“If I come, I’ll just end up working. I can’t spare any time, mom.”
“We’ll give you your privacy. After dinner—we won’t rope you into movie night.”
“Great,” I grumbled. But it was gnawing at me about our father. “Why does he want to see us?”
“I don’t know. He’s been watching Troy’s games and now he wants to go to one in person, so I’m assuming it’s got something to do with that stunt he pulled last week with the sign an’ all.”
This isn’t good.
“Troy’s problems shouldn’t be mine, mom.”
“They never were honey. Alright, well don’t work too hard, it’s not good for you, you sound super stressed.”
I took a deep breath. “Thanks. I’ll see you next week.” I was fidgety and paced the length of my office for the good part of the rest of the afternoon. This wasn’t like me. I was always the one who was calm and collected. I always had my shit together.
At five o’clock, I gave in and dialed Troy.
“Let me guess, mom called you.”
“Are you playing next week?”
“Do I have a choice?” his bitter tone answered.
“It’s kind of your job,” I snapped.
“What’s up with you?”
“Been busy at work.”
“What else is new?”
“Troy, I’d been covering for you for weeks now. Now I have to catch up on what I actually do for a living. Which come to think of it, if my calculations are right, you owe me approximately thirty-six thousand dollars of your annual salary.
He chuckled. “How ‘bout I pay that fine and we’ll call it even.”
“This isn’t funny, Troy. Do you have any idea why dad wants us next weekend?”
“He’s probably pissed about the suspension.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I growled.
“You were the one who did it,” he reminded me like I was the idiot.
“He doesn’t fucking know that,” I shouted angrily. Was everyone just an idiot?
“Right,” Troy sighed.
I released a breath. “What’d Ryan say?” Part of me wanted to know. Part of me—as hard as I fought against getting back on the ice for him—waited for him to tell me that the team neededme.
The player in me hoping for it.
“He needed to know when I was coming back, though by the sound of it, he didn’t seem like he’s in any rush for it.”
“And what you’re going to blame me for that now?”
“No. He said if I showed up to the game Monday and played the way I did on opening night, he and Simon will need to tell Coach about the switch because of how it’s affecting the team.”
“Sounds about right,” I mumbled.
