My Hockey Alpha



Nina

It wasn't long before I realized where Enzo was taking us: into town, and to the diner, the location of many a late- night date.

"I should've known," I murmured with a half-hearted smile as we slid into our regular booth.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

"It's been a little while, Enzo said, his eyes scanning the menu. "And I'm hungry."

I hadn't been working regularly at the diner since we got married. In fact, I hadn't been working much at all outside of being the team doctor for the hockey team during game season and volunteering occasionally around town. In a strange way, I missed it. Maybe, I thought to myself, I would come back to it at some point. But that felt like a silly thought; as if I would have the time, what with a baby on the way and medical school.

The server came over, a familiar face who greeted us with a forced smile. "The usual?"

"Yeah," Enzo responded, handing back the menus. She nodded and left us alone, with nothing but the tension that we had brought in with us.

"I've been thinking." I began, twirling a napkin in my hands. "About what you said-the ultimatum. It's a lot to process in 48 hours, Enzo. I don't know if I want to move back in with my parents, and I'm not sure if I can make a decision like that so quickly,"

He sighed, leaning back in the booth. "And I don't know if I want to quit my job, Nina. But one of us needs to make a decision. For the baby's sake/"

I shook my head, feeling a surge of frustration. "But that's just it. Why does it have to be so black and white? Why can't we find a middle ground?"

"Because sometimes life doesn't give you that luxury," he said, his voice tinged with weariness. "We have to be practical. We have a baby on the way."

"Yeah, a baby that neither of us planned for," I shot back. "Do you not think that scares me too?"

He looked at me, his eyes searching mine. "Of course it does. But we can't undo it now. We have to think about the future."

"The future," I echoed, staring at the worn tabletop. "And where do our dreams fall into that? Do they just get pushed to the wayside?"

He sighed, a sound heavy with resignation. "Sometimes dreams change. Or they get delayed."

I shook my head, the lump in my throat growing larger. "I never wanted to give up on them entirely."

"And who says we are?" he said, his eyes meeting mine. "We're just adjusting them to fit a new reality. That doesn't mean giving up."

"But it feels like it," I whispered. "It feels like I'm losing a part of myself, and I don't know how to deal with that." "I'm scared, too," he countered, his voice tinged with desperation. "You think I don't worry about losing myself too? And yet, I'm willing to give it up for you, for us, if I have to."

The server returned, setting our food in front of us, a plate of fries and two milkshakes-just like old times. Neither of us touched it.

"I just... I didn't want this, Enzo. This whole situation. It's not what I had in mind for us."

His eyes locked onto mine. "Life throws curveballs, Nina. If you want to keep the baby, we have to accept that not all dreams may come true, not the way we envisioned them."

"I know," I said, my eyes filling with tears that I refused to let fall. "But it's hard, Enzo. We're being asked to compromise so much, and I don't know if I'm ready for that level of sacrifice."

"And you think I am?" he asked softly, his hand reaching across the table to cover mine. "But maybe that's what love is, Nina. Maybe it's about making sacrifices for someone else's happiness, even if it means putting your dreams on hold."