“I guess.”
Hearing her agree, albeit grudgingly, feels better than the win from earlier.
“I broke my diet tonight.”
“Really? What’d you have? Chocolate cake?”
“Nah. Just pizza from Papa Johns. They put mushrooms on it.”
“Don’t like mushrooms?”
“I don’t dislike them, but I don’t want them on my pizza.”
“I put mushrooms in my spaghetti sauce.”
“Never had them in spaghetti before.”
“How about Salisbury steak?”
“Mom used to try to get me to eat those Banquet Salisbury steak tv dinners when she had to work and I was home alone. They looked disgusting.”
“When we lived with my mom, my brother and I ate those. They are pretty disgusting.”
“Did you not always live with her?”
She goes completely quiet and I have a feeling I put my foot in my mouth.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, then we don’t have to.”
“No, it’s fine. My mom has a drug problem. My grandmother filed for custody and she raised us.”
“I’m sorry if I brought up bad memories.”
“You can’t hide from your past. It’s a fact that she’s more concerned with her next fix than she is with us. She only calls when she needs money. I never answer the phone, but at least I know she’s still alive when she calls.”
That has to suck ass. I grew up with a mother who loved me and would commit murder to keep me safe. Daisy got the shit end of the parental deal.
“What about your dad?”
“I doubt she even knows who our dads are.”
“I just keep sticking my foot in it…I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is.”
The fact she says that with no emotion is awful.
“I grew up with just my mom and me. Dad left when I was little and never looked back.”
“My turn to be sorry.”
“Nah. I’m all good. I don’t need a shit head like that in my life. My mom’s the best. She worked her ass off so I could go to all the hockey camps and have the right gear. When I get into the NHL, first thing I’m doing is buying her a new house in a good neighborhood and doing my best to get her to let me give her enough money so she doesn’t have to work so much.”
“You sound like a good son.”
“I hope I am.”
“You are. A lot of guys would focus on getting rich and living it up while forgetting about the people who helped them get there.”
