Fletcher rolled his eyes. “He wishes,” he chuckled. “So, New Year’s. Got any fun plans?” Fletcher asked.
Taylor nodded. “Sánchez and I were going to find a club with. You?”
“I don’t really plan that far ahead,” Fletcher replied. “I like to see where the night takes me.”
Somehow, Taylor wasn’t sure if he believed that. Fletcher had always seemed like someone who was too uptight to be a drifter. “You should come with us,” he told Fletcher. “We’re all bringing dates. More people, less pressure.”
Fletcher’s gaze sharpened. “So, you’re seeing someone?” he asked.
“Nothing serious,” Taylor chuckled awkwardly, a beat too quick. Not really sure why he needed to clarify, but whatever.
“Sounds fun. Thanks for the invite, man.” Taylor let out a sigh of relief when Sánchez reappeared, complaining loudly.
“My fucking mom just yelled at me for getting a minor penalty,” Sánchez groaned. “She acts like it’s an embarrassment to the entire family.”
Taylor and Fletcher both let out a chuckle. “I’m afraid to hear what she says about me, then,” Taylor quipped. Taylor probably spends half his games in the penalty box.
“She says you’re a very bad boy,hermano,” Sánchez said solemnly. “You need to get your act together. Get your head out of the gutter and shit,” he joked.
“Maybe she’s right,” Taylor laughed.
They bid Fletcher a farewell as they left to find the other things on Sánchez’s list, but Taylor spent the rest of the shopping trip with a lingering pressure in his chest knowing how easily he let Fletcher get under his skin.
7
The New Year
“Can you help me zip this dress up?” Emogen asked. Taylor stood behind her as she stood in front of her floor-length mirror, admiring her appearance. Her platinum blonde hair was shoulder-length blonde after “giving into her evil haircut thoughts” a few weeks ago and really brought out her green eyes. She held up a silver strapless body-con dress that hugged her curves nicely once Taylor helped zip her up. It showed, in his opinion, a respectable amount of cleavage without being too slutty. And he’d told her as much.
Emogen was one of Taylor’s good friends from Sacramento. And also, his ex-girlfriend. They broke up right before Taylor signed his contract, but they had remained good friends since. She was the only girl Taylor would casually hook up with because he trusted her more than most people. She was also a really, really good person to talk to, and had acted as Taylor’s unofficial therapist before he started seeing Dr. Browne.
It was Gretchen’s idea for Taylor to see a therapist. She toldhim that everyone should have one if they could afford it, which made Taylor feel a lot less weird about going. He didn’t tell anyone else about seeing Dr. Browne except for a handful of the teammates he was close with. Douglas, Sánchez, and Fletch. Pancek found out too after accidentally walking in on one of Taylor’s online sessions. He was downstairs in his room in the basement sitting at the desk when Pancek walked downstairs to ask him what he wanted for dinner. Taylor reflexively slammed the laptop closed before Pancek high-tailed it out of there shouting “Sorry! Oh God.”
It turns out he thought Taylor was jerking off to some porn on his computer.
“Why would I be doing that with the door open?” He had asked with a confused look on his face.
Since then, Taylor had been strictly attending in-person therapy sessions once a week if time allowed. His schedule was kind of all over the place. They had their first home game in nearly a month earlier this afternoon, easily beating Chicago 7-3. They were lucky enough to have three home games in a row, which meant they would get to stay in Seattle for almost two weeks before having to hit the road.
On Christmas they ended up playing against San Jose but lost 0-1. It was a tough game, but they were easily lifted by the Christmas spirit. Gretchen and the kids flew down to meet us, and they all stayed in an Airbnb together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, the kids woke up to toys from Santa. They got Taylor some new headphones to take on the bus and plane, but in the bottom of the gift bag there was a picture of an ultrasound saying, “you’ll need these pretty soon.” Gretchen announced she was due in late June or early July.
Taylor and the kids also unwrapped matching “big brother”and “big sister” for Gretchen’s pregnancy announcement. She jokingly promised Taylor that there would be no lap sitting, but hand holding was still on the table.
Their next away game would be in Jacksonville.
Fletcher didn’t have a chance to go home for any of the big three holidays because of the game schedule, which he said was completely fine with him. He spent Christmas with Taylor and the Panceks. Pancek told Taylor he had an obligation to invite the kid as captain.
For New Year’s, Taylor and Emogen were meeting up with Fletcher, Sánchez, and Douglas and their respective partners. Fletcher had a never-ending roster of girls he was seeing, so he wasn’t quite sure who the lucky winner would be tonight. Taylor learned that Sánchez had been seeing Katherine, who was the Team Liaison. Whatever that meant. The guys liked to tease him about being into cougars, but Sánchez was nineteen and Katherine was only twenty.
Douglas had gotten into some hot water when everyone found out he was dating Corinna Roca. Marco’s little sister and Sánchez’s cousin. Marco was extra rough on him during practice for an entire month, but apparently, they had been going steady since the beginning of the season. Sánchez thought it was hilarious. Especially because of how mad it made Marco.
Taylor and Emogen took an Uber to their new favorite club, Sabez. He and the guys had been hopping from place to place trying to find the best spot in Seattle until they finally found this place a few weeks ago. Taylor wasn’t usually a huge going out person, but he was looking forward to spending time with Emogen and his friends.
After thanking their driver, Taylor skipped the line and guided Emogen inside. He had a lot of street cred in Seattle now,which he was using to his advantage tonight. He and Emogen ordered drinks before finding all the others hanging out on the rooftop.
“This is my ex-girlfriend, Emogen,” he announced.
“Wow, okay. I thought I was your best friend.” Emogen pretended to be offended.
