The Cross-Check: A Novel

DaniT2000 8 stories

Summary

Tracy Henderson, youngest of four, has spent her life trying to be good enough—for her mother’s approval, for her boyfriend, for a family that never seemed to see her. But when pushed to her limit in California, something inside her finally breaks. With nowhere else to go, Tracy flees to her childhood home in Colorado, trading one battlefield for another. There, she’s the sister who was never nice enough, the daughter who was never interesting enough, the woman who keeps trying to fix herself into someone lovable. But in the midst of a tense family reunion, old wounds, and a suffocating image of perfection, Tracy starts to unravel the truth she’s never dared to face: she doesn’t have to be what anyone else wants. Between charity galas, hospital hallways, and late-night conversations with someone she never expected, Tracy begins to ask the hardest question—Who am I when I’m not performing? Set against the backdrop of a tight-knit professional hockey community, The Cross Check is a story about breaking free from expectations, healing from the inside out, and finding love not in fairy tales—but in real, flawed, human connection.