Out of Play: A Hockey Romance

As a hockey player, I’m used to playing through pain. But when I punch my teammate at practice, breaking my hand and ending my team’s playoff hopes, I find out that emotional pain is not something I can ignore in the long-term.

So now I’m back in my hometown, where I made the hard choice between family and love eleven years ago. My therapist wants me to face up to the past. It’s not easy. My parents avoid discussing what they did, and the team hired the woman I left behind to help my recovery.

I can deal with my parents. But seeing Mia again stirs up old feelings. Strong ones. I’m trying to change, but if I have to make the same choice, is a different outcome possible?

Mia

I’m struggling to keep so many balls in the air I don’t have a moment for myself: my job, my six-year-old son, supporting my family including a horrible stepfather, increasingly incapacitated mother and selfish siblings. It’s a lot. I’m exhausted.

I’m not happy that my famous ex, the NHL player, is back, and people want to dig up our past. I definitely don’t want to spend time with him. But he needs someone he can trust to help while he’s rehabbing a broken hand. It’s the work I do, and it’s an easy job, so I finally agree.

Spending time together reminds me why we fell in love all those years ago, but he has to return to Toronto, and I have to stay here. Can I survive choosing family over him again? Do I have a choice?