Evan leaned over the table so he could see Michael. “Yes. Exactly. And Jacob was my lifeline. He’s an amazing guy, so strong, and smart, and loyal, and I love him so much. But let’s be real. He was barely eighteen, just as lost as I was, and one thing he was not, was a parent. So no one could fault him when I went off the rails. And I did. Go off the rails.”
He took a deep breath and settled a little deeper into his chair and, from my perspective, into his own skin. “I made choices through the rest of high school and into college. A lot of those choices were… not great.”
He made a grim face, shook his head, then leaned forward to put his mouth close to the mic sitting on the table in front of him. “Plain talk, folks. I had a lot of sex.” Then he sat back again and waited for the collective gasp to dissipate.
I dared a glance over at the twins. Seeing their furious expressions gave me a little jolt of happiness. I turned back to Evan, who seemed to be asking a question with his eyes. I nodded, and because I couldn’t reach him, I took Perry’s other hand.
“Okay,” Evan said. “Now that’s out of the way, quick wrap-up. When I met Perry, all of that stopped because you don’t take risks when you love someone.” He kissed the back of Perry’s hand. “And I love this guy. I also love this game, so when he asked me to play, I said yes because I’ll follow him anywhere. But that’s a longer story, for another time.”
“Actually, it’s sort of part of this story,” Perry said quietly. I could feel him trembling through our connection and tightened my grip. “Because he followed me to this team, and to Alan.”
“We followed each other.”
“We did.” They gazed at one another for a heartbeat, then turned to me.
Evan spoke up again when the crowd remained quiet. “There’s nothing quite like realizing when you’ve found the thing that completes your life, and your heart, all in one place.” He turned back to face the reporters. “So no matter how this turns out this weekend, I know this time, I’ve made the exact right choice. Finally.”
Michael leaned forward to look past all of us, down the table, and by some unspoken magnetic draw, Carol turned to look back. “I think this was a year of choices for all of us,” he said. “When I decided to step off the ice to coach this year, I realized how very important family, no matter what it looks like, really is.”
Carol nodded to him. “Oui. C’est vrai, mon cher.”
“And you, Robbie?” the reporter asked, looking a little bit panicked that maybe her question hadn’t gone in the direction she’d thought it would.
Robbie shrugged. “When I agreed to join the team…” He smiled softly. “When I decided to leave my life behind to do this, my life—the very best parts of it—sort of came with me.” He looked over at Evan and Perry. “Two of my closest friends, and my very best frie—person. My best person, who’s standing backstage waiting for me, came too, and there is nothing quite as real as knowing someone like him has my back no matter what.”
“That’s…” The rep finally said when the room had remained quiet.
“It’s a beautiful story,” the reporter who had asked the question said. “Thank you for your honesty. All of you. It just goes to show how close this experience makes a team. You become like family.”
We all nodded agreement.
Attention turned then to the Pickering team, giving us a moment to breathe into the new team narrative we’d just made for ourselves.
“You’re leading all of our press conferences from now on,” Michael declared, patting Evan on the back as we were getting ready to go onto the ice later.
“I’m still shaking,” Perry muttered.
“You both did beautifully,” I assured them, putting an arm around Perry to absorb some of his remaining trembles, and cupping Evan’s face so he would stay still long enough for me to drop a kiss on his clever mouth.
I noticed Mikko had appeared from wherever he’d stashed himself during the press conference and was once more hovering just over Robbie’s left shoulder. As he did.
He was the first to stiffen, catching my eye and nodding towards the men sliding across the ice towards us. Jason Darren had thunder on his face as he approached, while Cameron looked resigned.
“You’re all very proud of yourselves, aren’t you?” Jason asked as he hopped up onto the bumper next to Evan.
“All we did,” Evan said calmly, “was answer the questions we were asked.”
“Jase.” His twin pulled on his arm. “Come on.”
“You can’t take my Olympic medal away from me.” He poked Evan in the chest hard enough to make him step back so he bumped into me. I put an arm around him.
“Before the cameras pick this up, I suggest you leave it alone,” I said quietly.
“If you want an Olympic medal,” Evan said, his voice so calm, so devoid of anything resembling anger or resentment, “win the game. Then win the next one, and all the ones after that.” He held out a hand. “Good luck.”
Jason followed his brother away without shaking.
Evan sighed and leaned against me for a second. “Maybe some day he’ll make better choices too.”
