Page 94 of Scoring Destiny

Then he chuckles. “I guess not. Sometimes lies of omission prevent arguments. I don’t recommend doing it with serious topics, but I think pizza is an acceptable thing to forget to mention.”

Lies of omission.

Something that’s been a bone of contention between Maya and me.

“Do you think lies of omission count?” I ask quietly.

He turns, squinting a little. “Are we having a serious conversation now?”

“Yeah. Kinda.”

“Okay, I’m mostly kidding. I may tell Viggo about the pizza just to fuck with him. But he knows I’m kidding. There are no actual lies between us, of omission or any other kind. Have you omitted to tell Maya something?”

“No. She did. It was work-related but before we could deal with it, I did something that inadvertently hurt her feelings and by the time I straightened that out, the lie just fell by the wayside.”

“Was it malicious?”

“The lie? No. It had to do with my ex-wife.” I give him a very watered-down version of what happened. “I think we’ve moved past it, but sometimes I overthink things.”

“Is this something that could be good for her career?”

“Almost definitely.”

“You may need to suck it up, my friend. Take the hit because it’s better for her.”

That’s exactly what I’ve been afraid of.

“I don’t want to hold her back,” I admit.

“Then don’t. Look, relationships are hard. No matter how much you love each other, there are going to be days, periods of time, and situations that make you second-guess yourself. The thing is never second-guessing the relationship. You can’t second-guess how much you love her. Or how much she loves you. Viggo and I really didn’t know what to do when I got offered the job in Atlanta.

“He wasn’t willing to leave his daughter and ex-wife, but the opportunity to be the head coach of an NHL team doesn’t come around every day. Initially, he was going to stay in Vegas and hold down the fort, so to speak. He was willing to make that sacrifice so I could do this. In the end, things worked out and his ex and the kids all moved with us, but we didn’t know that initially. And the truth is, I was willing to sign a contract for one season, to test it out. I didn’t know if I wanted to be away from my family that long either.”

“I guess she and I need to talk.”

“You do.”

“Speak of the devil.” Her name flashes on the screen of my phone.

“Go,” Jamie says with a smile. “I’ll save you a piece of pizza.”

I laugh and connect with Maya. “Hey, baby. How was the meeting with Sammy?”

She sighs. “It was fantastic. And terrible.”

“Yeah? What happened?”

“Too many things to relay the details, but the long and short of it is—they’re going to film in New Zealand.”

I let out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s far.”

“For anywhere from eighteen months to two years.”

I freeze. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, there will be some breaks but between pre-production and the actual filming, it’s going to be a long project.”

“Is the money good?”