Page 28 of Playing the Pucking Game
She stares at me, silently begging for me to cave. Deep down, though, she knows I’m right.
“What will you do?”
Anxiety twists up my stomach. “I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out. Someone out there must need a temporary roommate while I get on my feet again.”
“I can ask Hailee,” Casey says, referring to the Vipers’ PR Director. “She always knows everything about everyone.”
“Maybe,” I muse, hating the idea of already needing help from my new employer before I’ve even started.
I wanted to walk into the arena on day one in my new uniform with my head held high, like I could take on the world.
Right now, I don’t even have a uniform to fucking wear, let alone be able to hold my head up high.
“I need to do something, though, I can’t stay here.”
“I’m sure Linc won’t mind you staying for a bit. You’re both going to be on the road as much as you’re here over the next few months.”
“Even more reason to get out of his hair. He doesn’t need me cramping his style.”
“He’ll just have to take his conquests elsewhere for a while. He’ll cope.”
“But he shouldn’t have to. This is his home,” I reason.
“If he didn’t want you here, he wouldn’t have brought you here last night.”
“Linc’s a decent person,” I say. He might annoy the shit out of me most of the time, but I can’t deny this. “He was doing what he thought was right.”
“And making sure you had clothes first thing this morning?”
“Okay, so that went a little above just being nice. It’s New Year’s Day. How did he even manage it?”
Casey shrugs. “It’s probably for the best we don’t know. But talk to him about you staying. He might surprise you.”
“And what if I don’t want to stay here?”
“Parker, I love you, but right now, you don’t have much of a choice.”
Tears burn my eyes again.
“Talk to Linc and then take things one day at a time. You’ll soon be sucked into the excitement of the season, and before you know it, you’ll be out apartment hunting and starting over. By the time the boys win the cup, you’ll have a whole new life.
“You’re already making a name for yourself. Do you know how many female athletic trainers there are in the NHL?”
She doesn’t need to ask that question. Of course I know. It’s why I thought I had as much chance of securing this job as finding unicorn shit.
But I did it.
And not only that, I can get through this, too.
Rolling my shoulders back, I push to my feet and march toward the kitchen.
“More coffee?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
As much as I know I need to go out to replace things, when Casey offers to call an Uber, I turn her down.
The thought of stepping outside and pretending everything is okay is just too much.
