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TYLER
Morning skate was wrapping up, and a few of the guys had already headed off to the locker room. Tyler was still on the ice, taking shots at the empty net. Slapshot after slapshot, about half of them bouncing right off the boards behind the net.
He had never missed so many shots in a single practice before.
Frustrated, his face was burning, and he was sweating in his gear. Almost all the team had left the ice, but he continued to take shots at the net. He wasn’t going to leave until he put ten consecutive pucks in the net.
When he was finally satisfied, he headed to the locker room. Turning to the bench, he noticed Kris had been standing there, probably the whole time.
“Tyler, what has you so distracted today?” Kris asked on their way to the locker room.
Tyler shook his head, not wanting to concern the team with his problems. “Nothing. I’m good.”
The room silenced as he entered. All eyes were awkwardly on him.
“Oh, this is you good? I’ve never seen you miss the net as much as you did this morning,” Pat remarked in typical annoying-Patrick fashion.
“Whatever.” Not in the mood for Pat’s sarcastic comments, he brushed off his teammate’s words. “I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking, that’s all.”
“Certainly not about getting the puck in the back of the net! Boom!” Pat made some weird motion with his hands, proud of his comeback.
At least it broke some of the tension he’d walked into.
“Shit, you guys,” Tyler complained, as he looked around the locker room. Peeling off his equipment, he added with a comical tone, “You are worse than a bunch of old women!”
Kaden shrugged with a grin on his face. “I’m good with that. So, what’s up, Cap?”
Tyler sighed, knowing these guys weren’t going to give up now. He rarely had such a bad practice as he did today. He had made it painfully obvious that something was off. Most of his teammates now were staring at him in anticipation of his answer. “Fine. So, I’m a little off my game. For once in my life, hockey is not first and foremost on my brain. I’ve been doing some research on adoption and I’m in the process of having my lawyer look into the agencies and to outline the legalities before we get the ball rolling.”
“Yeah, I noticed something was off this morning when I saw Paige in the hall. She was focused on her phone and almost ran right into me. It’s not like her to not know everything that’s going on around her,” Kaden said.
“And around every corner. That girl has magic senses, I swear. I can just be thinking about doing something that might cause a media mess, and—bam! She’s there to put the kibosh on it before it even happens.” Sam shook his head, impressed. “Girl is good at her job. But I’m sure she’s over the moon at the idea of moving forward with adoption.”
“Oh, no, I haven’t talked to her about it yet. She must be preoccupied with work. I mean, we have some stuff going on at home, but—”
“Wait, what?” Kris asked.
“What?” Tyler asked, confused. As he looked around the room at his teammates faces, he realized he was the only one that had no idea what was going on.
“Ty, for a smart guy, you are really being dense about this,” Harrison added with a shake of his head.
“Excuse me?” Tyler tried not to sound offended by his brother-in-law.
“I think what Harrison means is, your wife should really be part of this discussion. Probably even before us,” Sam tried to calmly explain.
“Ty, you really haven’t talked to her?” Kris asked.
“No, I haven’t mentioned it yet.
She’s been under so much stress lately, and I think it’s starting to affect her health. I didn’t want to add to her stress before we even knew if adoption would be possible for us. I’d hate to get her hopes up and then have them crushed if my lawyer says it won’t work out.”
“Every time I spend a day with Trina and the kids, it gets me thinking about what it would be like to have a family. And it always brings Paige down. Baby Lila gave her a different reaction, and for the first time in a while, I saw hope in her eyes. She hasn’t smiled that much in almost a year, not that genuinely, anyway. When I came across some info on adoption, I must’ve gone down a wormhole researching it. There is so much to learn and investigate. But it really is a wonderful option.”
“Technically, you and Paige are a family. Kids don’t make a family, bro,” Harrison quickly responded.
Harrison would be the one to say something like that. He had a baby on the way. Tyler did his best to hide the bitterness he was feeling.
Some of the guys nodded in agreement, but others stayed quiet.
“Yeah, I mean, I know that,” Tyler responded to his new brother-in-law. Adding in a little sarcasm to help keep the mood light, he added, “But all this talent should be passed down to the next generation, you know?”
Tyler couldn’t help but turn it into a joke, because talking seriously with the boys seemed all sorts of weird.
“Joking aside, shouldn’t you be talking to your wife about this instead of us?” Patrick asked.
The guys continued to talk, but he didn’t hear a word they said. Things had already been set in motion, and he needed to contact his lawyer immediately to hold off on everything until he could talk to Paige.
“I have to make a phone call. Excuse me.” He ran to his locker for his cell phone and then found a private area.
He quickly dialed his lawyer’s number. Voicemail. “Chuck, it’s Tyler. Give me a call back as soon as you get this. We need to pump the brakes on that meeting. I need to talk to Paige. Call me back.”
How had he become so wrapped up in all this that he’d forgotten to talk to his wife about it? That seemed like the obvious first step, and yet somehow, he had done this backwards.
“Oops. Am I interrupting anything important?” Melanie asked, as she strutted past Tyler with her tablet in her hand. She called out, “Knock knock, hope you’re all decent.”
“Nothing important, Mel.” Tyler shot Patrick—and anyone else who was watching—a glare, so they knew to keep quiet.
But Melanie turned back at that moment and caught his look. Tyler sat, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She just narrowed her eyes, before moving along. “Okay guys, it’s just me this afternoon. Paige is in meetings. We have the normal line-up of media folks waiting. Today it’ll be Kris, Dominic, Harrison, Patrick, Sam, and Tyler.”
She looked up from her tablet and asked, “You guys have anything for me?”
Tyler looked around the room at his teammates to see who was going to break first. Each guy either stared at his locker or exchanged glances with one another. But not one spoke up.
“All right... I’m sure the media is getting restless. Get ready, boys.” She flashed a smile before letting the media into the room. “Tyler, can I talk to you for a second?” She waved him to a corner, away from the gaggle of media folk. “Is everything okay? I feel as though I barged in on something, and you have a weird look on your face like you don’t seem happy about it.”
“Mel.” Tyler shook his head. “You know me better than I know myself.”
“I do. That’s why I know something is up. Paige hasn’t been herself lately, either. I only ask this as a friend. Are you guys okay?”
“It’s complicated.” Tyler looked back at his teammates, who were busy answering questions. He knew Mel was just looking out for him and Paige. “Can I meet you in your office after the media leave?”
“I’ll clear my schedule.”
FRESHLY SHOWERED, AND a bottle of water in his hand, Tyler knocked on Melanie’s office door.
“Come on in, Ty,” Melanie called. She smiled as he closed the door and sat down on the couch. “So, what’s going on?”
“I need some advice.”
“Uh oh,” she teased as she ran her hand over her baby bump. “I can’t even remember the last time we talked like this.”
“Yeah, well for the first time in a long time I took initiative on something that involves Paige, and now I’m not so sure about it. I wanted to run it by you to see if I’m doing something good, or am overstepping?”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“I don’t know if you are aware, but Paige has had a lot of doctor’s appointments lately.”
Melanie nodded.
“We are dealing with infertility. Or at least, that’s what it looks like. We don’t have any real answers.” He shrugged. “And I apologize if I’m telling you something that Paige didn’t want you to know, but I need to talk this out. The guys have me thinking I’m crossing the line. I need help.”
“Okay?” Melanie folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head, confused, or maybe interested.
“Adoption was brought to my attention. It really stuck with me. I started doing some research about it on my own—and it looked really promising. Paige wants a family. I will do anything in my power to make that happen for her. It’s not the only thing I’m willing to consider, but it’s a first step. The problem is, I got a bit excited about it the more I investigated it. I went a little farther than just research. I called my lawyer and asked him to look into the process and legalities.”
“Without talking to Paige first?” Mel deadpanned.
“You got it.” He felt as if he were already in the doghouse, and he hadn’t even explained himself. Melanie’s glare lay heavy on him. “The thing is, Paige has been under a lot of stress. Every month, a negative pregnancy test. I didn’t want to get her hopes up about adoption, only to have them crushed if my lawyer told us it wouldn’t work out. I don’t think Paige could stand another big disappointment.”
“I’ve heard enough,” Melanie said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. But in my opinion, you should have got Paige on board before you started your lawyer looking into it. I would think she’d want to be very involved in something as important as adopting a child.”
Tyler sighed. “That’s what one of the guys said.”
“Don’t tell me the team knows?”
He nodded. “I guess I just needed someone to talk to and it all came out.”
“Well, you can’t untell them, I suppose. But it’s time to talk to her now. Tell her you did research. I guarantee she will love that you took the initiative. But let her decide with you about which agencies to talk to. And most of all, let her suggest any other avenues she would like to take first—I’m sure the two of you haven’t exhausted all the medical treatments that might help. And maybe leave out the part where the entire team knows... As a matter of fact, absolutely leave that part out.”
Tyler nodded. All good advice. “Thanks, Mel. I knew you’d make everything clear.”
On his drive home, he made a mental note—make sure Chuck put all visits with agencies on hold. He was excited to share what he’d found with Paige and see what her thought were. There were so many other options, especially since they didn’t even have a diagnosis yet.
His heart dropped. Suddenly he regretted not being more assertive about going with her to her appointments. He should’ve been there. After all, she’d been there the day he’d been tested. Not that it would’ve changed the outcome, but he should have pushed the issue. Even though his side of things had been cleared, they still should be doing every step of this together.
Yes, his wife was strong and liked to take charge, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need a shoulder to lean on. And that was his job as her husband, to be that shoulder.
That thought led to a second mental note—from here on out, he’d be by her side for every appointment.
