Page 258 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

"There." Becca smiles. "That's all I needed."

The conversation wanders after that.

Brooke shares another story about Caleb pretending he doesn't enjoy bookstore events.

Paige tells us Liam somehow locked himself inside the equipment room.

Again.

Sadie admits Colby still can't decorate cupcakes without making an incredible mess.

Ninety minutes disappear before any of us notice how fast the time has gone.

As everyone starts saying goodbye, Brooke smiles.

"We're doing this again."

"I'd like that."

She laughs. "That wasn't a question."

As everyone waves, Sadie hesitates. "Oh... before I forget."

The others glance toward her. "Colby said Jamie's back skating with the team."

Nobody looks at me. Nobody waits for my reaction. It's simply one friend sharing a piece of news.

I swallow around the lump in my throat.

"I'm glad."

And I mean it. With everything I have.

The call ends a few minutes later. The apartment is quiet once again.

But somehow it doesn't feel nearly as lonely.

For the first time since leaving Briar Cove I realize that Jamie wasn't the only one I left behind.

I'd left people who had quietly become my friends, my family.

Somehow, even from two thousand miles away they'd found a way to remind me I still belonged.

***

Week Five…

Monday mornings always begin the same way.

Coffee.

Charts.

Morning rounds.

Today, my first patient is a forty-eight-year-old construction foreman recovering from multiple fractures after a scaffolding collapse.

His name is John.