Jake:I think so too.
Jake set down his phone and looked around his studio apartment. It was still small, still messy, still full of IKEA furniture. But it didn't feel temporary anymore.
It felt like home.
Tomorrow, he'd call Steve and officially turn down the offer. He'd start learning what it meant to be a coach instead of just a player. He'd take Lucy on their first real date and see where this thing between them led.
Tomorrow, his new life would begin.
But tonight—tonight Jake Morrison was going to watch an old western, eat butternut squash muffins, and let himself feel happy.
For the first time in six years, the weight of his father's expectations wasn't crushing him.
For the first time in three years, he wasn't waiting for someone to rescue him from Timber Falls.
He was just... here. Present. Building something real.
And it felt like exactly where he was supposed to be.
Outside his window, snow continued to fall on the town he'd tried so hard to escape and finally learned to love.
Shane was right, Jake thought. A man's gotta be what he is.
The trick was figuring out what that was.
And for Jake Morrison, at twenty-eight years old, in a studio apartment in Timber Falls, Vermont—he was finally starting to know.
Chapter 7
Monday morning arrived with crystal-clear skies and the kind of cold that made Jake's breath fog as he walked to the rink. The snow from Sunday had been plowed into neat banks along Main Street, and Timber Falls looked like a postcard version of itself.
Jake's phone sat heavy in his jacket pocket. He'd been staring at Steve Kowalski's number since 6 AM, working up the courage to make the call that would change everything.
No—the call that would confirm what he'd already decided.
The rink was empty at 7 AM, just the way Jake liked it. He laced up his skates and took to the ice alone, letting his body move through familiar patterns while his mind spun.
This was it. The moment where he stopped waiting for his life to start and actually started living it.
Jake skated until his legs burned and his shoulder sent up warning flares. Then he sat on the bench, pulled out his phone, and called Steve Kowalski before he could talk himself out of it.
Steve answered on the third ring. "Jake Morrison. I was hoping to hear from you today."
"I appreciate the offer," Jake said. "I really do. But I'm going to have to turn it down."
Silence on the other end. Then: "Can I ask why?"
"I'm staying in Timber Falls. I've got an opportunity to coach here, and I think that's the direction my career needs to go."
"Coaching." Steve didn't sound angry, just surprised. "You're turning down the NHL to coach in the ECHL?"
"I'm choosing the life I want instead of the one I thought I was supposed to want."
Another pause. "Okay. I respect that. Takes guts to walk away from this kind of offer."
"Thank you for understanding."
"For what it's worth, Morrison—I think you'll make a hell of a coach. You've got the hockey IQ and the patience. If you ever change your mind, give me a call."
