I drop my gaze again, my chest feeling constricted in a different way now—less numb, more crowded.
“I don’t know how to show up for her,” I admit quietly. “I don’t know if I can be what Vivian needs when I can barely—” I cut myself off, shaking my head.
“Breathe?” Emma offers gently.
I let out a rough breath. “Yeah.”
She nods, like that makes perfect sense. Like I didn’t just admit something that feels dangerously close to failing.
“Okay,” she says. “Then that’s the first thing.”
I glance up. “What is?”
“You learning how to breathe through it,” she says simply. “You’re not trying to solve hockey or your diagnosis or your entire future in one go.” She gives me a look. “You love to try and do that, by the way.”
I snort. “Shocking.”
“Truly groundbreaking,” she deadpans, then she turns more serious. “But this? This is not a one-move fix. This is you letting things be messy for a minute.”
I lean back against the wall, letting my head tip lightly against it. “I don’t like messy.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” she says. “But you don’t really have a choice right now.”
Another beat passes, quieter this time.
“You don’t have to have the answers tonight,” she adds. “You don’t even have to know what the right move with Vivian is.”
It feels like I should argue that. Like I shouldneedto know, but I don’t have anything in me to fight her on it.
“What if I mess it up?” I ask instead.
Emma’s mouth twitches. “You probably will.”
“Thanks,” I snap, questioning her intentions now.
“Please hear me out.” She lifts a shoulder. “I didn’t mean that the way you heard it. What I meant was not in some catastrophic, everything-goes-up-in-flames way. But in a human way. You’ll say the wrong thing. You’ll get overwhelmed. You might pull back when you shouldn’t.”
“Great,” I mutter.
“Welcome to being a person,” she shoots back, then steps a little closer. “The goal isn’t perfection, Ty. It’s honesty. It’s letting her see where you’re actually at instead of trying to be some polished version of yourself you think she deserves.”
Well. That’s the part that hits uncomfortably close to home.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” I admit.
“You don’t have to explain it perfectly,” she says. “You just have to start.”
“Okay,” I say finally, my voice quieter but steadier. “Okay.”
She nods once, like that’s enough for now, and points to my phone. “Not sure if you noticed but it’s been lighting up.”
I glance over to see the screen flashing with texts. One quick look tells me it’s the team group chat so I tap the thread to see what’s going on.
Campbell:
Captain’s skate, day after tomorrow, early morning at the practice facility. Everyone who is in town, I want to see you on the ice.
“Awesome,” Emma, who is peering over my shoulder like the nosy sister she is, pats my back. “Tell them yes.”
