I had one thing on my mind and that was never going to change: The game. The only goal I had was beating the records set by my family. I didn’t have time for anything else. Until she walked in the room. The earth shifted, just like the stories said it would. I said it wouldn’t happen—not to me. I didn’t have the time, but now she was the only thing on my mind. I knew it was her. Now I had to convince her.

It was supposed to be a regular day out. Three couples celebrating the last days of summer. When tragedy struck. I thought I was going to marry her. Instead, I was burying her. I blamed the world for my pain. I buried it all. I became a man I didn’t even recognize.

Everyone expected me to play hockey. I was good at it, but I was better at being a doctor. So I hung up the skates and joined Doctors Without Borders. But there is no place like home, so now I’m back. And instead of being on the ice, I’m behind the bench as the team physician. After years of playing cat and mouse, it’s time to admit it. She’s mine.

It was supposed to be the best day of my life. But the second I got up, things started to fall apart. The kitchen just caught on fire. Flowers were from a funeral. My bride-to-be just had an allergic reaction, leaving by ambulance. Oh, and my ex-girlfriend just walked into the church. They say you have to see the signs when they are right in front of you. Maybe she was just mine to have.

All my life I've said I will never date a hockey player. I know better because I've seen and lived it all. My father is a hockey god, my brother is the captain of the most successful NHL team in the world, and my brother-in-law also plays in the league. Their lives are complicated, so I went in the opposite direction. I fell in love with a scholar. But instead of proposing marriage, he broke up with me.