“You’re marrying a really bossy lady, Patrick!” a voice says from somewhere and I smile.
“Wouldn’t want to marry anyone else,” I call back and Tamara beams.
“Good boy,” she whispers and then waves her hand and continues. “We ordered the rainbow decal and it should be here next week. Varun and Vikram offered to help over the weekend, so I’m going to put them to work. I’m designing our bedroom and I’ll send you my plans tonight, so you can tell me what you think.”
“Whatever you want for our room, for this entire house, consider me okay with all of it.”
“Are you sure?” She frowns into the phone, brushing paint-flecked hair out of her face.
“Yeah, baby. But send me what you’ve got and I’ll take a look.”
When her face lights up, I know I did the right thing. She might be confident, badass and well-known for her designs all over the country, but my girl needs confirmation and praise and someone to agree with her. I’m more than happy to be the guy.
“We saw the last match, by the way. Were you stressed?”
I shrug. As a coach, I find myself leaving matters in the hands of my players. I know what they’re capable of and whether or not they can win these games. I’ll guide and advise them, I’ll give them ways to beat the opponent, but I’m not on the pitch. I’m not the one making the calls in the heat of moment. And while they did beat the West Bengal team, it was a close one.
“I’d say no, but my fellow coaches might say otherwise.”
She smiles. “You ready for the next game?”
“Yeah. I think so? Heard lots about this team and they’ve got a few of my teammates, so they’ll be tough to beat.”
“Oh my god, I didn’t even think of that,” she says and looks away, forehead wrinkled in concentration. “Is Nihal playing?”
“He’s on an even higher horse about this than me,” I say as my business partner, best friend and captain walks into the room.
“I know you’re not talking about me.” He frowns and then peers around my phone and Tamara waves at him. He waves back and then pats me on the shoulder.
They first met when he came to Chennai to celebrate our engagement and then spent the new year with his wife’s family in the city. They bonded instantly, poking fun at me the whole time. Whatever makes them happy is fine with me. Then he surprised me in Rourkela two days ago and being away from Tamara doesn’t hurt as much.
“I know you have to go be Super Hot Hockey Coach,” she teases with a wink, “but I miss you and love you and can’t wait to see you next week.”
“I love you, too. And I’ll be the grinning idiot with hearts in my eyes.”
She laughs and kisses the camera. “Bye, Daddy.”
“Bye, Lo.”
The call disconnects and I exhale loudly, setting my phone down on the table. Nihal’s watching me, but I don’t look. I drag my hands through my hair, tugging at the strands. I hate that she’s sad about us not being together right now.
“The first time away is always the hardest. It’ll get easier,” Nihal says as he drops onto the couch beside me.
I slump back. “How have you been doing this for years, man?”
He chuckles. “I don’t know. There are some really rough days. For the most part I focus on the fact that when it’s all done, I get to go home to her.”
Nihal and his wife have been together for the entirety of his professional hockey career and while they don’t have any kids, their marriage seems stronger than ever. Tamara and I haven’t even been together a year and I already feel so unhinged with the distance. Shaking it off, I pop open my laptop and get myself into work mode.
“You’re sure about this?”
Nihal’s practically vibrating as he grins. “This is what we’ve been working our ass off for the last few years.”
I look at the screen and nod slowly. We’re about to submit all the paperwork to register our sports academy. My heart’s racing way too fast and I know it’s the beginning of a crash, but I ignore it. Right now, my only focus is on making sure we get this done. The minute I told him about retiring, Nihal said he was considering it too. Then we brainstormed ways to keep ourselves involved in sports somehow and came up with The Reach for the Stars Sports Academy.
As an off-shoot of our foundation, it will provide sports training to students at the schools we help out as well as other kids who want a chance to make it big. Elias and his friends, Bash and Samar, have already agreed to be part of the cricket programme. Nihal and I’ll handle hockey. We’ve got our eyes on folks for swimming, chess and kabaddi. I floated the idea of coaching badminton to Nina, but we both know she’s not at that level yet. However, she was happy to point us towards the right people to help out.
While we wait for approvals, we’re creating a logo and building a website. We’re also putting out feelers for anyone who might want to help us with marketing and some social media. Elias recommended Vera’s company, but we can’t afford her services right now. And I refuse to do this for free, no matter how much it will benefit us. Besides, it can take anywhere between one week to six months to get anything up and running, so we’re starting the work now instead of waiting until the last minute.
