Stickler woke up with a mission. He was determined to go see his mother, despite the enormous rift in their relationship. After all, she was his mother and he knew she needed help, especially now that his father was coming out of prison. He got the address from Joey and got in his car.
The place was decent from the outside but inside the atmosphere was gloomy. Unending rows of fluorescent lights lined the ceiling, long corridors spanned in all directions and the few women in sight avoided making eye contact with him. Nathan carefully approached the reception.
"Can I help you, young man?"
"Uhh, yeah, I'm looking for Pamela Stickler, she's my mother."
The woman eyed him suspiciously. "We don't have anyone by that name here."
"But, but my friend said he'd seen her here, please, I really need to speak to her!"
She sighed. "Can you describe her?"
"Yeah. She's about 5'7, long dark brown hair, olive skin and hazel eyes."
"Huh, must be where you got yours from!" The lady smiled. "I know who you're talking about but she goes by the name Catherine Jones."
"She changed her name, why?"
"A lot of women who come to us do, it's a form of protection and escape from their former lives, a safety precaution."
"I see. Can you please lead me to her?"
She sighed again. "Sure, come along."
When Stickler saw his mother, his heart broke. She was thinner than before and her hair was disheveled yet she seemed somehow happier, playing cards with a group of women.
"Catherine, dear, you have a visitor."
She turned around and froze. Nathan inched closer, his hand outstretched and tears in his eyes. "Mom…"
"Nate?" She said quietly and made a step forward.
"Mom!" He cried and embraced her, not holding back his tears.
"Oh, baby!" She wrapped her thin arms around him.
"Mom, I missed you so much, I'm so sorry for everything that happened! I don't want to leave you alone ever again, I should have been taking care of you!"
She gave him a weak smile and studied his face. "My handsome boy! You've grown so much!"
Nathan led her to a couch nearby and had her sit down. "Mom, you can't stay here forever, dad's coming out soon and he will find you!"
"Don't worry, baby, he won't, I'm safe here."
"Mom! You need to come live with me, soon I will be a pro player and I'll be able to afford for us to move someplace nice, away from him!" He pleaded in desperation.
Pamela placed her hand on his cheek. "Oh, honey, you have such a good heart! But this is where I belong, I've made friends here, I've helped other women, too."
"But you don't look healthy, mom!"
"I will be alright, Nate. Now, tell me about your life. I know I've missed the last three years...or is it four…" She chuckled lightly. "Who am I kidding, I missed your whole life…"
He squeezed her hands. "It's okay, mom, it's all his fault! I've been doing great, actually, a few of us are on our way to the pros and hopefully, within a year we'll get contracts, Winnie and I have been dating for the past 3 and a half years, I love her so much."
"I can see that, you have a spark in your eyes when you mention her name." Pamela smiled. "I'm so happy for you, Nate, you've become a proper young man."
He hugged her. "I love you, mom."
"I love you too, baby."
"Catherine, you coming back or what?" One of the women playing cards called out.
"Looks like you're needed!" Nathan laughed.
"Yeah."
"Call me if you need me." He said and waved goodbye to her.
The next morning, Gordon arrived in town. Walking out of the airport, he heard a car honk behind him so he turned around. "Hans!" The elderly man waved to him to get in. "Hans, you old dog, what are you doing here?"
"Isn't this how we always do it, you come back home and I pick you up? So, how's life, big shot?"
"Gee, Hans, it's so weird. I never thought I'd make it this far. When I left the Ducks, that was the worst day in my life since my dad passed away. I often asked myself if it was worth it."
"Of course it is, Gordon. Your mission was never to be a coach forever, you made the Ducks the team they were, you taught them how to fly!"
"I guess." Gordon scoffed.
"So, how do you feel about Riley's passing?" Hans asked.
"Weird, like I'm not sure what to feel. It's still hard to grasp, the guy was a huge part of my life at one point but he was a mean old man. You know, it's funny, I ran into some of his old boys back in LA, they're in the Minors now!"
"Do you think they'll make it?"
"Adam Banks for sure will, the kid's a prodigy!"
"Haha yeah, he beat your record in '93!"
"It's good seeing a lot of young talent, Hans, keeps my faith in the game. By the way, what happened to the Ducks? I should've kept in touch better…"
Hans sighed. "Couple of years ago there was a falling out between some of the kids, Charlie didn't feel Jesse was leading the team well so the team split into two, some like Terry, Peter, Karp left after Jesse quit. The others couldn't find replacements so they had to disband the team."
Gordon opened his mouth to say something was but was cut off by Hans. "Don't even think about it, Gordon, you're not here to mend what's broken, you're here to make peace with your past. Let's go, I have a surprise for you!"
They drove to Hans' sports goods shop. When Gordon got out of the car, he could see the back of a tall boy sharpening skates through the window. He narrowed his eyes.
"Is that-"
Hans smiled.
Gordon rushed inside. "Charlie?"
The tall boy turned around, startled. "Coach?"
Gordon eyed him head to toe. "Holy shit, Charlie, you've grown so tall!"
"They do that." Hans remarked, bags in hand.
"Welcome back home, coach." Charlie grinned and gave Gordon a hug.
"Thanks, Charlie…" Gordon invited Charlie to sit down. "Listen, Charlie, I heard what happened to the Ducks, I'm so sorry, maybe if I'd stayed…"
"No, coach, that's not your fault, it was mine. I let my pride get the best of me. I don't know what I was thinking going against Jesse, it ruined the team and our friendship."
"You felt like the leader wasn't doing their job so you stepped in, these things happen, Charlie."
"You think you can help us get the team back together? If not for us, then for the next generation at least."
"Gordon isn't here to do that!" Hans interjected, carrying a tray of tea and biscuits.
"What about Gina?"
"She felt like her interfering would make things worse given her shaky relationship with Jesse."
"Fair enough." Gordon nodded and took a sip of his tea.
"Hang on, speaking of Gina, I gotta let her know you're back!" Charlie jumped and rushed to the phone.
"I hear she's helping out in the new family business."
"Ah yeah, they opened a huge grocery store on Hennepin...wait, how do you know about that?"
"I,uhh, met her boyfriend in LA."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, a few of the former Hawks are in the minors now."
Charlie looked down. He had often wondered if he would ever make it but with his team gone for 2 years, he'd lost the chance to get spotted.
"Everything alright, Charlie?"
"Yeah...yeah."
"How's your girlfriend? Dina, right?"
"Oh...we're not together anymore, her family moved back east permanently soooo."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Hey, wasn't her sister Adam's girlfriend?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe the two of you can meet up, he's also back for Riley's funeral."
"Yeah, I'd love to, haven't seen him in almost 2 years!"
"Tell me about the others."
"Well, Goldberg finally moved to Philly, actually his family sold the store to Gina's parents, Averman's working at the arcade, Guy's in college, if you can believe it and Fulton's Futon, still shooting pucks in the alley, still dating Tammy who, by the way is now a professional figure skater. And Tommy is playing football now, I think."
"Do you know anything of Jesse and the others?"
Charlie shook his head.
About 15 minutes later, the door opened and Gina flew in, rushing to give Gordon a hug. "Coach!"
"Hey, Gina, I hear you're quite the busy woman!"
"Sure am! The business picked up quite fast so mom and dad needed a hand."
"Do you still play?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, sometimes Charlie and I shoot in the park."
"How are your old teammates taking Riley's passing?"
"Well, some are shocked, some grieving but others are happy that the Hawks can finally have a coach who will let them have fun, too. The roster for this year is already full!"
"I have no doubt." Gordon chuckled. "I think you could've made a great coach!"
She scoffed. "Hockey is behind me. It wasn't easy to come to terms with the fact that beyond the pee wees, there's no future in hockey for me. Maybe one day, they'll make a women's pro league but for now, I'm happy just playing some good old schoolyard puck with my bestie!" She said and punched Charlie. They talked for another hour before Gina left and Charlie got back to his work. Gordon waited until Hans was out of sight and dialled someone's number.
"Yeah, Jim, tell the league I'll be a bit longer in Minneapolis, I got some urgent work I need to do. Thanks." He hung up the phone. "I can't leave the Ducks like this." He thought, looking at Charlie.