“I miss them,” Gavin said, so softly that for a moment Thad wondered if he’d imagined it. But he looked up, his expression conflicted. “I know they’re kinda fucked-up, but, you know, I miss them.”
“Yeah,” Thad said softly. “I get that.”
Because he really, really did. In prison, he’d had nothingbuttime to think about his family. To think about the way their desire to fit in with the neighbors and show off their perfect life had kept them from visiting him in prison. The way they’d been so ashamed of what he and Gavin had done they’d moved out ofstatefor a while.
It was only after Thad had a respectable job that they’d been willing to talk to him again.
And he’d been angry at them. Angry and hurt and disappointed.
But he’d still missed them.
And that was maybe the most fucked-up part of it all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The following week passed in a weird blur for Graham.
After another home game, the team hit the road again. They started out in Washington D.C., had a game in Carolina, then played the two teams in Florida.
The Harriers celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving out on an open-air deck under swaying palm trees at a restaurant called Rich’s Table, which had weirded out Ontario guys like Jesse and Rafe, who much preferred eating turkey and stuffing with butter tarts on crisp fall days instead of seafood and key lime pie in muggy Florida heat.
Although, everyone agreed it was the best key lime pie they’d ever had.
But they’d won more games than they lost on the road trip, picking up some important points along the way, and by the time the team was back in Boston for a stretch of games, the end of October was rapidly approaching.
“So, what’s everyone doing for Halloween costumes this year?” Jesse asked in a cheerful tone as the sweaty, exhausted team trooped into the locker room after practice. Hoyt had pushed them hard today. “Graham? Any ideas?”
“Uhh,” Graham said because he hadn’t even thought about it.
Jesse let out a tsking noise as he waddled past in his gear. “Costumes are mandatory! By order of the fun committee.”
The team party was being held at O’Neill’s, of course.
Before Jesse’s arrival, Connor had been in charge of all events, and plans had mostly consisted of renting out the place for the night and his mother arranging for food to be catered to augment the basic bar food Liam offered.
The pub was great, and Catherine O’Shea had excellent taste in food, so no one had ever complained.
But this year, Jesse was goingall-out.
Especiallysince Halloween fell on a Friday.
They had a game that evening—which really sucked for the guys with kids—but they didn’t have another until Sunday afternoon, which meant they were free to have a little bit more fun than usual.
In addition to the usual catered food, there would be a costume contest, games, and a live band playing.
Graham was looking forward to it all. But he had no idea what the hell he’d do for a costume.
If he and Thad hadn’t been dating, he might have jokingly asked Thad if he wanted to do a group costume with him. He’d havecalled it that instead of a couple’s costume, but either way it would have amounted to the same thing.
This year, he figured they probably shouldn’t risk it.
Also, he probably should have figured out how important Thad was to him before this, but … well, maybe he wasn’t as bright as he’d originally thought.
Things were going pretty well with Thad at the moment. Honestly, except for him leaving every night after Graham fell asleep, Graham had few complaints.
The sex was great, they had fun spending time together, and he felt like he was playing some excellent hockey.
What more did a guy need?
