Page 26 of What Are the Chances
“How are things going with the house? My financial advisor said the payment went through.”
I nodded. “The mortgage is cleared.”
Owning a house outright at the age of twenty-one was strange. It wasn’t an amazing house by any means, but it had been something my mum worked hard for, and something that had been able to set me up.
The money I received after she died had been enough to clear the mortgage and pay for her funeral. Plus a little leftover for either a holiday after college or a down payment on a new house far from here.
There’d been no backlog of medical expenses. Dad had taken care of those.
“Are you planning to watch Tanner on Saturday?” he asked.
I nodded. “He’s sorting out my ticket. Phil-U versus Allentown, it should be a good game.”
Dad picked up his beer. “It always is.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I was a liability tonight
WILL
I could feel Coach watching me, and Levi too. I was a liability tonight. I’d served a two-minute penalty which was my first of the season, and I may as well have given away a penalty shot with a dumb play that had resulted in a breakaway for the opposition.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Levi asked when we jumped the boards and settled on the bench.
“Caufield!” Coach shouted from behind me. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Whatwasthe fuck wrong me with me? I had no idea. I was so up in my head I could barely see the score. I knew it though. Three-one. And it wasn’t in our favour.
Levi bent closer to my ear. “Is it your shoulder?”
I shook my head. It was a little achy, but not enough to slow me down.
“I don’t know what it is,” I admitted. “I’m just having an off day I suppose.”
“You don’t have off days, Will,” Levi returned before climbing back over the boards.
I followed his lead and skated into position for the face off. I didn’t gain possession, but no surprises there.
Things didn’t improve in the second period, and they went to shit in the third. Levi scored with six minutes remaining, making the three-two score seem slightly more achievable. Then an empty netter scored by the other team blew that straight back out. By the time we were skating off the ice, Iwas fucking spent. I trudged straight to my stall, my ego hanging so low it was practically dragging on the ground.
“What the fuck was that?” Coach shouted the second he crossed the threshold into the locker room. “That was the worst game of hockey I’ve ever witnessed. Defence, what happened to our structure? You completely played into their hand.” He was silent for a moment, but that was only to catch his breath. “And Caufield, care to explain where your head was at? I’ve seen peewee hockey players with better skills than you.”
Brutal, but also fair. The question was rhetorical, so I didn’t bother with a response. Coach’s angry tangent didn’t end there, but I zoned out. He couldn’t say anything I wasn’t already telling myself.
*
I felt Levi sink into the seat beside me on the bus, but I kept my focus out the window. If he was talking to me, the music playing through my headphones blocked him out. Though truthfully, I doubt he’d have much to say right now. Levi knew when to let it drop, just like I did with him.
Not even a month ago the roles had been reversed. He’d climbed onto the bus in a fucking daze after Grace had broken up with him. He’d been a liability in that game too. Though for him, at least we’d known why. I really had no fucking clue what was up.
I was doing things the way I’d always done them. Training hard. Looking after myself off the ice. When Levi had mentioned my game seemed off, I guess I hadn’t totally believed him, but I’d just seen firsthand that he was right. And the frustrating part was I had no clue why. I didn’t know how to fix this.
About an hour into the drive back to campus, I shut off my music and slipped out my headphones. The bus was rowdier than I expected, a hell of a lot less sombre than my own thoughts.
Levi tore his focus off the guys talking around us and gave me his attention. “Should I be worried?”
“I – I don’t know.” I exhaled heavily. “I’ll get Coach to organise extra ice time.”
