Page 47 of Center Ice
“You don’t sound like you believe him,” Jameson notes.
“It’s complicated. I don’t know if twenty-two-year-old Drew would have been the father to Graham that I needed him to be.”
“And twenty-eight-year-old Drew?” Jameson asks.
“He seems a lot more mature now—serious even. I know what his reputation is, but…I don’t know how much of that is perception rather than reality. He says he wants to step up and be the father Graham deserves. But it’s complicated. He’s got a lot on his plate with the team and his family?—”
“What’s going on with his family?”
He hasn’t told Jameson about his mom? With Drew requesting the trade, how is that even possible?
“That’s not my story to tell. So anyway, he wants to be involved in Graham’s life, but we haven’t figured out yet what that looks like, or how we’ll tell Graham. Which is why we haven’t said anything to you or anyone else yet.”
“What about you and Drew?” Just the mention of us in the same sentence has my heart responding with a flutter. One that I try very hard to ignore.
“There is no me and Drew.”
“Why not? His interest in you is blatantly obvious. Even though I told him to stay away from you?—”
“Asshole move, by the way. You aren’t in charge of my love life.”
“Just trying to protect you, Audrey.”
“I don’t need protecting. I need you to respect the fact that I’m an adult, and a mother, and completely capable of making my own decisions about who to get involved with. And I’ve already decided that nothing’s going to happen between me and Drew.”
“Why not?”
Is he for real? Didn’t he just say I shouldn’t get involved with Drew? “Because it’s not what’s best from Graham.”
“Why?”
“Because what if it didn’t work out? Need I remind you what happened when Scott and I broke up?”
“Just because Scott was an asshole, doesn’t mean Drew would do the same thing.”
“It’s still not a chance I’m willing to take. Graham needs his dad in his life more than I need Drew.”
“Okay, so if nothing is going on with you two, how did Drew get strep?”
“On Thursday night when you guys had practice and he found out how sick I was, he came over and took me to get a strep test. He carried me to his car, and then back into the house afterward, because I was too weak to do the stairs. He didn’t think he could get strep because he’d had his tonsils out.”
Jameson coughs out a laugh, like it’s common knowledge that you don’t need tonsils to get strep, but I didn’t realize it was possible, either.
I push off the counter I’m leaning against, opposite him, and walk through the entryway to the bottom of the stairs. “Graham,” I call up to him, “is your bag packed yet? Uncle Jameson’s here.”
“Almost!” he calls down.
I turn back toward my brother. “Thanks for taking him tonight.”
“No problem.”
“What are your plans with him and the twins?” I ask as I grab Graham’s school folder off the kitchen table and put it in his backpack. Jameson is taking Graham back to his house, then Lauren will come meet me, Jules, Morgan, and Lauren’s sister Paige, for a girls’ night. Even though we’re just grabbing dinner and drinks, Graham will spend the night at Jameson and Lauren’s. Tomorrow morning, Jameson will drop Graham off at school on his way to his office.
“I made a big batch of homemade mac and cheese the other night, so we’re going to have leftovers and watch a movie. Then after they’re in bed, I’m going to watch the Rebels game.”
I look at my brother, standing there in his custom-made suit with the top button of his shirt undone and no tie. His neatly trimmed facial hair is the same as ever, but his dark eyes don’t look tired like they used to.
He’s happy. The man who’d retired from the NHL to raise me and Jules, built a thriving sports agency where he represents the who’s who of the NHL, and who swore up and down that he didn’t want a wife or kids of his own, is engaged and happier than I’ve ever seen him. This realization never fails to shock me, no matter how many times I consider it. Eventually I’ll get used to it.
