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Matt retires at the end of the season. It’s not really a hard choice, his ankle really hasn’t been the same since the last surgery, but he still doesn’t know what he’s going to do with himself. He’s 35 years old and already a retiree.
What the fuck.
When the announcement goes public he gets a flood of text messages and emails, both from family and friends and guys he used to play with. There’s also a few messages from clubs he used to play with. Apparently a few of them have job offers for him, which is something of a trip. He doesn’t know if he wants to be a stuffed suit for the rest of his life, but his sister tells him to not immediately tell them to go fuck themselves (actually she says to not make any rash decisions that burn his bridges, but it amounts to the same thing) so he sends an email thanking them for the consideration but he’d like some time to consider all his options before making any decisions.
His sister may have helped him write it.
But his lease ends in August, and his apartment in Bremerton is sitting empty. While he doesn’t particularly want to stay in Tampa, he doesn’t really want to go, not home, but Bremerton hasn’t been home in a while. So he stays and lets his wheels spin for a while. After all, he’s still got about half a carton of milk in the fridge, and it’d be a waste to throw it out.
A few days later Matt signs for a package from FedEx, and he opens it up to find a violently pink t-shirt with “RETIREE” written across the chest in a flamboyantly curly script. He sees the return address and something ruefully fond rolls up through his chest, almost threatening to choke him. He shucks his shirt off anyway, and the new one takes a second, tugging his head through the neck hole, it’s a bit small. He takes a picture anyway, objectively terrible as it’s backlit by the sun shining in the window, and adds it to his story on snapchat. Half his friends start texting him back, full of laughter and asking if he’d lost a bet.
It’s not till that evening when he gets the text he was waiting for, just a message filled with hearts.
It’s a Friday and when Matt tries to pour himself a bowl of cereal there’s hardly any milk left, just the dregs of the carton. He’s on the phone with Debra when it happens, and it must be an older sister superpower he thinks, how she can so effectively communicate both the fact she’s rolling her eyes at him as well as the fact she thinks he’s an idiot without saying a word. It’s possible she thinks this because he’s eating cereal at four in the afternoon but his life choices are extremely valid, what does Debbie know.
The next day he’s waiting at the light, about to turn right towards the grocery store, when the song on the radio changes and Bono starts to sing “I have climbed the highest mountains, I have run through the fields”.
He laughs. Laughs till the light turns green and the cars behind him are honking waiting for him, then switches his blinker, turns left towards the highway and doesn’t look back.