were already some bad feelings when Mark and Matthew started pestering Dad about some money issues a few years ago, and now they’re freakin’ suing him.Not only that, Matthew bought the rival team and stole Mark away from Dad’s team.

A while back I suggested to Everly that we, meaning the younger Wynn family members, should try to figure out what’s going on with this lawsuit to see if we could end this family feud.We’ve had a couple of meetings and each of us has spoken to various older Wynn family members and reported back.

Then Everly lost her shit at a hockey game, that same first game I played at, which meant my great play didn’t even get noticed.Whatever.

This was not like Everly, and kind of shocking.She does not lose her shit.Ever.That was why I suggested she be the one to lead this plan.She likes to be in charge of everything.And I’m speaking as her little brother who she put makeup on, whose hair she curled, and who she dressed in a flowered dress to have a tea party with her dolls.

Anyway, with Mom and Dad, Asher, and Matthew all in one room, Everly told Matthew our suspicions about Dad.Now it’s all out in the open.

We park and walk a block or so to Théo’s house, right on the beach.He and his wife, Lacey, have rented this place since Dad hired him as general manager last summer.He hasn’t even managed the team for a full season, but I think he’s doing amazing.It has to be challenging, though, working for Dad.Especially now.

It’s late afternoon, a sunny day with the ocean sparkling blue and gold in the distance, people walking and biking on the path and playing volleyball on the beach.I ring the doorbell and then open the door to step inside.

Lacey appears.“Hey, Harry!Hey, Ash.”

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