Page 2 of Knocked Sideways

“So what’d you mean about not doing enough here, then?” Remy’s stomach was churning now, with anger and hurt and maybe some fear, too, because everything had gone sideways so quickly. It didn’t seem real that just a few hours ago, he’d let himself imagine that his future was finally on track.

“Forget what I said. I just want you to go down to Colorado without any ties, okay? Go into it with the mindset that you’re going to build something for yourself there. And if you’re leaving tomorrow, you need to either get to bed or start packing, so I should let you get to it, don’t you think?”

Remy knew Mike wasn’t into, like, feelings, or complications, or anything much more than getting off and talking about hockey, but they’d been doing this for long enough that he’d really thought—well, from the look on Mike’s face, it didn’t matter what Remy thought.

“You’ll do great in Denver.” Mike was at the door now, shoving his arms through the sleeves of his sleek wool coat and glancing in the mirror as he straightened his tie. “I’ve got a friend on the team there. It’s a good place. I’ll ask my buddy to look out for you.”

That was the last thing Remy needed, having a new teammate thinking Remy couldn’t handle the reality of the big leagues. He had just enough presence of mind to shout, “Don’t bother,” as the door closed behind Mike.

It was fine. He could handle this by himself like he always did. Maybe it stung that Mike had no hesitation about walking out. But really, Remy should have known this was how it would end. He’d always been easy for people to say goodbye to. It was probably time he stopped expecting anything else.

He called Lily as he started packing.

“Hi! Checking up on me already? You don’t need to worry about me so much!” Lily was holding her phone in front of her face as she walked down a crowded hall. It looked like there was a huge party in her building. Her hair, dark and usually unruly like his, was slicked back in a bun, and she had going-out makeup on—glitter dusting the tops of her cheeks and bright red lipstick.

His little sister, all grown up.

“You know I’m always gonna worry. But, no, I’m calling because—” Remy knew that the trade was real whether he said the words out loud or not, but they were still hard to get out.

“And why aren’t you out partying with your creepy boyfriend?” Lily wasn’t a fan of Remy hooking up with his college coach, even though Mike was only twelve years older than him, and it hadn’t started until after Remy graduated.

“Only twelve years?” she’d said in that scathing voice she reserved just for him, when he tried to argue that it wasn’t a big deal. Remy sometimes thought she had a point about hooking up with his former coach, but most of the time, he just liked that Mike made him feel wanted when it was the two of them alone.

And yeah. His thoughts were spiraling again.

He needed to focus.

“Yeah, so, I’m not partying because I have some news.”

“Wait, don’t tell me. You came to your senses and dumped him?” Lily reached her room and shut the door behind her so it was quiet enough that she didn’t have to shout.

“Jesus, Lil, he’s not that bad.” Remy hated that he automatically jumped to Mike’s defense, but this was not the time to reflect on that.

Lily raised a single perfectly shaped eyebrow. She was so proud that she could do that and he couldn’t. Which, fine. It might have irked him when he was a teenager, but he was a grown-ass adult now.

“Anyway, I didn’t call about Mike. Although yeah, I wouldn’t say we’re together anymore. Because of my news.” Saying it made it real, but putting it off wasn’t actually going to change anything. “I got traded.”

“What?” Lily sounded outraged, which made him feel the tiniest bit better, but only for a moment. “How could they trade you? You’ve been on fire this season!”

“I mean, I’ve been okay. But I guess they don’t want me as much as Colorado does. That’s who took me, anyway.”

“Colorado?” Lily frowned. “Isn’t that, like, in the middle of nowhere and extremely far from here?”

“I guess so. It’s far, for sure.” Remy had been there for games, but his memories were all a blur of trying to adjust to the altitude and shuttling between the airport, hotels, and arenas.

Lily was uncharacteristically silent while his thoughts wandered, like it was taking her a minute to really understand.

“So you’re moving.”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“I have to be on a plane at noon tomorrow. Or today, I guess? It’s New Year’s Day already, right? They have a game tomorrow that they want me for.”

“Wow.” Lily fell silent again. He could see the emotions shift over her face as she slid from outrage to sadness to problem solving.

“Okay,” she said, like she was going to think out loud. Usually she did her thinking quickly and silently, but sometimes it was like she wanted him to follow along. “Maybe this won’t be so bad. I mean, that’s where Petey plays, right? He seems to have a lot of fun there.”