FORTY-ONE
HARLAN
JUNE
The final round.
We survived New York, Boston, and Toronto.
We made it to the Cup Final. Game 7, at home. The Rusties against the L.A. Princes.
My potential new team.
Hostilities always got tight during the playoffs, and none quite like playing out the full seven games in a series.
I was ready to kick Ben Miknevicius in the face if he didn’t stay the fuck out of my crease. I shoved him out every goddamn time. What the fuck was a defenseman even doing near me?
How could I be friends with these people if I decided to go to L.A. after this? I had a reason to despise each of them, even if I secretly admired their play. Cap had played with some of the Princes in college, and Leroy and Sorrento had been on the team. Talking to Leroy was like talking to a brick wall.
But Sorrento was an open book, and had been their captain. So while we warmed up for the final game, I picked the bike between Owen and him.
“Is it hard for you playing L.A.?” I asked.
“Complicated. Bittersweet,” he said. “Good to see friends, and Chappy’s still my best friend. But on the ice, it’s just business. I wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt him, though.”
“Do you miss it?” I went on.
He sighed. “Those years were good years. We had our kids out there. Got married. All the big life transitions. But these years are sweet too.”
“You and Jeanine had trouble adjusting to living here though, right?” I asked.
Sorrento nodded. “Yeah. We had a good life in L.A. No major problems, or so we thought. But it was more that we didn’t talk about the problems. We had enough friends and support people to distract from the stuff we ignored. But a new city took all the distractions away. We had to deal with it. But I don’t think you’re asking about my marriage. I hear they’ve got their eye on you.”
“Yeah. I don’t know how to feel about it.”
His smile was wry. “We loved it there, and we’ll probably still move back to California at some point. It’s a great area. On weather alone, they’ve got Ohio beat.” He paused. “But that’s the thing. Location is nice, but it’s about the people. We loved it so much there because we had Jeannie’s family a couple hours away. Our best friends were on my team. We had a community. We lost all of that coming here. But you know how the league goes. People get traded. The team there now isn’t the same team I left. I couldn’t just go back and have it be the same. And we’ve made a life here now.”
I was quiet, pedaling faster to get my heart rate up. Dylan sped up too, glancing over at me.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t want to lose Emma.” I was shocked at how quickly I said it. I really loved her, and it was true, I didn’t want to loseher. But I also didn’t want to spend my entire life in Ohio and regret it later.
“Will she go with you?”
“She doesn’t want to leave Liam. He’s probably doing another year of juniors and she doesn’t want to force him out of her house. She wouldn’t let me pay for an apartment for him. He’s old enough that he could get a roommate?—”
Owen launched into a coughing fit next to me. I sat back and slapped his back. “You alright, bud?”
“Wrong pipe,” he gasped.
“But anyway, it’s like you said. Even if I could get her to go with me, it won’t be what we have here.”
“I don’t envy you, man. I didn’t get a choice, and if I had, I’d have chosen L.A. But the way things are now, I can’t imagine my life going any differently, you know? Jeanine and I needed that, even if it sucked for a while.”
I laughed. “Whole lot of help you are.”
This was it:my last time seeing Emma before our Cup run ended. I’d either come out the other side with my name on the Cup or as one of the many who almost made it.