Chapter 5
sam
Going through another surgery wrecked me. If I thought I was depressed before, I had no motivation to do anything. If they didn’t have PT people coming to me, I don’t think I would be doing it. Nothing makes you feel more alone than coming home to an empty apartment after you've had surgery again.
My teammates had been great, the only reason I hadn’t been completely comatose.
Ro, Hunter and Valencia had brought me food and kept me company.
Cap and Clark had stopped by too, and as much as I wanted to stay here, I knew I needed to move to Sterling Ridge.
Staying here was only going to beat me down.
If I wanted to keep playing, I needed to get out of Denver.
I needed Jude.
Looking down at his message and the last few messages we had exchanged had given me hope.
Apparently, Valencia had told him about my surgery and even though I was a little upset, I’m glad she had meddled.
I was too much of a chicken shit to tell him anything and I didn’t want him to start talking to me because of this.
Sometimes I thought Jude was only friends with me because he felt bad for me.
Honestly, sometimes I wondered why or how the hell we became friends in college. I was a dumb jock who was obsessed with getting into professional hockey. He helped one of my teammates, and I thought he was gorgeous—he was still gorgeous. Afterwards we became friends and we had been ever since.
Ten years of friendship, that's why I had to go back to Sterling Ridge. I’ll just have to work twice as hard with PT out there than here and find a rink I can get to even if it means driving a bit. Fixing this with Jude would be worth it, and then we could go back to how we had been.
The doorbell rang and I got my big ass up and opened the door.
“Mr. Webber?” he said, looking up at me. “Sergio with the movers, we spoke on the phone.”
“Hey, Sergio,” I said, stepping back as a few men walked into my apartment. “Everything with a pink sticker goes into storage. These boxes are going into the moving van along with all of the things in my bedroom.”
“Great, we will start with the storage and do the moving van last,” he said.
“Sounds great, I have a nurse coming in about an hour and we will be doing my physical therapy in my room,” I said, hobbling away in my crutches. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do,” he said, before instructing his guys to start moving things.
Everything was packed up before the end of the day and when I got into the car the next day, nothing had ever felt more right.
Right now, moving to Sterling Ridge did not feel right. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. The truck that had my things broke down. They said that they would have to get another truck out there and they would meet me at the address I had provided.
Then I got a flat tire, had to call a company to come change it for me, and ended up waiting two hours since I was in the middle of nowhere. It was hot. I had to ration my AC usage since I only had a half tank of gas. Once he changed the tire, I finally made it to Sterling Ridge.
Seeing the sign gave me hope and relief, that was until the lady I was renting a house from, Mrs. McCoy, told me that her tenant decided not to leave and she forgot to call me to tell me he wasn’t leaving.
So here I was, trying to find somewhere to live, and it was looking like I might have to live in my car for a bit. The urge to call Jude to see if I could crash with him was overwhelming, but I couldn’t do that to him. I had to figure this out on my own.
The moving truck was delayed until tomorrow and I had till then to find somewhere to live.
I headed over to Mae’s Diner. I was starving and I needed somewhere to put my leg up for a bit.
It was past lunch, the diner was quiet and thankfully no one recognized me.
The last thing I needed was someone telling Jude I was here before I could.
They sat me in a booth and the waitress was nice enough to get me a pack of ice while I ate and looked at listings.
Sterling Ridge didn’t have a lot of places to live in, and most of the apartments I found were on the second level, which wouldn’t work.
I could barely hobble into a first-floor apartment.
The bell jingled as I was wondering if I should start looking in Monroe. It was a drive, but at least I was closer and with PT, all I had was time. So, I could drive. I cut into my apple pie as I pushed my search out to Monroe.
“Webber?”
I looked up to see Jude’s brother's girlfriend, Nova, and her daughter, Sol.
“Hey,” I said, a little disappointed that my secret wasn’t a secret anymore.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking down at my leg and crutches.
“Hi, Webby,” her daughter said, and while I wasn’t up for company, I would always make time for this little sunshine.
“Hey, Sunshine,” I said. “I’m here for the summer.”
Nova’s eyes grew big. “Oh, where are you staying?”
I clenched my jaw as I was hit with emotion. I was fucking tired.
“Webber,” she said softly. “Are you ok?”
I shook my head ready to just let everything out from the last few months.
“Wait,” she said.
She asked my waitress for food for Sol before setting her up with her phone, a coloring book and colors.
She leaned over, hugging me tightly, and my last thread of keeping it together snapped.
Everything from the last few months spilled out of me and I didn’t realize how badly I needed to tell someone until I laid it all out.
“Holy shit, Webber,” Nova said, cutting into the pie we decided to share. “Please don’t tell me you've been keeping this all in.”
“I’m starting to realize maybe Jude and I have been a little too co-dependent,” I said, taking a piece of the raspberry cheesecake.
“I don’t understand why he was so upset?
” She shook her head. “Well, I think the most pressing thing is your home situation. I wish I could let you stay at my old home, but Forest just moved in. One of the girls at the salon is moving in with her boyfriend and she is looking to rent her little cottage out. It’s by the Boozy Bandit—”
“I’ll take it,” I said immediately.
“You don’t want to look at it first?” she raised her brow.
“No, I’ll take it,” I said. “I was already looking at Monroe, and this is better.”
“Let me ask her if we can look at it, please,” she said, pulling her phone out. “It might be a dump.”
I chuckled as she called her co-worker. It didn’t matter what it looked like, if I could stay here, I was going to. It was either a house or my car, and a house sounded a hell of a lot better.
“Franny, can we get the check please?” Nova asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Come on, big guy, she is there right now. Let’s secure this place and get you somewhere to stay.”
I paid for everything even though Nova told me not to. She ushered me to the SUV she had, pushing me into the passenger seat before checking on Sol. Nova was on a mission and it felt nice that she was just taking charge. As we drove to the house, Theo called her.
“Please, don’t tell them I’m here just yet,” I said immediately.
“Ok, we won’t. Right, Sol? We can keep it a secret for a little bit,” she said looking in the rear-view mirror.
“Of course, Momma,” Sol said immediately.
“Hello,” Nova answered.
“Hey, where are you ladies at?” Theo’s voice came through the speakers. “You, ok?”
“Oh, we had to stop at Mae’s for some pie and I’m on my way to my co-worker’s house,” Nova said. “She’s moving out and she’s trying to find a tenant and I thought I'd stop by and take a look to help her find someone.”
I shook my head. Nova was a fucking genius.
“Oh, that's right. She’s moving in with her boyfriend?” he asked.
“Yup, that one,” she said. “We should be home in about an hour.”
“Ok, sounds great, be safe,” he said. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Nova said.
“See ya soon, Teddy Bear!” Sol yelled, and I always melted when she called him that because Theo was really just a big teddy bear.
I looked back at Sol, she gave me a big smile, and I loved that she was a big ball of sunshine.
That kid made everything better. I hoped one day I'd get to have a kid who was just as cool as her. Maybe a few of them. I was an only child, and I’d always wanted a big family, with kids running crazily around the house.
I wanted someone who enjoyed the chaos as much as I did or maybe someone who was calmer, who balanced us out.
We pulled up to a cute cottage just down the street from the bar. It was maybe too close to the bar, but I couldn’t be picky at this point. If it was shithole I would take it. It took me a minute to get out of the car, Nova helped me as much as she could with little Sol looking on, worried.
Her co-worker opened the door with a big smile, ushering us in the house. Nova made the introductions and Michelle and I shook hands.
I was worried the inside of the house was going to be as quaint and cozy as the outside, but it was spacious and I could move around decently with my crutches. It had two bedrooms and one bath. The tub/shower combo was a tad small, the showerhead was low, but I think I could fix that.
“I’m renting it fully furnished,” Michelle said.
“I have my own bed,” I said. “I don't know if I’d fit in that queen.”
She chuckled. “You’re right. I guess I could sell it. So, what do you—”
“I’ll take it. When can I move in?” She looked shocked by my decision.
“Uh… A couple of days? I have to figure out what to do with the bed and—”
“I’m going to be honest with you Michelle. I need a house today and if you can make that happen, I’ll pay extra,” I said, trying to give her my best puppy eyes. “I was supposed to rent from Mrs. McCoy and well that didn’t work out.”
“Oh god, that woman always tries to rent out that house and that man never moves.” She rolled her eyes. “I was hoping to still get some stuff packed up.”
“I’ll stay at the Bed and Breakfast tonight, but I have things coming tomorrow,” I said, wracking my brain for something else to entice her to let me stay tomorrow.
“No, stay tonight, but just be warned I’ll be coming by to pack some things,” she said.
“Deal,” I said, pulling out the envelope of cash I had with me. “This should cover the three months I’ll need the place and extra, for letting me stay here.”
“Uh—” She looked at the envelope in shock.
“Just in time for your trip,” Nova said.
“Holy shit, you sure you don’t want to stay longer than that?” Michelle looked at me with wide eyes.
I shook my head. “I have to be back in Denver in August.”
There was a possibility I wasn’t going to get renewed by the Yetis, but my agent was hopeful we would get something. I just had to be positive. I would get my friendship back with Jude and I’d go back to hockey. Everything was going to be ok.