Free From Falling

Justin "Matts" Matthews is talented at many things: solving Rubik's Cubes, playing guitar, herding cattle and, most important for his NHL career, playing hockey. Where he struggles is with people. He misses social cues, particularly around women. That has always been more of a nuisance than a real problem, until he meets Sydney Warren, and what he feels is at least close to love at first sight.

Sydney is the fierce, driven frontwoman of the rising rock band Red Right Hand, and she does not do relationships. As an out trans woman in the music industry she already carries plenty of pressure, and a romance would only add to it. Getting involved with a professional hockey player who is only beginning to learn how to be an ally is the last thing she needs. Still, after a chance meeting, the two become unlikely friends.

Their lives are packed with NHL games and concert tours, so they connect in stolen moments and late-night phone calls. Gradually they begin to wonder whether "friendship" really describes what is going on between them. Whether they can withstand the pressure from family and the media, who would rather the relationship ended before it began, is the question the story turns on.