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“Uh, no, I’m not.” I glance at my coaches, and they smile and nod encouragingly. “Not yet.”
“I’ll catch up with you later.” Fern nods to me. “See you in a few weeks.” She joins the other players on their way to Iced Out.
“Winter, this is Maxine Devereaux and Christian Cromwell,” Coach Ballistic says. “Maxine is the head coach for the women’s team at Monarch, and Christian is a scout. They’d love to discuss your plans for the fall.”
“It’s great to meet you. And yeah, that, uh, would be good. Can I just text my mom? She might be waiting in the lobby.”
“We spoke to her, and she’s waiting by the office,” Coach Waters says. “We thought you might want her to be part of the conversation.”
“Right. Yeah. Definitely.” I don’t know what to expect from her, but she’s been a lot more supportive of my hockey ambitions since she made the decision to split with my dad. Clover is helping her with the divorce paperwork.
We find her sitting outside Coach Ballistic’s office with Clover. They switched her to a walking cast, so she can get around with one crutch. Coach Ballistic introduces her to Maxine and Christian.
“Do you want me to be here?” she whispers as we file into the office.
I nod and help her into a chair at the round table.
Maxine smiles. “I know we’re taking you away from the team celebration, so we won’t keep you long. But your coaches made us aware that there are a few other schools looking at you, so we wanted to meet with you personally. Your application essay was quite moving, and after seeing you on the ice, we approached the admissions office regarding a few amendments to the previous offer that we’d like to present to you.”
“Amendments?” I look over at my coaches, and they smile encouragingly.
“Originally you were offered a need-based scholarship for tuition. However, we think we can do better than that. You would have a place on our women’s hockey team, which includes tutors to help you maintain a three-point GPA. Tuition will still be covered in full for the duration of your undergrad degree, but we’ll add a stipend for books, accommodations, and a meal plan, should you choose to live in the dorms. Or alternatively, we can offer a stipend to help with groceries should you decide off-campus life is better for you. We have a few houses off-campus for our players, as well as apartment options.”
My mom, God bless her sweet heart, starts to raise her hand, but I catch it in mine. “It’s okay. You can just ask the question, Mom.”
“What is a three-point GPA?”
“It’s a grade-point average,” I tell her. “I’d need to keep Bs in all my classes to keep my scholarship.”
“Oh. Well, you always get good grades, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Would Winter start this fall? At the end of the month?” she asks.
“If she accepts our offer, then yes, she’ll start at the end of August,” Maxine explains.
“And you want to go.” It’s not a question. Mom squeezes my hand. “Don’t worry about me. The casts are coming off soon, and I’ve got lots of support. If you want this, Winter, you should take it.”
“Why don’t we give you a few days to think it over? We can schedule a call on Wednesday, and you can let us know,” Maxine suggests.
When I manage to nod, she and Christian thank us for our time and tell me they hope I’ll consider joining them.
“We’ll give you and your mom a few minutes,” Coach Ballistic adds. “You can meet us up in Iced Out when you’re ready. And Lucy, you’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Thank you, both of you, for everything you’ve done for Winter,” Mom says.
“She’s a talented player, and we want to give her every chance to shine.” Coach Ballistic pats my shoulder and closes the door behind him.
Mom takes my hand, and her chin wobbles as tears fill her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just so proud of you. Just so darn proud, Winter. Despite everything I’ve put you through, you’ve turned out to be this wonderful, kind, responsible young woman. And you’re so talented. I had no idea how good you were. No idea.” She chokes up. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I put you through so much.”
“You were just trying to survive.”
She shakes her head. “No. Don’t let me off the hook like that. This time with Clover, the group sessions we’ve been going to. They’ve helped me. I didn’t see it before. I didn’t see what I was doing to you, how unfair it was. How you were always standing up for me, and it should have been me standing up for you.” Tears leak out of the corners of her eyes, and she holds up a hand when I start to speak, asking me to wait. She takes a deep, shaky breath and continues. “You took the brunt of so much of the abuse, and I…I should never have let that happen. That shouldn’t have been our life. It took until this happened for me to finally see how bad it was.” She shakes her head. “Why don’t you hate me?”
“Because you’re my mom,” I say without hesitation. “We’ve always been a team, you and me against the world. Sometimes it was hard, but you were trying to keep the peace the only way you could. And you’re out now. That’s what matters.”
“You need to take that scholarship, Winter. You need to go to Chicago and play hockey for that college team.”
