Page 72 of The Yips

“We’ve got no choice but to Google it. Or I can ask my mother.” Sam turned nearly white when I mentioned asking my mother. He shook his head and set out to find his phone to Google instead.

All was forgotten when he read his text messages.

“It’s Matthew, and he wants to come by and show us some pictures. He thinks he found him.”

My heart dropped, and the adrenaline that I recognized as anxiety raced through my bloodstream.

“Already?”

“Breathe, Kelsey. It’s going to be okay,” Sam whispered. “We’ll look through what he found, and then you decide what to do. You’re in control here.”

“Promise?”

“I swear I won’t let anything happen to Crew.”

I took a shaky breath in, “Okay. When does he want to come by?”

Sam sent another message, and the response was practically instantaneous. “He can be here in thirty minutes.”

“Okay, we won’t have another chance until after we return from Texas, and I don’t want it hanging over our heads all week.”

Sam scheduled it, and I opened the duffle bag, rifling through it for something to wear. He watched me quietly as I dressed and then walked my bag to a door next to his closet, opening it to reveal an empty walk-in closet.

“I can send someone to pack up the rest of your things while we’re gone, okay?”

I found his eyes, my anchor, while my emotions stormed through my body, heart, and mind. As I focused on him, my breathing regulated, and I nodded.

“Okay.” Yep, we were doing this.

“Kelsey, are you nervous because it’s a big change, or do you have second thoughts?” Sam attempted to clarify.

“I want to be with you. I’m scared we’re moving too fast, and I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Without thinking about what could go wrong, does this feel right? Do we feel right? Do you have any doubts?”

“Oh, Jeez, Sam. I have generalized anxiety disorder. My brain can manufacture doubt about the color of the sky, and it could even convince me that water isn’t wet. What I do trust is how I feel with you. Settled. Happy. Comfortable. Outside my family, I’ve never felt like that. So no, I don’t have any doubts.”

“Okay, let’s go downstairs together and wait for the man, “ he said, picking up the baby monitor as he led the way.

We both sat silently at the kitchen island and watched the clock.

“This feels like the longest day ever,” I said out loud, in disbelief of all we had packed into a single day. Leaving the city first thing in the morning, the early stop at the car dealership, the drive back, our run, the bath, sex, andnow it was 7:30, and the private detective was expected any minute. After he left, I needed to pack a bag for Texas.

“Josie also texted while we were busy. Dad is settled in rehab. She said they had a pretty good heart-to-heart on the ride. I think it’s going to stick.”

“Oh, Sam, I hope you get your dad back.”

When the doorbell rang, we both greeted Matt at the door and led him into the kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen island, he pulled out a folder and his laptop.

“Like I said to Sam, I’m pretty sure I found him. I was coming up blank until I started searching for hockey players. There was one Tom at USC and one at UCLA, but Tom Campbell also had photos on his Instagram from a trip to Cancun. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I answered.

When he pulled up the Instagram account, I recognized him immediately. His group of friends had hung out with my friends that night, and my roommate Lucy was even in one of the photos.

“Holy shit, that’s even my friend Lucy.”

“It’s him?” Sam asked.

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