Page 2 of Unbreakable
“Okay, okay,” Coach put his hands out. “Just, please, take some time. Call me anytime to talk about it. And hey, I hear Leroy’s been happy out there. Maybe call him.”
“What is there to talk about? It sounds like I don’t have a choice!”
“It’s good money, Dylan,” Dev said. “A chance to turn a new leaf in your career.”
I stood and jostled my chair on the way out, half tempted to slam it into pieces.
Jeanine was going to hate this.
I wason my third stop after getting the news. First, I visited a liquor store, then a weed dispensary. Now I found myself in agrocery store parking lot, staring at the bottle and my dispensary purchases in the passenger seat.
If I drank, Jeannie would smell it on my breath.
If I was high, she’d be able to tell.
There was nothing to numb this pain or change the facts. I stared at my upturned palms in my lap, frantic breaths pressing against what felt like the narrowing walls of my lungs.
There was no easy way out of this. Everything had to change, no matter which option I took.
I started my NHL career here. Met Jeanine here. Fell in love with her here. Got married here. Had our kids here. Built a friend family. Went through dark, dark times and the sweetest of times. We were close to Jeannie’s family, and the kids reveled in their grandparents’ affection.
And the only way we could stay was if I retired from hockey. Financially, I probably could, though I’d have to pick up some kind of retirement gig.
But the problem was, I wasn’t ready to be done. And being kicked out of the happiest stage of my life was terrifying.
How could I talk Jeanine into this? She’d have known I was lying if I said it was my idea. I knew she’d read the trade rumors. She wasn’t oblivious. But I told her no one in management had said anything, and Dev said he hadn’t heard anything. I thought I was in the clear.
I was crushed.
But if I let Jeanine know I didn’t want to go, she’d campaign for us to stay. After all, she’d given up her passion so I could have my career and build a family with her. She’d conceded for my happiness. Was it time for me to concede for her?
And what about the kids? They’d probably be okay, but they’d be looking to us for their cues. I had to hold it together and convince Jeanine to do the same.
Because if we didn’t hold it together, it would all come undone.
ONE
JEANINE
NOW | OCTOBER
“Say Halloween!”
Our kids were lined up in the wagon. Greyson, seven, was Spiderman, Alice, five, was Alice in Wonderland for the second year in a row, and our little ladybug Bella, three, was, who could guess it, a ladybug. I had on my usual cat costume: an all-black outfit with ears, a tail, and whiskers drawn on my face in eyeliner. Dylan wore a tight black long-sleeve that showed off his ridiculous physique, black pants, and a Scream mask that he kept tipped up most of the time because it terrified the kids.
It was our first Halloween in our new city.
Our kids blended into the neighborhood seamlessly, and overall, the parents were great too. We were fortunate to be in a community of houses where kids actually played outside and romped together.
But it wasn’t L.A.
Was the traffic better? Yes. Was it quieter? Yes. But we were gearing up for a real winter, having to bundle the kids up in layers to go trick or treating.
Dylan and I had spent eight years together in Los Angeles, where I pursued my acting career for three years prior. A decade in the city had made me accustomed to the year-round seventy-two-degree weather, the authentic Mexican food, and having the beach just a stone's throw away.
The most we had now was the banks of the Olentangy River. Columbus, Ohio bears very little resemblance to Los Angeles, California.
I’d grown up in the California mountains too. My parents ran a vineyard in Temecula, Mom running the tasting room and Dad running production. In L.A., I could drive to see my mom. My brother and sister had since scattered, with my brother in Oregon and my sister in Australia.
