I took a deep breath. “Thanks. I’ll see you next week.” I was fidgety and paced the length of my office for the good part of the rest of the afternoon. This wasn’t like me. I was always the one who was calm and collected. I always had my shit together.

At five o’clock, I gave in and dialed Troy.

“Let me guess, mom called you.”

“Are you playing next week?”

“Do I have a choice?” his bitter tone answered.

“It’s kind of your job,” I snapped.

“What’s up with you?”

“Been busy at work.”

“What else is new?”

“Troy, I’d been covering for you for weeks now. Now I have to catch up on what I actually do for a living. Which come to think of it, if my calculations are right, you owe me approximately thirty-six thousand dollars of your annual salary.

He chuckled. “How ‘bout I pay that fine and we’ll call it even.”

“This isn’t funny, Troy. Do you have any idea why dad wants us next weekend?”

“He’s probably pissed about the suspension.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I growled.

“You were the one who did it,” he reminded me like I was the idiot.

“He doesn’t fucking know that,” I shouted angrily. Was everyone just an idiot?

“Right,” Troy sighed.

I released a breath. “What’d Ryan say?” Part of me wanted to know. Part of me—as hard as I fought against getting back on the ice for him—waited for him to tell me that the team needed me.

The player in me hoping for it.

“He needed to know when I was coming back, though by the sound of it, he didn’t seem like he’s in any rush for it.”

“And what you’re going to blame me for that now?”

“No. He said if I showed up to the game Monday and played the way I did on opening night, he and Simon will need to tell Coach about the switch because of how it’s affecting the team.”

“Sounds about right,” I mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that this isn’t just about you and your problems, Troy. Your team and the fans are counting on you.”

“Sounds like they’re counting on you.” I heard the resentment in his voice. I didn’t have to know what that meant. He was only in his second year. This could ruin him.

“What are they talking?”

“My guess? They’ll cut me and send me down to an AHL team,” he answered.

Neither of us said a word for a minute, then I finally asked. “You alright man?”

Troy released a heavy breath. “They said that they’ll keep this between us if…if you play enough games to get us to number one in the league.”