Page 3 of Offside and Off-Limits
Even though I’ve been doing great for well over a year now, I still felt it was super important to be upfront with Veronica about my CFS. Experience has shown me that even though I have many “green light days,” as my friend, doctor, and Chronic Warriors Support Group leader, Bernice Chen, puts it, I don't have endless energy reserves. I need to manage myself carefully—which means sleep, nutrition, exercise, and me time.
Some of this is a big ask for a single mom who’s taken whatever jobs she could, just to keep the lights on.
And in recovery from CFS, you never know when your symptoms can come back and bite you on the butt.
“It was a unanimous decision to bring you on board. When Kaylee left so suddenly during this crucial pre-season, quite honestly, we wondered how we could ever replace her. But you, Clara Johnson, you impressed us all with your freshapproach and enthusiasm for the role.”
“I appreciate that so much. Thank you.”
“So? What do you say? Will you be the Ice Breakers’ new social media manager, aka SMM?” she asks, and then adds, “We do so love an acronym.”
“Of course I will! Are you kidding? Thank you so, so much, Ms. Reynolds,” I then reply in a rush.
“Veronica, please. Everyone in the office is on a first name basis.”
“Got it,” I echo.
“When can you start? With the players already in pre-season training, it would be great to get you on board soon. You could start by getting some footage of their training sessions. Our followers love to see our players doing their thing on the ice.”
“How does Monday sound?” I ask, my stomach full of excited butterflies. That will give me enough time to hand in my notice to the accountants and mentally prepare for this new challenge.
And it’s going to be a challenge for me. Becoming the IceBreakers’ Social Media Manager will be my first ever serious job. And yes, I know that sounds terrible for a 31-year-old woman to admit.
The thing is, I got married and quickly pregnant with Hannah so early in my time at college that I never actually graduated. Instead, I moved back home to Maple Falls with my ex, Dwayne, to live in my childhood home that my parents had left to me and my sister Keira when they’d passed away in a car crash years before. Dwayne went out to work, and I became a stay-at-home mom.
Then Benny came along, and it seemed my fate was set. A husband, two kids, and bills to pay meant I would take whatever work I could get, working part time as a waitress at Shirley May’s diner, handing out skate rentals at the arena, serving coffee at Falling for Books, Emmy Roberts’s place on Main Street.
You name a business in this small town, and you can bet your bottom dollar I've worked there.
It wasn't what I had dreamed of, but you know what? I wouldn't change it. Although things didn't work out with Dwayne, I got my two beautiful babies, Hannah and Benny.
Together, they are the light of my life.
And life was good for a while. Well, for a few years at least. One winter, I caught a particularly nasty virus when the kids were still in preschool, a virus I never quite got over, finally getting diagnosed with CFS.
And then my whole world imploded.
That's why this job means so much to me.
“Monday is perfect, Clara. I'll have the contract sent over to you this afternoon, and we can get together first thing Monday morning and talk about putting some of your great ideas into practice.”
My great ideas.No pressure.
“That sounds wonderful, Ms.—I mean Veronica.”
“You'll get used to it. See you Monday, eight thirty.”
“I look forward to it,” I reply, and she clicks off with a cheery goodbye.
I let out a breath.
I got the job. I got the job!
I’m the new Social Media Manager for the Ice Breakers.
Me, Clara Johnson, college dropout, single mom, and CFS survivor.
No more filing, data entry, or answering phones for Mr. Walker and his team of cardigan-wearing accountants. Nope. I’m going to be devising and executing social media campaigns for the biggest, most exciting team in the history of Maple Falls, full to the brim of new players, ready to take on the League and prove their worth.
