Page 76 of A Heart Worth Finding
An hour later, Jack and Aiden were checked into their room and settled in for a few hours until they had evening skate. Tomorrow, they played the University of Minnesota, who was the best team in their conference and one of the top teams in the country. Jack would have to be on top of his game to hold off the Gophers’ explosive offense.
“I’m gonna call Kenzie,” Aiden said as he flopped down onto his bed.
“Don’t!” Jack said. “Not yet. I gotta call Darren back.”
“Right, sorry.”
Jack lifted his phone and dialed his agent, his hands growing inexplicably clammy as it rang and rang.
Right when Jack thought it’d go to voicemail, Darren picked up.
“Sorry, man. On the line with another client,” he said. “How was the flight?”
“Good,” Jack said. Then, having had enough of pleasantries, added, “Cut to the chase, Darren.”
Darren laughed, a full, hearty sound wherein Jack could practically see his entire body shaking with the force of it. “That’s what I like about you, Jack. No bullshit.”
“Well, this is my career we’re talking about here,” he said. “So shoot me straight.”
“We’ve had some recent interest,” Darren said. “Nothing concrete yet, but you’ve got options, both here in the States and overseas.”
Jack sat up straighter at the wordoverseas.“Where exactly overseas?”
“Ahh, lemme see…” Darren said, trailing off as papers shuffled in the background. The man was a hell of an agent, representing quite a few of the NHL’s top guys in addition to signing high-caliber college players like Jack, but his organizational skills left something to be desired.
“Oh! Here it is,” Darren finally said. “Looks like SKA and CSKA.”
“In English, please,” Jack said, and Aiden shot him a look that said,be patient.
“SKA is in Saint Petersburg, and CSKA is in Moscow.”
“Russia,” Jack breathed, his heart pumping harder in his chest.
Oblivious to his freak out, Darren plowed ahead. “There’s also been interest from Toledo, WBS, Kalamazoo, San Diego, Manitoba, and Ontario,” he said, listing out a combination of ECHL and AHL teams.
Any one of them would be an incredible opportunity for him, and put him one step closer to his dream of playing in the NHL. But…Russia. The name lodged in his mind like a popcorn kernel stuck between his teeth.
The end of the season was still a long way off, and Jack wasn’t going to make any decisions about his future at the moment. Plus, there weren’t any decisions to make. He couldn’t officially sign anything until after he’d played his final minute of college hockey, and if he had anything to say about it, that wouldn’t be until April, after the Spartans lifted that national championship trophy.
“That’s all great to hear,” Jack said to Darren, and the silence from both his agent and his roommate told him he’d missed some crucial part of the conversation.
“You didn’t hear a single word I just said, did you?” Darren asked with a laugh.
Jack chuckled sheepishly. “No, sorry.”
“I know you can’t sign anything yet, but you could give any one of these teams a verbal commitment whenever you want.”
“I’m not ready to do that,” Jack said quickly. “I…”
He scrambled for a reasonable explanation that wasn’t “I don’t know where my girlfriend will be in four months, and I don’t want to make any decisions without talking to her first.”
Ultimately, he settled on, “I want to talk to my dad and brother first.”
Jack was kind of a hockey legacy. His father had a short stint in the pros before an injury sidelined him for good, and he’d been an NHL scout ever since. Jack’s older brother, Josh, was a defenseman for the Pittsburgh Quakers. Basically, Jack would’ve wound up playing whether he wanted to or not. It just so happened that he loved the game, and was a highly-skilled goalie.
“Perfectly understandable,” Darren said. “Send Joe and Josh my best.”
“Will do,” Jack said, ready to hang up.
