Country took another half rack of ribs. “When areyougetting married, Fly? Haven’t you been with Jess for almost a decade?”
“He’s still making up his mind,” Sean teased.
Fly took a bite of his now honey-buttered muffin. “Our love isn’t labelled like that.”
“Said the guy who doesn’t want to pay for a wedding.” Country raised an eyebrow, and Fly grinned.
“All I’m saying is you both better hurry up. Curtis has you beat by four kids already,” Brett added.
“Anyone following the draft picks?” Sean changed the subject. His tone was gruff, and Brett tried to get a read on his expression. He’d been with Kelty for at least four years by his count. Maybe not his favourite topic.
Country leaned back in his chair. “Axel Johansson’s the best choice for defence. Kid’s a tank."
"Nah, it’s all about speed these days,” Suraj cut in. “Viktor Kuznetsov’s stats are off the—”
“He’s impulsive,” Tyler cut in.
“Exactly like a player should be, eh?” Suraj shot back.
Country shook his head. “Where’s André when you need him? This is the one thing we’ve ever agreed on.”
Brett was content to eat and let the conversation swirl around him. His head was still filled to the brim with thoughts of Penny, and at least this helped keep them from flooding his heart.
When everyone was stuffed, they grabbed pop and Oreos and moved back to the living room without putting the food away so it was ready for second dinner at ten.
“I still think NHL ’94 was the best,” Fly said, grabbing a controller.
“That’s because you’re prehistoric.” Country shoved onto the couch next to him. Brett laughed, mostly because Fly was only four years older than most of them.
Fly scoffed. “It’s because it’s the best.”
As the game loaded, Sean argued, “Nope, it’s NHL 07. The skill stick feature changed everything.”
Suraj held up the game case. “NHL 10.Fights.Mic drop.”
Brett took the second controller when Tyler offered it to him. Normally he wouldn’t care about playing or watching, but watching gave too much space for his thoughts to creep in. Right then, he wanted to watch small digital men swoop across the screen. He wanted to laugh at Country’s commentary and focus on something he had even a little control over.
Because that meant he didn’t have to think about the fact that the second bedroom was empty. Or that he’d already noticed Penny accidentally left her shampoo bottle in his shower. He didn’t have to think about eating dinner alone or not having Penny’s smile there to greet him when he got home from work.
Not thinking was what he needed, and playing video games with friends was better than booze.
_____
Penny cried for the first hour of their drive and Andrea let her. She didn't ask questions or try to make her feel better. She did hand her a box of tissues that Kelty had been wise enough to throw in with the snacks.
When she was finally able to talk without breaking down again, they busted open the bag of dill pickle chips as they wound through lush pine forest.
“When did you decide to fly out here?” Penny asked.
“It was on Wednesday, I think?” Andrea frowned, and Penny did the mental math. That was when she was at Kelty's house. “Brett texted me that morning and asked what the chances were that I was free.”
Penny had just been thinking what the chances were that Brett had texted her weeks prior when their relationship was going smoothly. “What did he say?”
“He said you were worried about driving the truck by yourself, and he wanted to bring me out.”
Penny’s brow furrowed. “Wait, bring you out?”
“Yeah, he offered to pay for my flight.”
