“You can try, but obviously, my agent has my back, and there is only one team I’ll go to.”

“Fuck you,” Hartley says.

I nod at them, smiling. “Have a great day, gentlemen, and good luck in the future.” Then I turn to my coach. “Claude.”

“We’ll talk soon,” he says, and I turn and walk out of the conference room. Pressing the button on the elevator, I wait. I don’t know why I thought they would come chasing after me or even apologize for what they did, but I don’t get any of that, and it just makes my decision easier.

When we walk out into the hot sun, I turn to Carey. “I say give them five and call them with my offer.”

“I’ll let you know,” he says and walks to his car. “Never a dull moment with you.”

“Hey.” I smile. “Could be worse.”

I get into the BMW and make my way back to the rink when the phone rings, and I see it’s Carey. “Don’t tell me they called you already?”

“I was shocked also,” he says. “You can thank Claude. He said he didn’t want you sitting on his bench.” I laugh.

“Did you give them my demands?” I ask him.

“Please, you think I’m a rookie?” he asks. “I’ll let you know if they approve.”

“I’ll be on the ice,” I say and disconnect. When I get to the rink, I walk in and say hello to a couple of kids who see me and then I walk into Caroline’s office. She is sitting behind her desk typing away on the computer, and her eyes come up when I walk in her office. I smile when I think about her here with me.

“Hi,” she says, smiling at me, and I walk over to her, turning her chair and kissing her on the lips. “It’s not my lunch break,” she says and wipes off the lip gloss that is now on my lips. “How’d it go?”

“It went the way it was supposed to go,” I say, not telling her anything yet.

“Well, do you think they will still suspend you?” she asks, and I shrug. When I made the decision about quitting the team, I made one phone call and then decided not to tell her until the end. I didn’t want her to think this was another thing I did for her. In reality, I wasn’t doing it for her; I was doing it for us.

“No clue,” I say, and I kiss her again.

“You look really sexy in a tie,” she says. Twirling the tie between her fingers, she looks around. “Maybe tonight I can take it off you.”