Chapter Six
Asher
Julie’s ignoring me. I briefly consider how fucked up I must be for that to both amuse me and turn me on. She’s standing by the bar with her friends, her back to me and her head facing aggressively forward. She’s trying her hardest not to turn in my direction. I keep replaying the way she looked when she turned away from me in the friends and family room. Her haunted eyes and drumming fingers giving away her anxiety at searching the room for a friendly face and coming up empty.
Even now, as she laughs and talks with her friends, nervous energy cascades off her in a wave but no one seems to notice except for me. I barely know her, but it’s like Iknowher, and that’s not a feeling I’ve had before. I don’t understand it, but I sure as fuck want to explore it. She feels differently for now, and that’s fine by me. I’m a patient guy.
Beer in hand, I drop into a chair at one of the tables Ben saved at the back of the bar, my legs no longer interested in holding me up after four grueling quarters of football. A second injection after the game, this one administered by the teamdoctor, has kept me from the inferno levels of shoulder pain I felt when I took the hit, but the pain is always lurking, waiting for its trigger. It feels wrong to be relieved that we lost—even though the loss was on me—but the idea of playing another game this season on my shoulder is unbearable. I have the whole offseason to work out my shit. I’ll be good as new in time for training camp in July.
I have to be.
Unconsciously, I roll my shoulder.
“How’s the shoulder?” Jeremy takes the seat across from me, his own beer in hand.
I shrug, resisting the urge to roll it again. “It’ll be fine.”
Jeremy looks at me, understanding written all over his face. “I’ve definitely said those words before.” His hand drifts down to his right knee in a move that seems more habitual than conscious. Jeremy was an NHL superstar who was forced to retire early. He knows something about brutal injuries and for a second, I consider telling him everything. I have a moment of anticipatory relief, thinking of sharing the burden with someone who understands. Sanity prevails before I can open my mouth. No one can know.
I change the subject before he can ask me anything else. “So, how are things at the foundation?”
Jeremy leans back in his chair and lets out a groan. “God, it’s been nonstop since we launched the campaign for the camps at the gala. I want these camps, but man, I underestimated how much work it was going to be.”
Jeremy’s foundation has always paid for kids to go to training camps for different sports, but at the gala he launched a campaign to support the foundation running camps of its own in partnership with local sports teams. He’s planning to start with hockey and football and then branch out into other sports over the next few years.
“Well, like I said at the gala, I’ve been thinking a lot about focusing my charity work more heavily on kids, and I’m game to help plan for the football camp in the offseason.”
“I was hoping you would say that. I’ve got a planning meeting next week. Interested in joining?”
“Definitely. I’m around for the next two weeks, and then I’m heading home to Boulder for a month or so. I can cut the trip short though if you need me here in person.”
“Nah, go see your family. All our work for the next six or so months is meetings and strategy sessions and phone calls. If you’re up for it, you can work with us remotely.”
“I’m definitely up for it. Just tell me what you need and I’m all in.”
I’m relieved I don’t have to cut my trip short, but I would have if Jeremy asked me to. Even though I don’t know him all that well, I liked him immediately when we formally met back in July. He was dealt a bad hand with his injury at the start of what would likely have been a record-setting career but took that hand and turned it into one of the most powerful and successful foundations in the sporting world. He made enough money during his three years in hockey to do whatever he wanted to do, but he chose to stay in the city that gave him his career, doing charitable work and opening a bar with his best friend. I don’t have a lot of friends, but I’d really like him to be one. It’s fucking weird trying to make a new friend at thirty-one years old, but I figure it’s worth a shot.
“What are we talking about over here?” Ben drops into the seat next to Jeremy.
“Oh, so you finally decided to peel yourself away from Hallie to come have some guy talk?”
Ben backhands Jeremy on the arm. “I’ve been behind the bar, fuck you very much. Someone has to keep this place running while you sit around drinking all our beer.”
Jeremy just smiles, unbothered by the brotherly ribbing. Just like Hallie and Julie are sisters in all but blood, it’s easy to see that Ben and Jeremy are brothers. The same tug of longing I felt when Lucy sent me the family picture before the game hits me again. It’s on me that I haven’t made good friends here in the years I’ve been playing, but watching Ben and Jeremy together, I consider that maybe I should have tried harder.
“Sorry about the game, Ash; it was a tough loss, but you had a great season.” Ben tips his beer bottle towards me in a silent toast.
“Thanks, man, it was a rough one. I’m ready for the offseason though.”
“Got any plans?” Ben asks. “Hallie and I are planning some ski weekends over the next couple months up at our family’s lake house in Western Maryland.” He points to Jeremy. “This asshole will be there even though he can’t ski with his knee. Jordan and Allie and the rest of the girls will probably come too. You’re welcome to join us if you’re around.”
I consider the offer and my brain floods with images of Julie and all the things we could get up to in a lake house in the middle of the winter. I simultaneously thinkhell yesandpump the brakes Asher.
“Sounds great. I’ll be with my family in Boulder for a while, but maybe when I’m back.”
“Works for me. Give me your number, and I’ll let you know when we decide to go.”
I give Ben my number and he texts me from his phone. Julie’s brother could not be more different from her. With their fair hair and blue eyes, the physical resemblance is striking, but that’s where the similarities end. Where Julie is all depth and complexity hidden by her tough lawyer girl persona, Ben is a what you see is what you get kind of guy. The hometown boy running a local bar, who invites veritable strangers to skiweekends at his lake house and is head over heels in love with his lifelong best friend.
