The Last Buzzer (SCU Hockey #5)

by J.J. Mulder

I have to remind myself that forty-six dollars in my bank account doesn’t mean I can buy forty-six dollars of books.

“Oh, no. Thank you. I’ll have lunch at the school café before the game.” “What’s on the menu today?” “Tuna surprise,” he says, and somehow manages to do so without pulling a face. I stare at him, determine he’s being serious, and decide that yes, I need to feed him.

When Carter notices us, his stern expression is clear even from across the ice. He looks pissed. Vas beams. “He is happy to see us!” he exclaims,

wasn’t until I found myself in a safe space that the anxiety knocked on the door. All the years of pain and fear hadn’t made me tough, they’d simply made me patient. And then, once my belly was full and I had a bed with sheets on it; when I signed my name on that scholarship, and smiled back at Nate the first time. That was when my house of cards collapsed, and the stress of living tried to convince me that I shouldn’t even try.

It’s like building blocks for your brain, and if your memories and experiences are built on a foundation of trauma, that’s going to carry over into your adult life.”