“Hot date?” Karlsson asked.
“Yeah—with my eight-year-old daughter. It’s Meet the Teacher night at her school.” I grabbed my duffle from the floor at Jay’s feet. “She’s going to kill me.”
“Give her a hug for me,” Jay said.
“Will do.” I nodded to Karlsson. “Nice to chat with ya, Swede.”
He laughed and waved me off.
I hustled my way through the arena and out into the lot. I should have left fifteen minutes ago, but maybe I’d be able to make up some of the time if I drove fast. Josie was going to be pissed if I was late. She was already nervous about meeting her teacher and seeing the new school. She’d gone to bed at her normal bedtime last night—refusing to let me tuck her in, same as it had been since we left New York—but her light was back on when I went upstairs around eleven. I found her sitting up in bed, reading. Too nervous to sleep, she’d told me.
As I sped my way towards home I wondered, not for the first time, if it was time to get my daughter some help. Evelyn andPeter were sure this was just a phase, all her sullenness and anxiety. That once she got comfortable in her new house and made some friends she’d go back to normal. But I hated seeing the sadness in Josie’s eyes every day. She hadn’t been this upset when her mother and I divorced—though she’d been younger then and probably didn’t understand what it really meant.
Leaving New York—and Chloe—had put her into a tailspin, and I didn’t know how to stop it. She had only seen her mother twice in the six months before we left, so it wasn’t like the distance was going to put a big damper on their time together. The truth was, Chloe was selfish and flakey and never gave her daughter a fraction of the time or effort she’d deserved. It wasn’t a new phenomenon—she’d been that way since Josie was a baby.
I pulled up behind Evelyn’s sedan in the driveway and saw my girl even before I got my seat belt unbuckled. She was sitting on the porch, her knees drawn up to her chest, a sullen look on her face. Shit.
“Sorry, sorry,” I called, jumping out of the car. “Let me just run inside and put on a different shirt and we’ll be good to go.”
“You’re late,” she said, tone cold.
“I know, sweetie. I’m sorry. Things are a little crazy at the rink right now.” I moved to pat her head as I passed by on my way inside and she jerked away. Great. I found Evelyn in the kitchen, putting away some glasses from the dishwasher. “How was she today?”
Evelyn scrunched up her face. “Nervous. It was impossible to get her to focus on anything.”
And I had been late, making it worse. Fucking fantastic.
“Thanks for being here today,” I told her. “I’m just gonna change and then take her over to the school. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Bright and early,” she agreed. “First full day of camp—that has to be exciting!”
I gave a brief grunt of agreement than pounded up the stairs. Exciting, sure. That was one word for it. Slightly nauseating might be another. There was just no getting around the fact that this new team was messy. Tons of young, inexperienced kids. Plenty of guys with shitty attitudes about the move. An apparent asshole for a coach. That didn’t exactly sound like a recipe for winning a lot of games.
But I couldn’t worry about that now. My biggest responsibility was to Josie, and right now my girl was probably pacing the front walk waiting for me to get my ass in gear.
I changed from my gym shorts and T-shirt into a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. I wondered if maybe this was the kind of thing a guy should wear a suit to? I pushed the thought away—even if I had time to get dressed up, I wouldn’t want to do it. It was hot as hell in Austin at the end of the summer. I couldn’t understand how anyone wore a suit around here ever.
I found Josie exactly where I left her—looking anxious on the front porch. After a quick hug for her grandmother, I had her buckled into the rental and we were on our way.
Our silent, tension-filled way.
“So, I was thinking we should go and look at cars this weekend.”
She continued to stare out the window, unresponsive. “I’ll need you to help me,” I continued, my bright voice sounding forced in my own ears. “I was thinking maybe a Jeep? Or some kind of SUV. Something with a little more room.”
Still nothing.
“I know you’ve always wanted to get a dog and I was thinking now that we have some real space…”
Her head popped up. “A dog?”
Okay, it was kind of low. I was pretty sure the experts wouldn’t recommend bribing your kid with a dog (or a fancy house with a pool, for that matter) to try to cheer her up, butI didn’t have many better ideas. And with the way she was actually meeting my eyes in the mirror for once, I wasn’t exactly regretting it.
I shrugged. “What was the deal we made last year?”
“You said if I wanted a puppy, I had to take a pet care class and promise to walk it and feed it.” Her little face was all lit up and I felt it like a punch to the gut. I needed to see her looking that happy a hell of a lot more.
“Right,” I said. “So if you’re still thinking you can handle all of those responsibilities?—”
