Page 53 of Tough Guy and the Show Off

We work on that for a few minutes until the coach seems satisfied. I’m ready for some more drills but Coach Gregors calls me off the ice and over to where he’s standing next to a cute woman with curly red hair and a lanky young guy.

“Bozeman, this is Charity, our team coordinator. She handles all sorts of things, like getting new players set up.”

“Nice to meet you, Charity.”

“And this is Lewis. He’s the team’s social media manager.”

“I’ll be taking a picture of you once we get your official jersey in. It should come in a day or two.”

“Great.”

“After you change, I can take you to your temporary residence. It’s an apartment owned by the team. It’s not much better than a hotel room,” Charity says with a laugh. “But it’s not far from here at all, which is nice. The realtor will contact you in the next day or so and take you around when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.”

My head spins with all the information. I really live in Chicago now. Tonight, I’ll be in a black and white jersey.

“A minute, Bozeman?” Coach Gregors says.

I nod, following him just a little bit away from everyone else.

“You looked good out there, as I suspected you would. I’m sure this was a shock at first. You’ve been playing exceedingly well this season, so I’m thinking you didn’t see a trade coming.”

“No, sir.”

“I get that the transition is tough. I’ve been in your shoes, but the team and the city are very excited to have you.”

“I appreciate that. I’ll do my best for you.”

He lingers, studying my face for a second. He obviously has more to say.

“Do you have a question for me?”

“Well…” Coach glances over his shoulder at the team. “We all know you and Showalter were joined at the hip, on and off the ice. I guess I just want to say that I hope you’ll give your new teammates a chance.”

“Of course I will.”

He nods and excuses me. I head back to the locker room full of conflicted thoughts. If I’m honest, this is kind of exciting and the team seems awesome. We worked pretty well together in practice too.

But I miss Trav.

So damn much.

After I take a quick shower and throw my street clothes on again, I venture out to find Charity. She’s talking to Diego, showing him something on her phone. He nods and looks up at me, a big smile on his face.

“You must be starving by now.”

“I could definitely eat.”

“Cool. I’m gonna take over for Charity. We can grab a quick lunch then I’ll drop you at the temporary apartment. Does that work?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“See you soon.” Charity waves and walks off.

I follow Diego out to his car, bundling up against the cool breeze. “It’s colder here than Boston.”

Diego chuckles. “Is it? We’ve got some wind coming off the lakes today, but it’s not bad. Just wait.”