Common Goal

The fourth installment in Rachel Reid's Game Changers series, Common Goal follows the unlikely relationship between a veteran NHL goaltender confronting retirement and a young bartender guarding his heart against another doomed attraction to an older man.

Eric Bennett, the 38-year-old starting goaltender for the New York Admirals, is struggling on and off the ice. After allowing three goals in a game against Montreal, he is pulled in favor of his younger backup, Tommy Andersson, widely seen as his eventual replacement. Off the ice, Eric is equally adrift. His amicable divorce from his wife, Holly, finalized roughly a year earlier, has left him lonely in an empty Manhattan townhouse. He still wears his wedding ring as a shield against having to move forward. Eric's closest friend on the team is captain Scott Hunter, who publicly came out as the first openly gay NHL player two years prior after falling in love with Kip Grady. Eric admires Scott's courage while keeping his own long-buried attraction to men unexamined.

Kyle Swift is a 25-year-old bartender at the Kingfisher, a gay bar in Chelsea where Kip also works. Kyle is simultaneously pursuing a master's degree in ancient art history at Columbia. He speaks several languages and is brilliant, though he struggles to see a clear career path. He nurses a hopeless crush on Kip, who is engaged to Scott, and confides in his roommate and close friend, Maria Villanueva, about his pattern of falling for unavailable older men.

Eric and Kyle first have a real conversation at Scott and Kip's engagement party, held at the Kingfisher. Kyle tends bar while Eric leans against it, and their exchange quickly turns flirtatious. They discover shared intellectual ground: Eric holds a Harvard degree in English literature and collects art, while Kyle studies ancient art and mythology. Kyle is charmed but notices Eric's wedding ring and categorizes him as exactly the type of man he has vowed to avoid: married, closeted, and unavailable. Eric acknowledges his attraction but tells himself the age gap makes any pursuit absurd.

Over the following weeks, they keep crossing paths at the Kingfisher. Eric visits the Saint-Georges Gallery, where his friend and art dealer Jeanette shows him a striking abstract painting he immediately buys, and he finds himself wishing Kyle were there to see it. He invites Kyle to the gallery, but Kyle declines, still wary of spending time alone with a man he believes is married. During one visit to the bar, Ilya Rozanov, an all-star center for Ottawa known for his sharp perception and irreverent humor, quickly deduces both that Eric is attracted to Kyle and that Eric is planning to retire. He agrees to keep both secrets.

Eric decides, for the first time in his life, to host a birthday party at his townhouse. Kyle is invited through Kip and reluctantly attends, bringing ingredients for a custom non-alcoholic cocktail. They share an intimate moment on the stairway discussing a large abstract called "Guardian," debating whether its subject represents protection or obstruction, a metaphor for Eric's role as a goaltender and for the emotional walls both men maintain. They nearly kiss. After the party winds down, Kyle stays in the guest room. Alone in his own room, Eric confronts the reality that his attraction to men feels much less theoretical than it ever has.

Over breakfast the next morning, Eric comes out to Kyle as bisexual, the first time he has said the word aloud to anyone. Kyle affirms his identity and offers to help him navigate queer dating. That evening, they visit Fortune, a gay bar, where Kyle coaches Eric through identifying what he finds attractive in men. Eric has removed his wedding ring, a symbolic step both acknowledge. Walking Kyle home, Eric kisses him. The kiss begins tentatively, then turns hungry. Kyle, charmed but cautious, frames it as Eric checking off a box and offers a standing, no-strings-attached invitation to help Eric with any other firsts.

On a road trip, Eric comes out to Scott, who is emotional and supportive. Eric and Kyle begin a flirtatious texting exchange in which Kyle role-plays as a fictional man to help Eric practice asking someone on a date. The playfulness shifts into something charged, and Eric invites Kyle to dinner. He cooks shakshuka, and over the meal Kyle confesses that his real passion is hospitality, not academia, and that he dreams of running his own bar someday. Eric encourages him rather than dismissing the ambition, which moves Kyle deeply. They move to the bedroom for their first sexual encounter, and both are profoundly affected. Kyle declines to stay the night, maintaining the boundary of their arrangement.

They visit the gallery together and walk along the High Line, an elevated park in Manhattan, where Kyle tells Eric the most painful chapter of his past. During his senior year of high school in Shaw, Vermont, his boss Ian, a married man in his midthirties, initiated a sexual relationship with the then-18-year-old Kyle. Ian's wife hired a private investigator, and explicit recordings were made. The affair became public, outing Kyle to his family and community. His parents effectively sent him away. Eric insists Kyle was the victim, but the story triggers his guilt about his own attraction to someone so much younger. He tells Kyle that people should probably date within their own age range, a remark that stings. They part at the subway, and Kyle fears the connection is over.

Eric's emotional turmoil causes his focus to collapse, and Coach Murdock benches him for a game in favor of Tommy. Eric and Kyle do not speak until a drag show charity event brings them together again. Eric watches Kyle dance with a young man and is consumed by jealousy. He tries to leave, but Kyle chases him outside, and Eric pulls Kyle into a passionate kiss against a wall. They return to Eric's house, where Kyle teaches Eric to have penetrative sex for the first time. Afterward, Eric asks Kyle to stay the night. They fall asleep in each other's arms.

Over the following weeks, their relationship intensifies. Kyle introduces Eric to bondage and edging, and Eric discovers he craves surrendering control and finds peace in submission. Kyle often stays the night, and their conversations grow longer and more personal. Both privately acknowledge that their feelings have exceeded the bounds of their arrangement, but neither addresses it openly. Eric confides in Kyle that he plans to retire at season's end, the second major secret he has entrusted to Kyle before telling anyone else.

After the All-Star break, Eric formally announces his retirement. He and Kyle plan a day trip hiking Blue Mountain, which has a view of the Hudson River, to keep Eric's mind off the media fallout. The hike is a perfect day: they spot deer, talk about travel dreams, and eat pancakes at a diner. Eric grows increasingly aware that Kyle is the person he wants beside him in his post-hockey life. But on the drive back, when Kyle invites Eric upstairs, Eric refuses. He tells Kyle he cannot have casual sex without developing real feelings and that a relationship between them is impossible because of the age gap. Kyle erupts, declaring Eric is perfect for him and accusing Eric of not letting Kyle make his own decisions. Eric, referencing his failed marriage, insists he is protecting Kyle. Kyle storms out and slams the car door. They do not speak for two months.

The Admirals are eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Eric plays his final game, quietly says goodbye to his goalposts, and is moved by a standing ovation. On the flight home, he realizes the only thing he wants in his future is Kyle and goes directly from the airport to the Kingfisher.

Kyle is defensive, assuming Eric wants comfort sex. In the storeroom, Eric apologizes and tells Kyle he wants to be his boyfriend and partner. He admits he was wrong about the age difference and that he has thought about Kyle every day. Kyle, in tears, tells Eric he has wanted this all along. They kiss, and Eric, speaking rapidly, proposes traveling to Greece together and floats the idea of buying the Kingfisher from its disengaged owner, Gus, with Scott as a co-investor and Kyle as manager. Kyle laughs at Eric's uncharacteristic babbling and tells him to wait until his shift ends.

The epilogue takes place several months later at Scott and Kip's outdoor wedding near Bay Shore, Long Island. Eric and Kyle are an established couple, recently returned from Greece, where Kyle thrived amid the history, languages, and landscapes. Eric and Scott have purchased the Kingfisher, which is undergoing renovations with Kyle managing the transformation and fulfilling his dream. At the reception, Eric's teammate Matti Jalo finally dances with Maria, while Eric and Kyle slow dance to "Can't Help Falling in Love." Eric tells Kyle he loves him, and Kyle replies that Eric saved his best years for him.