“Hockey is not more important than her, than Charlie. I made the wrong choices for a while there because of some misguided sense of being a certain kind of man. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because Ididtalk to Becca first, and she told me to come and see you. She said, if I could stand here and take your shit, she’d hear me out.” Hayden paled. “I don’t think what you’re saying is shit, sir. That’s—”
“I recognize my daughter’s words, don’t worry,” Owen said dryly. Confusion twisted inside him. “She told you to come here?”
“No.” Hayden’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “She said I should talk to you. She meant asking to talk to you at home or something. I decided to come and see you here because you were in your uniform this morning and I didn’t want to put it off another day. Don’t get her in trouble—”
“Son, you have a wild misunderstanding of my relationship with my daughter if you think I’d get her in trouble for encouraging you to be bold. I’m a bear, not a monster. And Becca’s a grown-up now. So are you. Yourgetting in troubledays should be behind you.”
That shut Hayden up, which gave Owen a moment to think.
Becca wanted Hayden to come in front of Owen and say a few things. Why? He didn’t love the answer that immediately came to his mind. He needed to talk to his daughter—and he had a date with Kerry tonight. Something in his schedule would have to give, and it would be his social life.
He took a deep breath, hating the way his neck got tight and his back teeth clenched down. It was what it was. Kerry would understand. And maybe his conversation with Becca wouldn’t take long.
Hayden shifted awkwardly in the silence. “She thinks you hang the moon in the sky,” he finally said.
Owen’s throat tightened up. That had been a thing when she was little. He wore it on his skin, because he wanted so badly to be that man for her as she grew up. He would do anything for her, provide anything she needed. Hang the moon in the sky and decorate it with diamonds. “Won’t be long before Charlie thinks the same of you,” he said gruffly. “If you hang in there with him.”
What he wanted to say was,I’ve been in your shoes, kid. I’ve done the right thing. There was nothing right about it in the end.But Owen wouldn’t have heard that back then. Hell, he couldn’t bring himself to think there had been another option. He would have married Rachel even if present-day Owen had travelled back in time and showed him it would end badly.
He didn’t regret his marriage.
He regretted that he couldn’t find enough love in his heart to make it work. That he had to watch her be happy without him, happier still with another man, while he twisted with worry and self-doubt, and his own efforts to find happiness had left him feeling empty time after time.
Empty and dangerous.
Would Hayden leave Becca in a few years, go away to school to better himself, and take a stranger home every night to try and make himself feel something?
Would it take him another fifteen years to be open to a real relationship?
God help him if he did. But Owen had never had to stand in front of Rachel’s father and prove himself, either. They may be walking in similar paths, but they weren’t the same person. Owen hadn’t had a bunch of dickheads making life hard for him, for one thing.
“Hayden.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Don’t call me that. I don’t deserve that. Call me Owen.” He cleared his throat. “Just be honest. With yourself, with my daughter.” He took a leap. “With your coach, too. Be honest. If you need backup for that, I’ll be there. I bet your dad would, too. I hope he would. If your teammates are being dicks to you about having a baby, that’s on them, and I think your coach will want to know. Am I reading too much into the situation?”
Hayden’s mouth tightened up. “No. That’s accurate.”
“Son, if you’re done with hockey, that’s one thing. If you’re leaving it against your true desire, that’s another. Has Becca told you to give up hockey?”
Hayden hung his head.
Owen knew the answer was no. His daughter wouldn’t. She was stubborn and fearless, and as Rachel had said almost a year before, she was also Hayden’s biggest fan. “I have to get back to work, but I’m glad you stopped by. I hope we can talk again.”
As soon as Hayden left, Owen texted two people. First, his daughter to let her know he’d had a visitor and wanted to talk about it over dinner. Then he glanced at his watch. It was lunch time. Maybe…
Owen: What are you up to today?
Kerry: I’m in the clinic. Currently having lunch in between appointments.
Owen: Are you alone?
Kerry: Why Mr. Kincaid, what are you suggesting? (That’s a yes, by the way)
Owen: I’ll swing by for a few minutes.
She met him at the back door, and as soon as she saw his face, she let out a sigh. “Are you okay?”
