“Of where?” I ask, and she laughs as the doorbell rings.
“Jesus,” I say, running back upstairs. “I’m not dressed.”
“What the hell, Dylan?” she says as I hear the lock at the front door open. “Why are you walking around the house naked?”
“I wasn’t naked!” I shriek as Mac walks past me and toward the door. “I’m in my boxers.”
“Well, get dressed and come downstairs. I brought breakfast,” she announces.
I slip on my shorts and a T-shirt and head downstairs. Mac is sitting beside her, wagging her tail. “Hey,” I say, walking to her and hugging her. Erika is the agent to most of my family members, except Cooper. She was his agent, and then they fell in love, and he fired her. “Where is your husband?” I ask, sitting on the stool next to her.
“Why the hell would he come to a business meeting?” She shakes her head, grabbing the brown bag and taking a container out and handing it to me, and then taking one out for her.
“A business meeting?” I gasp, opening the container and seeing eggs, bacon, sausage, and two pancakes. “I just got here.”
She pushes away from the counter and walks over to the drawer, grabbing utensils, but I’m too busy grabbing a pancake and putting an egg on it with sausage and bacon and wrapping it like a wrap. “You are a savage.” She points at me with a fork. “And because of that stupid concoction you have in front of you, my kids refuse to eat pancakes any other way.” I laugh, thinking about Christmas when I did it in front of them, and they gasped out loud as if I told them Santa was coming back.
“You’re welcome.” I dunk my pancake in syrup and eat it. “Hmm, salty and savory.”
She gets back on the stool and grabs her own container that is some sort of fruit bowl with oatmeal. “That looks gross.” I point at the oatmeal.
“It’s not that bad,” she says. “If I want to drink wine, I have to eat like this.”
“Or you can eat like you want and drink what you want,” I suggest. “Cooper doesn’t care what you look like.”
“Anyway,” she continues. “I was checking things out. Seeing the options and whatnot.”
“And?” I look at her as I drop a piece of bacon for Mac.
“Bottom line, I think New York or Pittsburgh are your best bets. New York because well, it’s obvious, and your father is going to be the coach.” She looks down, and I know she is waiting for me to ask her.
“What aren’t you saying?” I ask.
“New York is on a rebuild. You know this. They lost their goalie, who retired, even with the number one pick last year. The kid didn’t do anything. They have injury over injury, and their cap space isn’t that much.”
“Okay.” I take a deep inhale. “And Pittsburgh?”
She laughs. “You get to play with the best on the ice. Word on the street is he’s going to be retiring, so getting you in there will leave the team at the elite level.”
“It’s going to be so bad if I go to either of those teams,” I say, closing my eyes.
“It could be worse. You could go to Toronto or Boston,” she tells me, and I make a grimace with my face.
“I would never,” I tell her. “I’d rather rebuild with Montreal.”
“Nico called me,” she says, and I want to laugh because if anyone reached out, it would be Nico. He doesn’t let his GM do the legwork. Nope, not Nico. Dallas is his baby, and he’s showed it over and over. “Heard you were in town and wants to sit down with you.”
I nod. “Set it up,” I say, and even Erika is shocked. “There is nothing wrong with me sitting down with him.”
“The press is going to spin it,” she reminds me.
“Michael and Cooper play on the team,” I tell her. “I could be visiting.” She just tilts her head. “It’s fine.”
“He’s expecting you at one,” she tells me, and I stare at her with my mouth open. “I’ve been doing this a while. And well, I know you, and I knew you would meet him. Just like I know that you will want to meet with other teams.” I nod my head, not sure I want to meet other teams. Maybe Alex moving to Dallas was another sign I should be here. Half my family lives here now.
She finishes her oatmeal and gets up. “Good to have you here.” She smiles now. “Also, just so you know, your father called me.” She tries to hide her smirk. “He wanted it on the record that he would like to talk to you.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “He doesn’t want special treatment.”
“Well, he’s not going to get any special treatment.” She folds her arms over her chest. “Especially after last Christmas.”