Page 102 of Stick By Me
He was dressed more casually than the last time I’d seen him, in a navy-blue cable knit sweater and jeans. The closer I came to the table, the more his resemblance to me became obvious. How had I not seen it before?
I slid into the booth seat across from him. “Hi, uh, Coach Dupont.” I didn’t know what to call him at this point.
“Hi, Archer.” He sipped a red wine. “I’m pretty sure I know what this is about, since you were just home visiting your family.” His gaze found mine and softened.
I swallowed hard, my mouth going dry. “Yeah, my dad um, my dad had a heart attack.” I dropped my mouth open. What a thing to blurt out.
“What? Is he okay?” Shifting in his seat, he wrinkled his forehead.
“Yeah, sorry, he’s going to be okay. He’s out of the hospital now and staying with my Uncle Tad for a few weeks.” I fingered the napkin rolled around my silverware at my place setting. I assumed he knew my uncle since he’d talked about Richard so much.
“Oh, good.” Richard nodded. “You’ve already lost a mother, I’d hate for you to lose?—”
“He told me you were my biological father.” I popped my eyes open. Fuck my mouth. It was totally out of control right now. What was wrong with me?
He blinked at me, then his lips twitched with the tease of a smile. “And how do you feel about that?”
“I uh, I’m not sure.” I bit the corner of my bottom lip, glancing at his wine. I could sure use a drink about now. But hewasn’t denying it. I breathed in deeply. “Actually, I’m okay with it. It was a shock, but I found out like a week ago now.”
“I’m sure you have questions.” He brushed his fingers up and down the stem of his glass, furrowing his brows.
“I do.” I scanned the restaurant. “But first, I need a drink.” I flagged down a waiter and ordered a beer. I didn’t think wine was going to sit too well with my stomach flip flopping the way it was.
“First thing I think you should know is, your invitation to the Coyotes’ development camp is because you’re a good player. Not because you’re my son.” His gaze locked on mine.
He called me his son. I stared at him, my heart almost stopping. “O-kay. I guess I was sort of wondering that.” I glanced at the waiter as he dropped off my beer, then downed a few gulps of it and plunked it on the table.
“Archer, how much did your dad tell you? How about we start with what you know?” He tented his fingers over his wine.
With a slow nod, I ran my fingers over the condensation on my beer glass, my heartbeat slowing. “He told me you had an affair with my mom and that when she found out she was pregnant, you all decided that my mom and dad would raise me. He told me you were there to help, financially, when needed.” I lifted my gaze to his. “He said they wanted to tell me sooner, but there was never a good time.”
He pursed his lips, then freed a long sigh. “I wanted them to tell you sooner, but I also didn’t want to interfere. I figured they knew best.” Raising his brows he said, “Your mom was afraid it would mess with your head too much to tell you. She really wanted to see you become a professional hockey player.” He huffed a breath. “So did I.” He arched a brow. “You have, or had, a tendency to let your emotions get the better of you when you played. Especially when you were younger.”
“Yeah, that’s true and that’s also what my dad said.” What he probably didn’t know was my dad had tried to steer me away from hockey. I took deep, calming breaths. This Richard wasn’tso bad. In fact, he seemed like a genuinely good guy. “Are you married?” Could I have a half-brother or sister somewhere I didn’t know about? I hadn’t thought to check on Google. I’d been too focused on Dad and his recovery.
“I’m not.” He lifted the edge of his mouth. “I’ve been living with a very nice woman for a few years, but we’re not at that point yet.”
“Does she know about me?” So, no half-brothers or sisters. I sipped my beer, relaxing into my seat.
“She does in fact, know about you. I told her the situation when we decided to move in together.” He picked up a menu and perused it. “Should we order some food?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” I looked over the menu. All I wanted was a juicy burger. I didn’t care if it was a wine bar with fancy stuff on the menu.
The waiter stopped by our table, and Richard ordered a few bruschetta boards while I ordered my burger.
“What other questions do you have?” He drank some of his wine down.
Leo…“Do you know that I’m bisexual?” I narrowed my eyes at him. Would the university have disclosed it to him, with student privacy laws and all?
“I do. Your coach mentioned your squad, as you and you friends call yourselves.” He twisted his lips. “I’m sort of, well, not completely straight myself.” His gaze locked to mine. “I’ve had my fair share of men. I’ve been discreet about it.” He shifted in his seat. “Archer, I’m hoping your generation will be the one to make it a non-issue.”
My chest swelled with warmth and a smile grew over my lips. “Yeah we’re trying.” I was more like him than I’d ever imagined. “Oh. I have a boyfriend. His name is Leo and he…he works in high tech with data.” I chuckled. “I don’t even really know exactly what he does.” My gaze dipped to my beer, then refocused on him. “He was there with me in Minnesota. He grounds me. Even makes me a better player.”
“Really.” With a nod and a smirk, he said, “I’d like to meet him sometime.”
“Definitely. Maybe we can get together for dinner. He’s a great cook, too.” I scratched my cheek. What else was there to talk about? “Hey, uh, where do we go from here?” My gut clenched. What did I want from him anyways?
“Well, Archer, that depends on you.” He swirled his wine in his glass, then set it down and peered at me. “I’d like to get to know you better, for starters. And if you still want it, I’d like to offer you a formal invitation to the Coyotes’ development camp.”
