Barrett taps his stick twice on the ice. “As the team’s actual parental figure?—”
“You’re not a parental figure,” Griffin interrupts.
“You have a cat named Killer,” Bodhi adds.
“That weighs four pounds,” August finishes.
Barrett shrugs. “The point is, I’m prepared to be the cool uncle.”
Jesus.
I skate away from them, pretending to stretch out my legs near the boards but they follow like persistent mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes I can’t smack to death.
Mosquitoes that never seem to fly into the electric bug zapper.
“This is a lot of energy for grown men,” I say.
Oliver snorts. “We’re hockey players, dude. Emotionally we’re twelve, remember?”
“Not even twelve,” Bodhi says. “More like…nine.”
“Speak for yourself.” Ledger leans on his stick. “I’m at least eleven.”
I rub a hand over my face. They are absolutely insufferable, but beneath the chaos, the teasing, the bullshit, they’re doing what they always do.
They’re trying to make a hard moment easier because they all know me better than I know myself.
They know Connor is my kid.
They know learning he’s my son cracked me open in ways I didn’t expect.
They know I want to try to be the best dad I can be for him and
They also know Connor doesn’t know about me just yet.
And so, they know today matters.
It matters a lot to me.
I swallow hard and release a heavy sigh that I can’t disguise as exhaustion from practice.
“Hey, relax, bro,” August says, softer now. “He’s a good kid. And you’re gonna be great with him.”
I nod, unable to say it out loud, because if I do, I might start feeling too much too fast. We finally clear the ice, drifting toward the gate and the guys peel off, heading toward the tunnel, chattering and laughing. Barrett slings an arm around my shoulders as he passes.
“You’ve got this, Meers. And if you don’t, Killer and I will be here to guide you.”
I shove his shoulder and he skates away grinning.
For the first time today, the arena quiets as I gather a handful of practice pucks and set them near the boards, more for something to do with my hands than because Connor will need them. Really, I’m just killing time.
And nerves.
Because in a few minutes, Harper and Connor will walk through that tunnel and they’ll be here specifically to see me.
Connor, the kid who looks like me.
