Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
“Was she older or younger than your two sons?”
“Older. She was our first. When Mabel got pregnant both times after Annette, she prayed for boys because she didn’t want to feel like she was having another girl to replace the one we’d lost.”
I think about my teammate’s young kids, about Tate and Sam. I can’t imagine what their parents would go through if they lost them.
“Having our sons helped dull that pain, but we never forgot Annette.”
When I first met Arthur, I saw him as an old guy. I never thought about him once being my age. My teammates who volunteered with me at the nursing home would say they didn’t know what to talk to the residents about. I felt that way, too. But over time, I’ve realized that I can talk to Arthur about the same things I’d talk to anyone my age about.
“I’m still carrying around some baggage over my dad’s death.” I look out the window at the barren brown trees and gray sky. “I guess it’s one thing when someone dies from a disease, but it’s different when they choose to go.”
“That’s a hell of a thing,” Arthur murmurs.
“Yeah.” I take a deep breath in and let it out. “Anyway, you want to play some chess?”
“You’re a sucker for punishment if I ever saw one.” Arthur shakes his head. “Let me eat my donut first.”
When I get to practice later, Dom’s sitting on one of the locker room’s long wood benches, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
“Hey,” I say to him. “What’s up?”
His forehead crinkles with worry. “Tess is stressed, which means I’m stressed.”
I sit down next to him. “About what?”
“She took over for Cam with the boys when Cam was sick, so now she’s helping Sam build a castle for an end-of-the-semester project, and you know Tess—it has to be the biggest, best castle any adult has ever done ninety percent of the work on. She’s been to every craft store in the city looking for some sort of crackle paint.” He pauses to take a breath. “Tate told her Sam’s been down because he can’t do the Cub Scout winter campout because it’s a father-son thing. So Tess came to me, and I said, of course I’d go. It’s during All-Star weekend, so what are the chances I’d actually be able to make it during the season? But I can. Only Hannah’s big dance thing in Florida is the same weekend. I can’t be in two places at once.”
He gives me a frazzled look.
“Hannah still gets to do the dance competition whether you go or not,” I say. “And Sam will have to miss the campout if you don’t go. That seems like an easy choice.”
“I know, but...I want to be a good stepdad. And this is a big deal for Hannah. She was excited about the whole family going. She actually said that when Tess told her it was All-Star weekend and I could go, too. The whole family.”
My best friend has grown more than I thought he was capable of since meeting Tess and her kids. He’s still got a teenage boy sense of humor, but he manned up so he could be good for them.
I envy him. He gets to be a father figure for Tess’s kids and Cam’s. And he knows what a big deal that is.
“Hey, you got tape?” Ben asks us.
I get into my locker and hand him some. “That’s my emergency stash, though. Bring it back.”
He nods and takes the tape and his stick into the training room.
I lean against my locker, looking down at Dom. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Also, Cam’s stalker is being released in two days and Tess is a hot mess over that. She’s begging Cam to move back in with us.”
“I’m pretty worried about it, too,” I admit. “Is Cam willing to move back in?”
Dom shakes his head. “She’s all about taking care of herself and her kids on her own, but we can tell she’s freaked out. This guy’s no joke. He had a gun on him when I caught him.”
“I’ll see if she’ll let me sleep on her couch when we’re home.”
He shakes his head. “You can try. She won’t let me hire the security guys I hired before. She said she’s not living every day in fear.”
That’s not gonna work. I won’t be able to sleep at night wondering if that asshole is after her again. He might hold a grudge over going to prison. For all we know, his number one to-do could be to come back and hurt her or her kids.
“I’ll talk to her,” I say.
He stands up and starts changing clothes. “Are you ever gonna tell me what happened with you guys last week? All she’ll tell Tess is that she’s not dating El Cheapo anymore and she saw you on the night they went out for coffee.”