“Yup. It’s fate.”
I’ve never heard fate used to describe an arcade before.
“Lunch is hours away. Don’t you think you want to get a nice massage or something beforehand? You have a competition in a few days.” The longer I keep him in this building, the more work I can get done. Thereare twenty-seven emails I haven’t answered yet and I’ve been working on them the last hour.
“Come on, Kenny. It will be fun.”
“It’s McKenna.”
He smiles, two rows of pearly straight white teeth on display. “I like Kenny better. Plus, if my mom asks, you’re six foot two inches tall with a bushy beard and a flatulence problem.”
My eyes narrow in his direction. “Okay?” There’s no way we’re leavingthis room until he explains.
I count out the sixty seconds it takes Olive to answer, and I swear his face turns a shade of pink before he does. “My mom is here.”
“Yeah.” Most athletes have their families here. It’s kind of a big deal, participating in the Golds in all.
“She’s petrified I’m going to get some girl pregnant who will wind up being a gold digger and I’ll have to get married andtake care of a baby and it will ruin my career.”
“Aren’t you like twenty-five? There are undoubtedly some younger kids participating in the Golds. It happens every year, but no one on the snowboarding team is under the age of eighteen this time.
“I didn’t say it was a reasonable fear. But trust me. It’s easier this way. Even if I explained the situation like you did to me last night, she wouldn’tbelieve me. She’d want to meet you and ask about your birth control.”
“Hold up. Your mom asks girls about their birth control?” I thought that level of crazy was only for fathers with shotguns.
He shrugs, leaning up against the wall again like this is a regular conversation and not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. “In her defense, it’s happened in our family before. Shegot pregnant with my older brother at sixteen and had to hang up her skates on a figure skating career. And my brother’s girlfriend — now wife — had a baby when she was sixteen and my brother was seventeen. Mom was not expecting to be a thirty-three-year-old grandmother.”
“So you told your mother I was six feet tall with a beard and a flatulence problem?”
“Details add to the realism.”
“I guess.I haven’t had breakfast yet. Maybe we can stop at the lodge and pick up a to-go box.” Bacon would make me feel better about this whole situation.
“I have a protein bar back in my room. We can grab it before we go.”
I stand up by the small desk I’ve been working at. “Yeah, no thanks.”
“Are you sure? It will give you lots of energy.”
I’ve seen those rock hard blocks of black crap they carryaround and eat like they’re candy. My idea of a good breakfast is not one where I choke down granola and tree nuts.
“I’m positive. I’ll grab something quick. I wouldn’t want to take away your snack.”
“If you change your mind let me know.”
I pull my coat down from the closet hanger and zip it up around me. “Trust me. If I change my mind you’ll be the first to know.” Getting to the lodge requiresa short taxi ride, which requires going out in the snow. Something I do not do here unless I am heavily bundled. I cannot wait to get back to California.
Oliver leads me out of the room and to the front lobby where the taxis are always waiting. He’s practically skipping ahead while I linger behind trying to organize the few items he allowed me time to throw in my bag. I use one of the team vouchersto pay our fare when we reach the lodge. Oliver hits the top of the stairs and has the front door opened before I’ve even made it completely out of the taxi.
“Hurry, Kenny. There’s skee-ball afoot.” He holds the door open allowing me to walk through.
“We’re here to play skee-ball?” I ask, the smell of bacon tripping my nose up as soon as I walk through the door into the lodge’s lobby.
“Yup.Skee-ball helps me compete.”
I stop and turn in his direction, my nose sniffing out the scent of bacon. “Throwing a ball at a bunch of holes helps you snowboard down a mountain?”
He shrugs. “Couldn’t hurt.”
