Page 62 of Offside

"I'm buying potatoes," I said. "The store is about to close. Luca told everyone to bring one thing tomorrow. Bishop was assigned rolls and bought enough for an arena. I was assigned potatoes, and I was smart enough to wait until the store was closing."

"Bishop," she repeated after a pause.

I watched the woman in front of me add four pounds of butter to the conveyor belt.

"The defenseman from the wrist-wrap story," she said. "The one you keep mentioning."

"That was Volkov's wrist," I said. "Bishop was the one that noticed the change."

"Go on," she encouraged.

"I'm dating him," I said. The line moved forward one cart length.

"Ah," she said. "That explains the correction."

"That can't be your whole reaction," I said. "You've never been short on questions."

"I'm allowing you to continue. You dislike interruption." She laughed. "I'm being considerate."

I'd called to ask her about Denver. Instead, I ended up talking about the part of Chicago I hadn't told her yet.

"His name is Colt," I said. "He knows about the Denver offer. He hasn't asked me to stay."

"Do you want him to?" she asked.

"No," I said. "I need this choice to stay mine."

The answer came easily. That wasn't the part I needed help with.

"Good," she said. "Then what do you want from me?"

The cashier scanned the potatoes. I paid, carried the bag outside, and stood beneath the overhang. I looked at the mountains of snow across the parking lot.

"Tell me I'm not refusing Denver because change is difficult," I said.

"I can't tell you that," she said.

"You could try," I said. "It would save time."

"Talk." She laughed softly.

"Denver gives me authority," I said. "Three clinics, and a program I could build right from the beginning. Better resources."

"And distance," she said softly. "That's part of the offer too."

"Yes," I admitted. "It would be a clean break."

"From Colt?" she asked. "Or from the job?"

"From a complicated team situation. From the place where I made a professional boundary necessary. From a job that would always look different now, even if the people involved handled it well."

"Do you want that distance?" she asked.

I watched a man drag a Christmas tree through the snow toward a car too small to carry it.

"Some days," I said.

"That doesn't really answer the question," she said.