Page 12 of Knocked Sideways

CHAPTER FIVE

REMY

The morning after his disastrous first game, Remy tried to sleep in, but the hotel mattress was firmer than he liked, and the sharp winter sun leaked around the edges of the blackout shades. Montreal was pretty much relentlessly gray all winter. He hadn’t expected Colorado to be different.

Once he opened his eyes, there was no falling back asleep. The sinking feeling that rushed in once he remembered how poorly he’d played was even more effective than the sunlight at waking him up. On top of that, the room was echoey and sterile, with no decoration except a giant painting of a white horse that hung across from the bed. The horse looked like it was made of mist and running straight toward him.

A killer ghost horse. Exactly what every hotel room needed.

Remy scowled at the painting and listened to the muffled sounds of doors closing and suitcases rolling as travelers left for the day. There was no way he could pretend he was anywhere other than a somewhat-upscale-but-not-actually-luxury business hotel with terrible art.

Convenient to the practice facility, yes. Good for his long-term sanity, no. He needed to get out of it as soon as possible.

But he didn’t know where he’d go, so he was still lying in bed staring up at the ceiling when he got a text from Lily. She wasn’t happy that he’d fallen asleep without letting her know how his first day went.

Lil

R u alive

U have to text me when u arrive in a new country

Otherwise i might think u forgot me already

Remy

Really???

Sorry ive just been so tired

Its a lot

Lil

K but you definitely forgot to tell Mom

She found out from the internet and she is NOT happy about it

All of a sudden, texting wasn’t cutting it. He figured it wasn’t too early to call, especially since Denver was two hours behind Montreal. And sure enough, Lily picked up quickly, although it looked like she was still in bed, too.

“Oh, so now I’m important enough to call?” Lily’s voice was teasing.

“Hey, you know I didn’t forget you.”

“Uh, you kind of did.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And you better let Mom know that her rent money is still going to show up in her bank account each month, okay? She sounded confused about whether you were still pulling in the big bucks on your new team. Otherwise, she’s going to keep calling me, and I’m going to have to pick up at some point, which I don’t want to do.”

“Yeah, that part I’m really sorry about.” They were both on a break from speaking to their mother, who was usually happy enough to forget they existed. “I didn’t even think. I’m surprised she noticed that I was traded.”

“Remy. Really? You had to know it would make the news.”

He hadn’t thought beyond packing his stuff up and catching his flight, but he didn’t feel like he should admit that.

“Again, I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

“Well—” Lily drew it out like she was thinking about it, but she was already starting to smile. “Okay, I guess I can move on. So? How is it? I saw your game last night.”

Remy grimaced. “Trying to put that behind me. Today should be better. We just have practice.”

“How’s Petey?” she asked, clearly seeing that he was ready to move on to a different subject. “And the coach, is he okay? What about your teammates?”