After dropping Seth at the marina and waiting for him to take off, Owen headed to work. One of Kerry’s suggestions at the interagency working group had been to create simulation cards health workers could use for micro-training sessions on the job. He wanted to carve out time in his morning to work on that.
But the schedule came first, so he plowed through that. Then he grabbed his notebook and headed into the garage. He thought if he maybe sat in the back of a bus, he might be able to sketch out what kind of conversations he wanted his paramedics to practice more.
He was nearly done when Dani poked her head around the door. “Hey, boss. You’ve got a visitor.”
Owen hopped out of the ambulance and stuck his head around the side. He scowled when he saw it was Hayden. He jerked his head to the side of the garage bay. “My office.”
To his credit, the kid didn’t flinch. He nodded stoically and followed Owen.
Once they were at his office, Owen kicked the door shut, because he wasn’t in a mood to be nice to the little shit. Not that he ever was. “What do you want?”
“I saw you at the restaurant this morning.”
“Yeah. I saw you, too. I was surprised. I thought it was just a summer gig.”
“That was the plan.”
“What happened?”
“I f— I messed up.”
“With the team?”
Hayden shook his head. “With Becca.”
Owen sighed. “This isn’t the place, son. I’m not the person you need to talk to about this.”
“I think you are. I want to show you that I mean it when I say I want Becca. And our baby.”
“The thing is, that’s easy to say. Harder to show in your actions.”
“No.” Hayden’s voice cracked, but he didn’t move. “No, sir, it’s not. It’s scary to say, to be honest.”
“You’ve jerked her around all year. I thought when you showed up in the hospital, and then I found youin my housein the middle of the God damn night, that meant you got it.”
“It did. It does.”
“You’re running hot and cold on my daughter, and I don’t like it.”
“Not any more. I’m all in now.”
“Is that why you came here? To make empty promises? And you’ll do it again, if she gives you another chance. When you do, I’m going to remind her that you’ve done this before.”
“You should. But you won’t need to.”
Who the hell was this man child to be so sure of himself? “Why are youhere, talking to me, instead of talking to my daughter?”
Hayden swallowed hard. “It’s not instead of. She comes first. Charlie comes first, I mean.” His face threatened to crumple, but he pulled it together. “For me, that’s true. Becca and Charlie first.”
“You have a funny way of showing it. You blew her off for a bush party.”
“She told you that.” Hayden nodded. “Of course she did.”
“She tells me other things, too. She tells me how important your hockey career is.” Becca hadn’t said that in months, but Owen was feeling righteous now.
“I’m leaving the team.”
Owen’s mouth fell open. “What?”
