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“Great game, Dad. You did it.”
“Wedid it, bud,” Tank said. He didn’t want to let go of his little guy. Tears silently ran down his cheek. “We did it.”
“Will you beat Edmonton?” Nash asked.
“I sure hope so. We’ll try our best.”
One of our equipment guys poked his head into the room and tapped his watch. “Rust, Tank, the bus is waiting on you. Time to go.”
“No,” Nash whimpered, clutching his dad tighter. “Don’t go.”
“Aw. Buddy. I don’t wanna go either. But I’m so glad I could see you one last time before we leave,” Tank said, choking up. He peeked up and saw Nash’s mom standing outside the room, waiting. “Be good for your mom, alright?”
“Are you gonna come up here for the summer?” Nash asked.
“Yeah, bud. You know I am.”
“Can we go fishing?”
Tank laughed. “Yeah, bud, I’ll take you fishing as much as you want. We’ve got all summer to hang. How’s that sound?”
“Good.”
Father and son shared one last hug, said their tearful goodbyes, and reluctantly separated.
Alone again, I gave Tank a hug. “Damn. That’s tough. You’re a good man, Tank.”
“Whew.” Tank dried the corners of his eyes. “Man. I miss playing in front of him. It’s special.”
We grabbed our bags and left the room.
“Bet Nash is happy to see you win,” I said as we walked the hallway to leave the arena.
Tank chuckled. “Yeah. But the thing is, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. Nash loves me regardless. That feeling is the best thing in the world, man.God,I wish I could see him more.”
We left the arena and boarded the bus, our teammates sarcastically applauding us for being late. The bus didn’t wait for us to take our seats; it began to roll, headed to the airport to catch our eleven-thirty flight to Vegas.
I stared out my window, downtown St. Paul zooming past, as Tank’s words echoed in my mind.
The best thing in the world.
I almost had it. And what had I done with it? I fucked it all up. Because I couldn’t get over something. Something small, something stupid.
Yeah, you fucked it all up,something in me said.So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to let it get away? And Isabelle, too?
Isabelle.
She was the love of my life. I was just too dumb, too scared to admit it before. But now I knew it was true.
I couldn’t let her get away.
The problem I faced now was, I had no idea how to reach her. She’d blocked me. She didn’t want to talk to me. And because I was so selfish and scared that people would find out about us and not approve, I’d never even been to her house. I didn’t know where she lived.
Ugh,I felt so dumb.
She’d tried to get me to go to her house so many times, but I hadn’t seen the point—why, whenmyhouse was so nice, should we hang out at her place? She had roommates. I didn’t.
I knew I’d already blown my chance, and Isabelle might not ever forgive me. And if that was the case,thatsucked,a lot. But I had to at leasttryto get in contact with her somehow.
