Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
All those years. All those games. And he'd never known she was there.
"My wife is more a Waymakers fan than a hockey fan, if you know what I mean?"
Old Goldie grinned. "I believe many of us married folks understand what you're saying."
"I never wanted her to feel pressured to watch my games. I thought I was being a good husband, not pressuring her. What I didn't realize was that my wife...she wants to be there for me. And found a way to be there for me even if I didn't know it."
The whole crowd went aww, and this had her laughing just a little, but she was also finding it harder not to cry.
"I got a lot of things wrong about my wife. I thought, by hiding her away, and not letting the world know about her, I was keeping her safe. But because I spent more time away from her than with her, I wasn't really by her side when it mattered."
"Are we talking about the other man?"
Laina paled at Old Goldie's question, but this only had Troy shaking his head.
"Oscar's a good man. I'll tell you more about him later, but right now, I'm talking about someone else. Or to be more accurate, I'm talking about people I made the mistake of trusting."
Laina's heart was pounding harder and faster than ever, but this time for a completely different reason.
"Laina?"
She turned to Camilla even though her mind was still lost in the past. Because those people that Troy mentioned...
"Do you know who Troy's talking about?"
"I..."
"Are they Troy's relatives?"
Laina bit her lip hard.
"They were the ones who made you believe all these years that Troy had changed his mind about you, but he was just too nice to ask for a divorce. Am I right?"
Laina couldn't speak. She just felt so, so foolish. All these years, Troy's relatives had been so nice to her, and she just...she just accepted that they meant well every time they told her things.
You're so lucky to have Troy!
WAGs play an important role when it comes to building their husbands' social capital outside sports, but Troy is obviously intent on spoiling you.
Troy is a very responsible man. Don't you ever worry about him leaving you. Even if he falls out of love with you or anything, he'll always take care of you.
"These people..."
Troy was talking again, and he was looking straight at the camera—
"They made my wife believe that she wasn't enough for me."
Like he wanted Laina to know he was looking at her.
"They made her believe that I had sacrificed the better years of my life when I married her."
And it was Laina he was talking to.
"They made her think, when I finally retired, the least she could do for me was to ask for a divorce."
There was complete silence in The Res as Troy said this. Twenty thousand people, utterly still. And when he spoke again—
"I have always loved my wife. But I didn't care for her the way I should have. I took her for granted without realizing it. And that's how those people got to her."
His voice had gone hollow, in a way that no Waymakers fan had ever heard the great Troy Barrymore speak, and it was that sound...
It was that sound that had Laina no longer able to hold back her tears.
"When she walked out on our marriage, all I could think of was my own pain. It was only today, when I finally got to the truth, it's only now that I'm beginning to comprehend just how much it cost her to do that."
Laina couldn't stop crying.
All this time, oh God...
All this time...
"Just days ago, one of those people...called my wife again. They made her believe that I had confided in her. But I didn't. What they knew was the product of hiring someone to tail my every move. And it was by using this knowledge that they convinced my wife when they told her I had regretted trying to get back together with her, and that was why when the reporters got to my wife outside her workplace..."
The way understanding had dawned on Old Goldie and Fleming's faces was pretty much how the truth dawned on the crowd.
"As for the rest..." Troy stood up, and the spotlight swung to the tunnel, where Oscar came walking out onto the ice. Troy walked to meet him and gave Oscar a pat on the back that almost had the other man flying, but the two men were grinning, and caught on mic was Troy saying, "Thank you."
"My pleasure, man. Anything for you and Laina."
Troy looked back to Old Goldie. "Oscar's going to explain the rest."
He didn't wait for the commentators to reply. He was already walking as fast as he could across the ice and into the tunnel. All he wanted was to get to his wife, and he was impatiently hitting the Up button on the elevator, blind to the reporters taking countless photos of him while being smart enough to give him space.