Page 49 of The Recovery Coach
Hazy
Fordays,Livy’squestionsreplayed through his head.Whatwouldhe do with his life after hockey?At best, he had a decade left.At worst, his fucking leg would be the slow death of his career.
What would he do if he never won the Cup?All of his work would be for nothing.His parents would have nothing to show for the first thirty-ish years of their son’s life.And if he lost hockey, who would still come around?Would he be one of those guys who overstayed his welcome?
He focused on the positives.His recovery was coming along nicely.Already mobile, he hoped to be bearing his full weight by the following week.Christmas was only a few weeks away.His teammates would be out of his hair for a while on the longest roadtrip of the year.Maybe he could decide on a backup plan.Figure out who he would be if hockey ceased to be his driving force.
Livy was upset for days after the horrible incident with her dirtbag ex.Hazy wanted to do something nice for her.He also wouldn’t be able to figure out what to focus on outside of hockey without help.His plan killed two birds with one stone.He called in the big guns.
Livy parked his G-Wagon behind Daisy’s SUV after their trip to the rink for his physical therapy.“Were we expecting company?”she asked.
“Yep!We’re having a girls’ day.”
She grinned.“You’re one of the girls today?”
He stared at her and unbuckled his seatbelt.“Bold of you to assume I’m not always one of the girls.”
They went inside and found Daisy and Roxie still getting ready.Four easels stood in the living room, each adorned with a corkboard.Big boxes of supplies sat on the floor.Various types of scissors and glue littered the coffee table.Daisy never did any activity half-way.When Hazy asked her to put this together, she’d given a gleeful squeal.
“Oh, fancy,” Livy said, taking in the art stations Daisy had prepared.“What are we making?”
“Vision boards,” Hazy said.
Livy whipped around.“No way.”
“Way,” Roxie said.
Hazy grabbed the pictures he’d printed off the counter and handed half to Livy.“I already started ours.”
“You didn’t,” Livy said, her smile giving away her delight.She accepted the photos he offered and studied them.“We were so fucking cute.”
They had a tradition of starting their vision boards with a picture of them together.When they did their first one, they both agreed their dream lives didn’t exist without each other.The picture he chose for this version of their vision boards showed them at ten and twelve, barefoot in his front yard, Livy attempting to give Hazy a piggyback ride, and Hazy licking her face.
“Ooo, can I see?”Daisy asked.
Hazy handed her his copy of the photo.
“This is the cutest thing I’ve seen in my life.”
Roxie snooped over Daisy’s shoulder.“I bet your mom planned on using this picture in a slideshow for your wedding day, but you two never sorted your shit out.”
Livy looked like she might crawl under the table and die.“Oh, we’re not...”she looked to Hazy for help.
Hazy’s cheeks got hot.The normal lie about being more like siblings wouldn’t come.He stared in horror at Roxie.
Daisy came to their rescue.“Be nice, Roxie.Some people are meant to be friends.”
“Not everyone is you and Patrick,” Roxie said.But apart from the snarky remark, she let the subject drop.
Daisy handed the picture to Hazy and said, “If you weren’t so broken, that would be such a cute picture to recreate.”
Livy claimed a corkboard and pinned the picture to the center of it.
“What’s the other one?”Roxie asked.
Hazy commandeered the corkboard next to Livy’s and pinned the picture of them in the corner.Then he added the second picture he’d printed.“Post-haircut Taylor Lautner from Twilight.That reveal was everything.The muscles?Unreal.”Hazy did a chef’s kiss.
“We were team Jacob,” Livy said.
