To Love Again

Author's Disclaimer & Note: I have no rights to the movie, Miracle and its characters which are owned by Disney. I also do not have any rights to the TV movie, Miracle On Ice and its characters which are owned by Orion. I do not know the real life hockey players, coaches and staff from the 1980 team. I only own the character, Nancy Morano ("Peach"). This is just for entertainment purposes only for anyone who enjoyed the movie, Miracle, as much as I have. Since this story does move slowly, I have chosen the T rating for now but will change it to M when it becomes more mature. Enjoy!

The Offer

May, 1979

Nancy Morano was just finishing up her graduate studies at the University of Minnesota (the "U") where she specialized in physical therapy and was certified as a personal trainer. This past year, she was a physical therapist and personal trainer intern to Gary Smith, the team's head personal trainer to the U's men's hockey team. That was the year that Herb Brooks and his team won another NCAA championship.

Nancy stretched and yawned as her alarm clock rang as she hit the snooze button yet again. She was definitely not a morning person. As she looked at the clock, it read 8:23 a.m. "8:23? That can't be right," she thought. She got up and checked the kitchen clock.

"OH NO!" She ran back into her bedroom and quickly got dressed. She had an early morning final and was running late. She didn't bother to put on her make-up or even comb her hair as she put it in a ponytail. She also had a final in the afternoon. After that, she was finally done with school.

She was looking forward to some time off before she found a full-time job working as a personal trainer to athletes. She had a few jobs leads but no offers yet. As she was about to dash out the door, the phone rang. She figured it would be for her roommate, Michelle, who already left for class but she picked it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey Peachy!" It was Gary, her boss, who gave her that nickname since she was originally from Georgia.

"Gary, please stop calling me that nickname! I hate it!"

"I know, that's why I do it! Sorry for calling you early, but I really gotta talk to you."

"Can't it wait? I'm running late for my final."

"Okay, then give me a call when you get back."

"Why, what is this about?"

"It's just an offer for you to think about."

"An offer? What kind of offer?"

"Well, you heard that Herb is the new Olympic Hockey coach, right?"

"No, it just all over the front page news at the U's newspaper and everywhere!" Peach said sarcastically.

"Well, he hired me to be the head personal trainer for the team."

"Oh Gary, that's great! Although, I'm not surprised. You are the best trainer there is, and Herb only wants the best."

"Wow, brown nosing your boss already and you haven't even accepted the offer."

"What are you saying?"

"Come on Peachy, I want you there with me. I get to have an assistant again."

"Gary, I haven't had my coffee yet, don't kid me!"

"I never kid about business and certainly not gonna start now."

"Oh my God! I don't believe it! Gary, thank you!"

"I take it that means 'yes'."

"Wait a minute - does Herb know about this?"

"Of course, I recommended you and he is leaving it up to me."

"Gary, I don't know what to say."

"SAY YES!"

"Yes, of course! Thank you so much!"

"You earned it after this past year."

"So when does the training start? I heard the tryouts will be in Colorado Springs. Will we have to report there first?"

"I'll go over all the details with you later. Don't you have a final to get to?"

As Peach looked up at the clock, it was almost 8:35. "Oh no, I gotta go! Thank you again so much."

"Stop thanking me, now go take those finals so you can graduate. Talk to you later."

"Okay, bye."

As Peach hung up the phone, she grabbed both her notebooks to review one more time. It was going to be difficult for her to concentrate. As she dashed to her class, all she could think about was this wonderful opportunity that laid in front of her as she wondered what the next eight months would bring.