Page 60 of Trick Play

She let out a sigh. “Yes. I’d been talking with the owner for two years. He was in the process of restoring it, and I told him when it was done, I would buy it. We had a verbal agreement, but I should have done more. He sold it for ten grand more a week before I had all the money saved up.”

“Dang. That sucks.”

“I can’t really blame him. He got a better offer.”

“But you watched it get restored.”

She shrugged, but I could tell it still bothered her.

“What’s going to be your first big purchase when you get signed?”

I loved that she didn’t say if. It was a minor thing, but subtly told me how confident she was in me.

“I don’t know. I feel like I owe my parents for all they did to make sure I made it to this point, but at the same time, I don’t think they would accept anything like a new car or house. Not that I’d even get a bonus that big, but I think I do want to do something for them. Maybe a nice vacation.” I almost laughed. “Maybe separate ones.”

She glanced at me for a second before focusing back on the road. “That’s really sweet.”

I shrugged. I genuinely was grateful for what my parents had sacrificed. A tiny part of me couldn’t help but wonder if I put them through too much, strained their marriage, required so much of their time and attention that they didn’t have enough to give each other.

I wasn’t sure if there were any stats on divorces among parents of elite-level athletes, but I assumed it was higher than the average. Between the time, travel, and financial burden, it was a challenge most people didn’t face. It wasn’t like they knew on their wedding day their son would require so much.

Would they change things if they could? Would they have never signed me up for my first skating lesson? Stopped taking me to hockey practices when I was five or six if they knew how much it would take over their lives?

I’d never asked because I really didn’t want to know the answer.

“So your first big purchase is going to be a car?”

“I guess it depends. If I work close enough to where we’re living, I might not need one. I’d rather not have to worry about parking, if possible, but we’ll see.”

It was strange how different our futures were. Her future was so much closer and clear-cut.

“Where are you planning on moving?”

“I haven’t told you?”

“No.” We usually focused on the past.

“Lo and I found an apartment downtown.”

“Pittsburgh?” My voice caught.

She chuckled. “Yes. Why is that so surprising?”

“I figured you’d get out of here as fast as you could. I thought you’d go to New York.”

“Maybe one day.” There was a hint of hope in her voice. “Honestly, I wanted to go somewhere much farther away, but Lo convinced me there were plenty of jobs for both of us here, and the cost of living is so much cheaper than other major cities, so we could save up until we got better opportunities.”

That was a really good idea. The most shocking part was that it was Lauren’s idea.

“Are you going to show me where you’ll be living?”

“It’s actually pretty close to the stadium,” she said.

“Kenny, there’s three in downtown. You’ll have to be more specific.”

“The hockey arena,” she replied quietly.

“Huh. I pictured you as more of a North Shore girl.”