“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Absolutely not.” She steps back, squeezes my hands. “Go finish your captain things. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“I’m not waiting until Sunday to see you again.” She raises an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”
“The opposite of a problem.”
“Good.” She heads toward the door, pausing to look back over her shoulder. “I love you.”
Three words. Simple. Certain.
“I love you, too,” I say. And for the first time in my life, the words don’t feel like a risk.
They feel like coming home.
She leaves, and I stand alone in the empty locker room, surrounded by the silence.
But it’s not the same silence I’ve been drowning in for three years. This is different. Fuller. Like the quiet that comes after you’ve finally stopped fighting something and let it win.
I’ve let Gisele win. Turns out winning and losing can feel identical when you finally stop fighting the wrong thing.
And somehow, that feels like the biggest victory I’ve ever had. The evaluation cleared me yesterday. Five business days,and then a single phone call from Franklin that lasted forty-five seconds and ended with the words no further action required.
I didn’t tell the team. Didn’t make it a thing. Just showed up to practice and ran the drills and let the work speak for itself.
The thing that almost cost me everything turned out to be the thing that proved I was fine. The Post-it board. The breathing exercises. The bingo card. All of it documented, in my own words, to a league psychiatrist who asked me how I regulate my emotions and got a very specific answer.
Gisele built me the tools that saved me.
I’m going to spend a long time being grateful for that.
I stand in the empty locker room for a moment longer than I need to.
Then I look at the ice through the doorway and think: four wins.
My phone buzzes. The team group chat, still going wild with reactions to what they just witnessed.
Shep:CAPTAIN ROMANCE IS OFFICIALLY A THING
Heath:That kiss though
Holden:I need to bleach my eyes
Boone:Don’t be dramatic
Shep:EVERYONE BE DRAMATIC. THIS IS A MOMENTOUS OCCASION!
Shep:Also four wins. FOUR WINS PEOPLE. Captain Romance is our good luck charm and I will not hear otherwise.
Boone:He’s not wrong.
Holden:Statistically we’ve been better since the emotional stuff started
Shep:SCIENCE
Gage:Did Gisele see my junk?
