AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not worth shit, and I’m not the one who needs to hear it. You have a long road before I even consider trusting a damn thing you say. Personally or professionally.”
The fucking thing about it is, I would have apologized every day for the past five years to Isla. If only she’d given me the chance. She made it clear that contact with me wasn’t wanted. Willa blocked me everywhere too.
I’ll ignore all the excuses I’ve told myself for why I didn’t get in touch with Coach through the Timberwolves, or why I didn’t just show up here and force her to talk to me. I’m good at that.
Coach can hate me all he wants for what I did; it still won’t be with the same intensity I hate myself for how I behaved and how I hurt Isla. That girl supported me in every way, even financially. In return, I fucked her over at the first opportunity.
“Yes, Coach.”
“Are you going to have a problem playing for me?”
“No, sir.”
“I don’t fucking like you, kid. That said, I’m going to do my best to keep it professional with you. I’ll probably fail here and there, but you’re going to take that the way you just did. Got it?”
“Yes, Coach.” Fuck me.
“Sit,” he says, finally moving to his desk. “You haven’t been playing to your full potential. I know what you can do, and though you did well in Boston, you should have been their top scorer. Instead, you were barely third this past season. Why?”
Blunt to a fault, I always did appreciate that about him.
“The first season was hard on me. I was distracted by all the changes; the ones you know about and the ones maybe you don’t. My grandmother died not too long ago. I moved my mom out there, that helped in some ways and not in others.” I spill my truths to him because this isn’t a man who accepts anything less. “I was a mess from the start, and even though I tried to battle back, I never could get my footing. In Boston or with the team. Physically, I’m great. Mentally, I haven’t felt good in a long time.”
“I remember my first season in The Show. It’s an adjustment. But what makes coming here any different?”
“I’m home,” I return just as bluntly. “Seattle is the only place that’s ever felt like that. I’m focused on my game and my fitness. I dreamed of this before they even announced the expansion. This is where I’m supposed to be, and I’ll do whatever it takes to be a success for this team.”
“You think there are less distractions here than you had in Boston?” His eyebrow raises in clear skepticism.
“You mean, Isla?” He narrows his gaze. Something tells me he means more than his daughter, but I don’t know what else he could be thinking about. “I ran into her earlier. She still hates me. Rightfully so. I’ll be working to earn her friendship back, but Isla was never a distraction.”
She was my motivation. She was the best support I had. Until I fucked up.
“Life throws shit your way, kid,” he says after a drawn-out pause. The moniker chaps me. He called me Wylder as a kid, that turned to son after I’d been dating Isla for a while and had earned his respect. Now, I’m ‘kid’. “It’s not going to be any different here. You’ve got the rest of the summer to figure shit out. I want your head in the game come season open.”
“Yes, Coach.”
“Now, let’s talk about why you’ve been slow as shit on the ice lately.”
For the next twenty minutes, he hounds me on everything he thinks I’ve been doing wrong. By the time we’re finishing up our chat, I feel properly scolded for not working as hard as I could have. Also, I feel more confident in what I said about knowing this is where I’m supposed to play. Because even though he dealt me a ration of shit, it means he’s paid attention to me while I was in Boston.
It gives me hope and fuels my desire to make him proud of me again.
“How’s Erin?” he asks, standing to lead me out of his office.
“Great, really. She’s retiring out here. We’re meeting with a real estate agent this afternoon to try and find her a little place where she can have a garden. She’ll need some hobbies,” I tell him. She’s worked at least one job, usually two, my whole life. On top of taking care of my grandmother before she died and hauling me around to various hockey games and practices. She more than deserves a chance at a quiet life and I’m happy to be able to provide it for her. Even if she’s going to be bored out of her mind at first, she’s not good at being idle.
“That’s hmm… that’s good,” he says, faltering, before he heaves a sigh. “Tell her not to be too hard on Isla.”
“Why would she be?”
“We’re done. Get the fuck out of my office, kid.”
With that, he shuts his door in my face. I head back to Isla’s office but the other woman, Katherine, tells me she’s left for the day to go pick up someone named Sadie. I’m not sure how I’m going to track her down outside of these office walls, but I’ll find a way. Isla can’t escape me. Not again.
There’s little chance I’ll get a second shot with her, but I’m going to try to make things as right as I can. I owe her that. I owe Coach that. And the team, too. She’s part of the organization, both professionally and personally through her dad. Her hating me will take a toll if I don’t find some way to ease her hatred.
For the rest of the day, I focus on my mom. The agent found a few options for us to look at and Mom fell in love with a small two-bedroom cottage on half an acre in Issaquah. Not too far from Seattle but far enough away to that it still feels private and cozy. The best part is there is already a garden bed in the backyard. She cried when I told the agent to make a full price cash offer.
