West shrugs. “It’s part of the life, man. Just do what you do and don’t worry about anyone else. Keep your eye on the prize.”
“There are presents?” Vik asks in confusion.
Simon rolls his eyes but the rest of us laugh.
The five of us who live together have become pretty tight in the short time we’ve known each other. We eat together most nights, work out together, and even went to the movies the other night. Jayne was working late at the library, so I went with the guys to see a new action film that was pretty good.
I’m beginning to feel like I fit in here, which is a bonus because this week has sucked so far. I don’t mind the physical exertion—I’m in good shape—but it’s the mind fuck part that pisses me off. Even though I had a tough season last year, I was picked up by the Thunder for a reason. All of us were. Forcing all of us to earn our place on the team feels like Coach is fucking with us just because he can.
And the sports pundits, who are invited to everything going on with the Thunder right now, are running with it.
The good news is that we’re all over the press, which is never a bad thing for an expansion team. The bad news is that it makes some of us look bad. So far, no one has said much about me, but Simon got hammered in a story yesterday because he didn’t have great numbers on one of the exercises.
“McGregor!” Coach Morrison comes into the room and calls to West. “Walk with me?”
West glances up lazily and politely wipes his mouth. “Just a sec, Coach.” He eats the last bite of pasta on his plate and then finishes his bottle of water before getting up.
“I wish I had his balls,” Simon mutters.
“He’s been around the block a few times,” I say. “And there were quite a few teams that wanted him. I don’t think he’s overly worried about his career.”
“Unlike the rest of us,” Felix mutters.
“We’ll be okay. He can’t send usalldown to the minors.”
I’m not particularly worried about hockey since I have a solid contract for this season, but the thing with Jayne is problematic because I really like her. We’ve talked and texted almost constantly since Sunday and have plans to hang out Friday night.
I’m off this weekend so we’re going to go to dinner and then maybe we’ll chill at the house. West and Simon have plans to go out with a few of the other guys on the team, Felix is driving to Savannah to see some friends who are vacationing there from his hometown, and Vik hasn’t said what he’s doing, but he tends to stay up in his room if we don’t have something going on. I’m fairly confident we’ll have a bit of privacy.
I’ve been doing a bit of journaling too, and after digging into junk journaling, I can see myself dabbling in it. Not for the artistic stuff so much but more of a way to keep my thoughts and things I’m working on in therapy organized in a way I can look back on. See how far I’ve come. Remind myself of goals. Now that I’ve started writing things down, I realize I have a lot of them.
Money is a big one. I didn’t make a lot in the minors, so there was no way to save anything while I was raising my sister and sending her to college. I used the life insurance money we got to pay for it all, even my share. I didn’t want her starting out in lifewith a mountain of debt. And I don’t regret it. But I do need to focus on my own future now.
I have a 401K, which I’m grateful for, but there isn’t a lot in it, so the money I’m making this year is ridiculous compared to years past. West isn’t asking for much in the way of rent so I plan to save as much as possible, build up a nest egg. In fact, the plan is to put more than half of my take home pay into savings and investments. West gave me the name of his financial planner so I’m meeting with the guy in a few weeks.
Hopefully, that will result in a plan to follow for the next couple of years. I want to save for a house, even though I probably won’t end my career in Atlanta. Most of the guys own houses because teams help with that when you’re traded, so it’s almost always a good investment.
I’m also thinking ahead to having a family.
Whether it turns out to be with Jayne or someone else, I want to take care of my future family without us struggling or always worrying about money. Billie and I did that for too long and while I did the best I could at the time, in retrospect, I should have worked harder to get to the NHL. I fell into a routine in the minors. It was comfortable, easy in some ways, while everything else in my life was so fucking hard.
I wish I’d done things differently, but that’s the point—I’m going to do things differentlynow.
And my gut tells me Jayne is going to play a part in that.
“So, how are things going with Jayne?” West asks me as we’re heading home for the day. We’ve been driving together because we both like to get in early and there’s no reason to take two vehicles.
I lift one shoulder in a half-shrug. “We’ve gone out a few times and I’m taking her to dinner Friday night.”
He groans. “Dude. What are you doing?”
“Ilikeher,” I grumble. “A lot.”
“Are you sure? Is she worth your career?”
“Oh, he can’t kick me off the team because I’m dating his adult daughter. She’s not a kid. Not even close. And in eight months she’s moving out anyway.”
“He can send you down to the minors.”
