Luckily, I hadn’t eaten any of the food the school had put out yet because she was right—my stomach was roiling. “I feel like I might.”
“But why?” She tilted her head to the side, a wrinkle creasing her forehead.
I heaved a deep sigh, trying to find the right words to explain everything that was going on in my head at the moment. “I never expected to have this many options. I thought I’d be lucky to get one full ride that included pretty much everything once I get to campus. My decision feels so much bigger now.”
“Your top choice hasn’t changed, right?” she asked as her brows raised.
As tempted as I was to go with the offer from the school closer to one of the Ivy Leagues she had applied to for early acceptance, I knew I wouldn’t develop as much on their team. They just didn’t play at the same level as my number one pick. Making that decision would almost definitely decrease my odds of ever going professional. “No, it’s still the same.”
“The suck it up, find William, and get this thing done,” she suggested with a grin.
We had only been together as a couple for a month and a half, but Emme had come out of her shell so much in that time. At lunch, she joked around with the other guys on the hockey team as often as she did with Emily, Sarah, and me. She ignored all the catty glares she got from the two bitchy cheerleaders who seemed to have it in for her. And she threw sass my way a hell of a lot more often, which I fucking loved. “Whatever you say, boss.”
I burst into laughter when she winked with a grin. Tugging on my arm, she urged, “C’mon, let’s go find Mrs. Carrington so she can sign at the same time as you.”
I had been irritated to discover that I needed a guardian to sign off on the national letter of intent even though I was now eighteen. I was old enough to vote or be drafted, but according to NCAA rules, I couldn’t choose which school I was going to attend on an athletic scholarship unless I was twenty-one. My situation was unique due to the timing, and it had taken several calls with the NCAA to determine who was most appropriate to sign off on the letter with me. Ultimately, they wanted it to be Mrs. Carrington since she had been my guardian when it came to legal decisions for the past several years. Luckily, she was willing to defer to me when it came to which offer I accepted as long as I went to college. She didn’t care which one since they were all great schools, and she knew nothing about hockey.
Scanning the room full of my teammates, some of their families, school administrators, our coach, and a few people from the media, I found my social worker deep in conversation with William. Jerking my chin in their direction, I said, “She’s over there.”
We made our way over to them. Emme practically bounced up and down in excitement as she greeted them. “Hey, Mr. Whitney and Mrs. Carrington. We need to get Corby over to the signing table before he chickens out.”
“Are you having second thoughts?” Mrs. Carrington’s gaze slid to Emme as William reminded my girlfriend she was welcome to use his first name. I wasn’t surprised my social worker had figured out why I might hesitate since she’d known me for so long. “Today is only the first day you can sign. If you aren’t ready, you can wait. There’s plenty of time.”
“Not with the offers Corby received,” William disagreed with a shake of his head.
Mrs. Carrington looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded. “Most student athletes only get a partial scholarship. If I wait too long, my top pick may decide I’m not serious about playing for them and pull the offer.”
“He definitely doesn’t want that to happen since he loved it there when we visited.” Emme elbowed me in the side. “Which is why you and he need to head over to the signing table now, before he lets his cold feet mess this up for him.”
“I basically live on the ice. My feet are never cold,” I denied with a grin.
“Ha-ha, you’re too funny.” Emme hooked her arm around my elbow and swept her hand out in front of us. “More than one hundred thousand dollars is waiting over there for you. Let’s go get it.”
I hadn’t totaled up the price tag on all four years of the scholarship I planned to take. When Emme put it that way, a fire was lit inside me. A hundred grand wasn’t much to any of the other students in the room, but that kind of money was life changing for me. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
I held my other arm out to Mrs. Carrington, who accepted it with a smile. “I’m so proud of you, Corby.”
“Thanks,” I murmured as we made our way over to where a table had been set up for us to be photographed and filmed while we signed our letters. The school administration turned the day into an event because they wanted the publicity, but I didn’t mind giving them as much attention as they could get. Being at Black Mountain Academy had helped me get the offer I needed to attend my dream school without worrying about a fuck ton of student loans. And it had brought Emme to me. I was more than willing to ham it up for the cameras if that helped.
With William and Emme standing behind me, I pulled the chair out for Mrs. Carrington. Once she sat, I dropped onto the chair next to her. William stepped forward, pulling the copy of the national letter of intent and scholarship offer he’d printed for me this morning out of the pocket of his suit jacket. After I took the papers from him, he reached back into his pocket to get a fancy pen. Handing the writing instrument to me, he said, “My father gave this pen to me when I was your age. I’ve inked many lucrative deals with it since then. I thought maybe some of my good fortune would rub off if you used it today.”
Glancing over my shoulder at Emme, I grinned. “See, being superstitious sticks with hockey players beyond their time on the ice.”
She giggled, her cheeks turning pink when a flash went off nearby. Thanking William, I accepted the pen and turned to face forward again. After signing my name and adding the date, I slid the paperwork over to Mrs. Carrington. As I watched her add her signature next to mine, it felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders. The decision was final; there was no going back now. And no point in second-guessing myself anymore. I smiled for a few photos before standing, and our little group moved off to the side so Chuck and his family could take our spot.
After I returned William’s pen, I stretched my hand out to shake his. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
“If you want to pay me back, bring the Stanley Cup to Black Mountain one of the times you win it.” He clapped me on the back and smiled.
“As fantastic as this offer is”—I tapped the papers we’d both just signed and shook my head—“it isn’t a professional hockey deal.”
“Not yet,” he conceded. “But I have no doubt you’ll get picked in the first round of the draft, and the day will come when you win a championship. I’ll be cheering extra hard, looking forward to a phone call when you get your day with the Cup.”
I hadn’t known what to think about William when I had found out he was going to be my new foster parent, but he had turned out to be my biggest supporter over the past five months. In the end, his motivation for taking me in didn’t matter because I benefited the most from his decision. “From your lips to God’s ears.”