Page 11 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

“Early, I guess. I told you I don’t know.”

“If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself dating someone who’s a friend of Lily’s.”

“Oh, God! That’s totally sick. I need to wash my brain out with bleach after an idea like that.” I stuck my tongue out. “Blech.”

“I know! That’s why I’m warning you. You’re getting older, but your dates are getting younger. I see what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’re compensating. You can’t play hockey anymore, so you’re putting your energy intootherphysical activities.”

I snorted. “I’m scoring women instead of goals? What the hell’s wrong with that?”

“It’s fine if you’re young, but at your age you need to settle down.”

“Why are you so concerned about my dating life all of a sudden? You been talking to my mom?”

Jes began to laugh. “Am I? Shoot. There is a reason. I made a bet with Dori.”

“What kind of bet?”

“Well, for years she wondered why you didn’t have a long-term girlfriend. I told her that it was because you focused on hockey completely, so there was no room for any other priorities.”

“Maybe that’s true. But where did the bet come in?”

“I told her that you would find someone and settle down—within six months of retiring. And we bet on it.”

I laughed. “You are so going to lose this. I’m having fun. I’m not settling down anytime soon. Good for Dori betting against that stupid idea.”

Now it was Jes’s turn to laugh. “Not true. She bet it would only take three months! All that’s left is finding out if I win, or neither of us win.”

“So, when does the six months end?”

“March. Get on it, will you?”

“You’re nuts. It’s not going to happen.” I pulled into our regular parking spot. “Let’s get unloaded.”

Even biking together turned into a contest since both of us were insanely competitive. That was what made us great when we played hockey. But these days we didn’t recover as fast, so I paced myself. I had to save some energy for tonight, or Angelique would not be impressed.

After our ride, we went for lunch and sat out on the patio. It was January but they had the heat lamps on. I sat back and let the sunshine warm my face.

“You feeling okay these days?” Jes asked.

Oh. We were back on this topic again, were we? “Yeah.”

“Did you see someone?”

I shook my head. “I can work through this myself.”

“You know, it’s totally normal to feel depressed once your career ends. Nobody understands how much our lives were on a schedule—like every freaking minute of the day. And the team takes care of everything: meals, travel, medical stuff. Suddenly you’re all on your own, and you feel lost. It happens to everyone.”

“Yeah, I get that. But I don’t think I’m depressed. And I know I’m lucky to still be working for the team.” But he was right; it was like being a baby bird who got his ass kicked out of the nest. I felt lost. “It’s stupid. I used to resent the schedule and wish I had more freedom. Now that I have all this freedom, it kinda sucks.”

“Playing hockey is like living in a bubble. Real life is better, but it takes a while to realize that.”

I nodded. But life was different for Jes. He had kids while he was playing, so he was always bitching about missing their birthdays or sports events. He had that whole world to walk right into. It wasn’t the same for me; I had to build a new world from scratch.

And that was tough. Hockey wasn’t only a job to me, it was an all-consuming passion. Retiring left a huge gaping hole in my life. Jes wasn’t right about me and women, was he? I was certainly going out a lot more, and the physical satisfaction was there, but it didn’t last long.

---