Kinsley fell in love with Phoenix Maverick, an NHL player for a team she never imagined supporting. But when Kinsley suffers from a head injury and forgets the last six years of her life, she struggles balancing being the person Phoenix fell in love...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Mid October. 2016
Ashley and I were in Edmonton for Phoenix's game against the Oilers tonight. Ashley figured since he couldn't come home for her Halloween event, she'd make the trip to see him instead. Spending time with Ash was strange.
To me, she was still a stranger, much like a lot of the people in my life. But there was a comfort in her presence. She didn't make it weird or awkward. Instead she was relaxed, she walked beside me, we talked about basic subjects and once in a while she'd remind me that she needs a coffee before she drops dead.
We're shopping at the Kingsway Mall to kill time before we go to the stadium to watch the game. Phoenix has a lot on his plate this afternoon. Training, interviews with reporters, panels with more reporters. It's easy to forget that he's this big time sports star that half of the women in Canada thirst over whenever he's on screen.
When he's with me, he's all mine and I'm all his. He calls me all the time, the text messages are endless. It's hard to imagine that I'm never not on his mind and to compare that person to the one who sits at a podium and talks to camera's that are broadcast across national television, it's a hard connection to make. He seems so much larger than life when I see him on the screen.
"How's the new job?" Ash asked, swinging a bag with new shoes inside of it. She didn't look at me, opting to watch the store fronts instead, but I knew she was listening. "Sadie said you were a bit pissed about Jason being the new boss."
That was the other strange thing. Sadie and Ash were closer than she and I were. My sister didn't have a lot of friends, she never had. Growing up, she preferred to spend time with me or whoever she was dating at the time. There was something about this friendship though, the opposites attract rule applied and it worked.
"Yeah, it wasn't that I was pissed about him being the boss," I said, earning a side on glance from Ash. "I mean, it was a weird shock. The part that bothered me was Phoenix and Sadie deciding to keep it from me."
Ash rolled her lips together, peering off in the opposite direction. We weaved through shoppers and were careful to side step for an older woman coming through in a wheel chair.
"I'm going to potentially put my foot in it," Ash said, walking taller than I ever would as we went past the food court. The smell was mouthwatering. "Phoenix and Sadie don't see eye to eye on a lot of the things that go on with you. The hard part for me is being torn down the middle. Sadie is one of my best friend's and Phoenix is my brother. It's hard but, just trust that Phoenix isn't always the one calling the shots."
We came to a stand still on the edge of the food court and I stared at Ash, who stared right back, the hum and background noise falling quiet.
"Sadie is the one that wants things kept from me?"
Ash pursed her lips, sliding her free hand into the pocket of her black denim jacket. "I'm not dumping people in the deep end. You just have to know that Phoenix has your best interests at heart."
