Page 18 of The Tryout

“Hiya, honey. How can I help you?” Her accent is indistinct, but I can’t help but notice it’s different from my own. Not quite Southern, not quite Northern, something entirely its own.

“I’m, uh, checking in? I think I’ve got a room under Lawson?”

Her nails click on the keyboard, pulling up the reservation.

“Oh, here you are. Avery?”

She smiles up at me and I can’t help but smile back, nodding.

“Alright, the team’s paid up the room for a week. We’ll need a card to put on file for incidentals, ok?”

I slip my American Express out of my wallet, handing it to her.

I’d been tempted to pay for my own room, maybe in one of the nicer hotels by the river. I could even have gotten myself a rental, but Tremblay had vetoed the idea.

“Nah, it won’t look right. You want the guys on the team to know you’re just like them. If they know you’re in some fancy place, they’ll smell blood in the water. And a rental? Talk about putting the cart before the horse.”

I hate that he’s probably right.

I take my card back from the front desk clerk – Cindy, her nametag tells me – and happily accept my keycard.

One week.

That’s all I’ve got to convince the coaching staff that I’m worth keeping around.

My room is somehow even more underwhelming than the lobby, with scratchy-looking sheets on a bed that can’t possibly be intended for an adult. I pull back the sheets at the head of the bed, then lift the fitted sheet at the corner, looking for the telltale dark dots.

Dad may be proud of me, but he’ll never forgive me if I get kicked out of the AHL and bring home bedbugs.

Pulling up our family text, I type out a few quick messages. After a long delay in Chicago while a thunderstorm rolled through, I don’t have the energy for a full phone call tonight.

Avery Lawson 10:54 PM

Got here safe.

At my hotel.

Checked for bedbugs, I promise.

It’s only a matter of seconds before I see Dad begin typing, but Pops has him beat.

Tony Lawson 10:55 PM

Sleep tight, kiddo.

Daniel Lawson 10:57 PM

You mock me now.

How’s the hotel?

You settle in ok?

I look around, confident that if Dad could see this room, he would have a new one booked and a car here to pick me up within five minutes. I’ll have to be careful with angles when I do, inevitably, FaceTime him.

Avery Lawson 11:00 PM

It’s fine, a little small.