She set the knife down where she’d been chopping green peppers and moved into me. Stretching up onto her tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “How are you feeling today?”
Another artful transition to the topic I knew she’d wanted to broach since we woke up in my bed this morning. I wrapped my arms around her fully. “I feel good.”
It wasn’t a lie. I felt lighter—the gift of telling someone about the ugly stew of memories and emotions that’d always lived inside me. And the gift of Sutton not running for the hills in response. She didn’t realize just how much that meant.
Sutton tipped her head back. “Good.” She worried the corner of her lip.
I lifted a hand to tug it free. “Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”
“I think you should talk to your mom.” The words came out quickly. “Tell her what happened. What you’ve been carrying. I think it’ll help.”
I released my hold on Sutton, turning back to the egg mixture I was concocting. “I don’t need to. I told you. That’s enough.”
“Cope—”
“I don’t want to open old wounds. She still misses them so damn much. This would be like throwing acid on that wound.”
Sutton leaned a hip against the counter and faced me. “Of course, she misses them. She loves them. But she also lovesyou.”
I shook my head roughly. “It’s not worth the pain it would cause.” But some part of me knew that was a lie. What I really feared was that my mom would look at me differently—that my whole family would. And that wasn’t a risk I could take.
Luca had beenquiet as he helped Coach Kenner and me clean up the gear from camp. I was used to him going over every event from the day’s camp, but not today. I was about to head to the skate rental station to ask him if he was okay when movement caught my attention.
Evelyn Engel gestured wildly from where she’d clearly stopped Kenner in his tracks. He held a mesh bag full of cones and some balls for a game we’d played at the end of camp and looked at her with a panicked, deer-in-the-headlights expression.
Evelyn just kept right on gesturing, a woman on a mission. Kenner lifted a hand placatingly, but the woman just yelled something I couldn’t make out in his face before storming off. Kenner stared after her before turning slowly and heading back in my direction.
“What was that about?” I asked, pitching my voice low so Luca couldn’t overhear.
Kenner glanced in Luca’s direction. When he saw that he was engrossed in helping Hayden put the rental skates back in their cubbies, he turned back to me. I didn’t miss his wince. “I guess Evelyn saw the news coverage of you getting in an altercation with that teammate of yours, Marcus Warner. She was stating her case that you weren’t a good role model for the kids and should be fired.”
I stiffened but forced my voice to stay light. “Does she know this is a volunteer gig? I’m not sure Icanget fired.”
Kenner chuckled. “She might’ve missed that. She also accused you of playing favorites with Luca and not giving Daniel enough attention.”
“Jesus. She can’t have it both ways. Fired or pay her kid more attention?”
Kenner scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “You’ll learn you can’t win with some of these parents. They want you to act like their kid is the second coming. Destined for greatness and never make any mistakes.”
“Poor Daniel,” I muttered.
“You’re not wrong there. That kid has enough pressure on his shoulders to give him an ulcer. He’sseven.”
God, there was so much wrong with that. Even as I started to rise and joined more competitive leagues, my dad never let me forget that, at the end of the day, hockey was supposed to be fun. I’d forgotten that until recently. But coaching these kids had brought it back.
“I’ll make sure I spend some one-on-one time with him tomorrow. Not for her but for Daniel.”
Kenner’s brows lifted, respect filling his gaze. He clapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a good man, Colson.”
His words sent an ache deep into my chest cavity, but I didn’t find them quite as unbelievable as I usually would’ve. And that was all thanks to Sutton.
I sent Kenner a grin. “Go get yourself a beer. I’d say you’ve more than earned it.”
Kenner chuckled. “Truth.”
I headed for the skate rental station, grinning at Hayden. “How’s the wrist shot coming?”
She gave me an answering smile, her amber eyes lighting. “I don’t have it 100 percent of the time, but when I do, it’s freaking awesome.”
