Chapter 1
Gage
Callie
Seriously, Gutierrez, where are you?
I smirk as her name flashes on the screen of my phone. Leaning back in the sun lounger, I close my eyes and let the sun beat down on my face. It feels good—the warmth, the light, the sound of the rolling waves in the background.
“This is what retirement could be like,” my cousin Pablo chuckles, kicking back in the chair beside mine.
I snort and shake my head, keeping quiet on the matter. Since I arrived in Valencia, Spain two days ago to spend time with my family and celebrate my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary, they’ve all been pumping me—even innocently—for information.
“The free agency frenzy is slowing down,” Pablo reminds me.
“It is,” I murmur, knowing damn well that my chances of being re-signed as an unrestricted free agent are looking slim. Part of me wonders if I should have Callie reach out to the Knoxville Coyotes to try to negotiate a deal but…the other part of me wonders if retirement is the right call.
After all, I’m thirty-eight years old and after my ACL tear several seasons ago, I’ve slowed down considerably. My knee still hasn’t fully recovered. Do I want to keep putting my body through the rigorous training sessions when my performance on the field continues to decline?
Do I want to keep putting my mind through the mental agony of not being able to physically rise to the occasion the way I could a decade ago?
I blow out a sigh and consider ordering a cerveza from the nearby stand. The truth is, I don’t know what I want. Now that the season has ended—on an epic high with another Coyotes Super Bowl win—both options are attractive.
One allows me to continue with the life that I know. Football and practices and being part of a team.
The other offers a glimmer of freedom I’ve started craving more over the past few years. More time with my family, attending my nieces’ and nephews’ sporting and school events, hell, a chance to properly date.
My phone buzzes again with an incoming message and I grin when I see her name. Lord knows the only woman I truly want to date is one who won’t have me.
Callie James has been my agent my entire career. And I’ve crushed on her just as long. Sure, I flirted but she never took my advances seriously. She laughed them off, twisted my entire family around her finger by being a badass agent and an intelligent woman with a wicked sense of humor, and kept me wishing for more.
Callie:
Gage, come on. What’s going on? This endorsement deal isn’t going to sit on the table forever. In fact, the sooner you sign it, the better position you’ll be in regardless of what you decide to do next.
Sighing, I let my thumb hover over the keyboard.
“Yo, cuz, you want a beer?” Pablo asks in rapid Spanish.
“Hook me up,” I reply, mentally weighing my response to Callie.
Then, I admit the truth.
Gage
I’m in Valencia.
Callie
Spain?
I wince. I haven’t told anyone—not my teammates, not my friends, not even Callie—that I left the country. Not that I owe it to anyone beyond common courtesy. But deep down, I know it’s because I’m not ready to make a decision. I’m not ready to announce my retirement. Hell, maybe an offer will come through in the next few weeks.
So I hopped a plane and went off the grid. Back to my mother’s hometown and a chance to spend time with my family. The one who always has my back, even though right now they’re acting as nosy as everyone I’m avoiding stateside.
Gage
It’s my parents’ wedding anniversary. Fifty years.
