Page 6 of The Tryout

“I’m gonna go get dressed, you two eat up!”

With that, he shuts off the stove, depositing the now-empty pan in the sink. Instead of walking straight out the door I came in, he winds his way around the back of the breakfast bar, putting an arm across the back of Jamie’s seat. Jamie turns toward him and the two share a glance for a moment. Then, Tremblay quickly bends over and kisses Jamie’s temple before heading up the stairs.

I press my lips together, really not sure of what I should say – or if I should say anything at all. I set my plate down on the bar, taking the seat next to Jamie. I notice a blush is splashed across his cheeks.

“I’m, uh, realizing that I may not have been fair to you,” he says, turning toward me.

My eyebrows raise at that.

“What do you mean? You’ve always been super nice to me.”

He smiles at that, and I’m glad. It’s true – during last year’s training he was always willing to chat or grab dinner, even though he’s Jamie Carter, the Savior of the Minnesota Huskies, and I’m Finn Murphy from Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

“Good. You deserve that. But I meant about staying here – I maybe didn’t give you all of the information you needed. If you know what I’m saying?”

I think I do, but I don’t want to put words in his mouth. And at the same time, I don’t want to force him to say them either. I’m happy to sit here with the exactly the amount of information I have right now.

“I have the address and the security code. I don’t think there’s any other information I need. Unless there’s any information you want to share. If you know what I’m saying.”

He holds my gaze for a second, then surprises me by coming in for a hug.

“You’re a good kid, Finn,” he says into my shoulder.

I mean, I’m literally just a few years younger than him, but okay.

Pulling back he looks at me, his food all but forgotten.

“You know I’m gay, right?”

I nod, because I’m fairly certain anyone who’s watched hockey in the last year knows that.

“And, uh, you saw about Ethan?”

I assume he means about Tremblay coming out in the middle of the All Star Game last year. I nod again.

“And that’s…okay with you? Right?”

He’s right to ask – he may have broken down some barriers in the last year, but there are plenty of people around the league still hoping he’ll crawl back under a rock.

Not likely, especially with the season he had last year.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t really think it’s any of my business, but that’s fine. Obviously.”

But that gets me thinking.

“Although…I have to say, I’m surprised Tremblay is okay with it.”

Our captain wasn’t exactly…welcoming when Jamie joined the team last year. I got sent down to the AHL affiliate in Des Moines before the season got started in earnest, but he could barely complete a pass to Jamie the last time I was on the ice with them.

Jamie laughs at that, looking down at his feet.

“He wasn’t, I think he made that very clear. But it turns out his reasons were more complicated than they appeared.”

That makes sense – after so many years in the closet, it must have been a little terrifying to be confronted with it.

“But we ended up bonding a bit over it. And then we ended up…more.”

He looks in my eyes, imploring me to understand.