“Shit, really?” I ask. I try to hide the shock from my voice, but I can’t.
Marcus Evans is one of the greatest players to ever suit up for Nashville. Even though they’ve been a team at the bottom of the league for years now, it wasn’t because of Marcus.
“Too much upheaval. I’ve had enough of it to last a lifetime.” Marcus fidgets with his empty ring finger before leaning back in our booth that’s tucked away in the side of the bar. “I’d retire. Get some goats, maybe.”
“Goats?” I snort over the gulp I just took, nearly choking on it. “Can’t say that I picture you as a farmer.”
“What?” Marcus throws his arms wide. “You don’t think I could raise a pack of goats?”
“Are they called a pack of goats?” I ask him.
“Shit. I don’t know. I’m sure Sadie does.”
That gets a laugh out of me. “Is it bad your eight-year-old knows more than you?”
“Sadie is a genius. Just like her mom. She’ll be running circles around me before long.”
In the few months I was here last season, I learned as much as I could about my teammates. Marcus having two daughters isabout as much as I know about him. The rest of his life is strictly off-limits.
“Maybe I should have retired. Stayed in Denver. No goats, but maybe a bunny.”
“A bunny?” Marcus asks, sipping on his drink. “That’s random.”
I laugh. “Nick and I had a bunny. Well, Nick did, but we lived together and so it was mine too. Oreo.”
“Fuck. Don’t ever say you have a bunny around the girls, or I will see to it that you never play hockey again. They’ll be asking for one as soon as they hear about it.”
“Bunnies are easy,” I point out.
Marcus shakes his head. “Don’t care. Don’t need something else to take care of.”
“And you were offering me your spare room?”
“You’re a grown man. I don’t have to take care of you.”
I sigh. “Maybe if I found a place earlier, it would have made the move easier.”
“You think?” Marcus asks.
“I don’t know. Might have helped to have someone help me find a place to live. My mom offered, but I don’t know. I wanted to find a place that was mine.”
When I was drafted by Colorado, my parents helped me find a place to live so I could focus on hockey. Getting traded to Nashville feels like the first time I’ve been away from everything I’ve ever known in life.
Even though I’ve lived away from my parents for the better part of my twenties, it felt like I was on my own for the first time. And I didn’t want to have to rely on others to make it here.
“Well, I’m here if you need anything.” Marcus glances at his watch. “Just don’t call me after nine on weeknights to bail you out of jail.”
“Who said anything about going to jail?”
That pulls a small smile from Marcus’s usually hard face. “I’m only saying that my captainly duties have their limits.”
“I’m not Bode.” I laugh.
Now I get a real smile. “Bode would be the one to get arrested.”
“Probably for public intoxication.”
“If we do what Coach says we’ll do,”—Marcus raps his knuckles on the wooden table between us—“Bode is definitely getting arrested.”
