The Rule Book: A Novel

I’m driving home from Nathan’s house where we all hung out after leaving the hospital when Nora calls me.

Tension in my shoulders unravels just from the sight of her name. All day I’ve been considering what to do about Nora, and I think I have a good plan.

“You must have felt me thinking about you,” I say as a greeting.

“My nose was itching earlier…”

I grip the steering wheel. “That’s not the part of your body I was daydreaming of touching.”

The line goes silent.

Grinning, I ask, “You there, Ginger Snap?”

She clears her throat. “Mm-hm. I’m here. Just…had to have CPR for a second there. I’m revived—everything is fine.”

God, I love her. Miss her already.

Turning on my blinker, I switch lanes. “How’s your day been?”

She sighs contentedly and I imagine her soft lips smiling. “It was…good. I got a new office. You didn’t see my other one, but if you hold up your thumb you’ll have an accurate representation of the size.”

I smile. “And the new one is bigger?”

“Definitely. And has these big, glorious windows and doesn’t even smell a bit like cleaning supplies.” She pauses. “You’ll have to come see it.”

“I’d like that.”

“But you’ll have to behave,” she says, accurately reading my thoughts through the line.

“When do I not behave?”

“You’re purring, Derek.”

I laugh. “So why just good and not great? Was Marty a jerk? Say the word and I’ll be the worst surprise he’s ever found in his office tomorrow morning.”

She chuckles, but it’s not convincing. “I didn’t interact with him much. I stayed buried in my office pretty much all day.”

Alarm creeps over my skin. “You sound sad, Nora.”

“I don’t mean to…I guess I just—actually can we circle back to this question? I want to fill you in on what I learned today. About your position on the team. Are you where you can talk business for a minute?”

Her tone of voice is throwing me. I wish I were with her right now so I could see her face. Check to see if there are lines beside her eyes when she smiles or if her mouth is pressed flat.

“I’m just driving home. So yeah, let me hear the good news,” I say with unmistakable sarcasm.

“I spoke with the team execs and everything we heard today at the airport really was just a rumor—and not one leaked by them.” That’s a relief. “They want you to know there are no immediate plans to cut you, and that the Sharks have always valued your position on the team and are going to give you the shot you deserve.”

“But…?” I ask, knowing full well that there is one.

“But,” Nora begins gently, “you already know the rest. Your job is by no means safe and will depend heavily on how you perform those first few games. They want to see how your injury affects your performance—and if it’s for the worse, we might be looking at a bench, a cut, a salary renegotiation…or even a trade.”

“I don’t want to play for anyone but the Sharks.”

“Even if that means not playing at all?” she says, cutting right to the meat of it.

I allow her question to sink in before I answer. And for a minute we both listen to the soft sounds of my blinker. “I don’t want to be traded. The Sharks…the guys…they’re like my family. I want to end my career as a Shark.”

“I understand that. And respect it,” she says, and I wish more than anything I were there with her—could be having this conversation with her in my arms. Preferably naked. “Okay, then I have more to say, and I want you to listen and not respond until I’m completely done. Promise?”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Promise?”

I sigh and it rushes into all the little cracks of our relationship I’ve been feeling today. “Fine. I promise.”

There’s an awkward silence before she says, “I’m going to give you an out from our relationship right now.”

“Why the hell would I—”

“Hey!” she cuts me off. “No interrupting, remember?”

“Sorry,” I growl, hating this promise I’ve made already.

“As I was saying, I want to give you an out. All day I’ve been thinking and realizing our entire relationship is unfair to you. You did this as a service to me and my career, and I’m so grateful, and the last thing I want is for you to feel stuck.”

I have to clench my teeth together to keep from interrupting.

“We fulfilled our honeymoon obligation and will be out of the public eye for the most part while everyone expects you to focus on training camp and preseason. If you need to pretend that everything that happened in Cancún was just a fever dream—I’m willing to do that for you. Because I put my career first all those years ago, and I won’t fault you for doing the same for yours now if you need to.”

I wait a beat after she’s stopped talking to answer. “You finished?”

“Yes. I think so.”

“Okay. My answer is hell no.”

“But, Derek—”

“No, listen. Because there’s one thing you said that was completely wrong.” The gates at the front of my neighborhood open when I flash my key card at the receiver. “I didn’t go on the honeymoon with you as a favor. I stayed married to you because I’m selfish and I was glad to find any excuse I could to be near you as much as possible. So no…I don’t want an out. Do you?”

I pull into my driveway and that’s when I notice Nora’s car parked in the guest parking space. But I don’t see her anywhere. “Wait. You’re here?” I ask.

“I used your door code to get in. I’ll see you upstairs,” she says before hanging up.

Knowing she’s here has me racing into the house and taking the steps two at a time. I fly into my bedroom but then stop short at the threshold when I spot her sitting on the edge of my bed. She’s still wearing the same clothes from this morning, that huge yellow smiley face tee and leggings…but now her hair is piled up in a cute bun that makes my heart stop.

“Hi,” she says, with a soft smile, but then I notice she’s holding something. A big cardboard box. And suddenly this feels too much like the day she broke up with me.