Jamie started toward them, but his mom reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Let him,” she whispered.
“Hang on, kiddo,” he heard Tyler say, with a frantic edge to his voice. He fiddled with the trailer door. “We’ve got this, okay? Me and you, Row. Me and you.”
Rowan’s cries grew louder. The trailer opened, and from the porch Jamie could see a hodgepodge of boxes and furniturecrammed into the small space. Tyler reached up, grabbed the end of what looked like a chest of drawers, and pulled.
It didn’t move.
He tried again. Nothing.
Jamie felt a sharp pang in his chest. He watched the moment Tyler gave up, his whole body visibly deflating as he stood there by the trailer. He picked up Rowan, cradling the boy against him and murmuring softly.
Jamie wanted to look away, to tell everyone gathered on the porch to give Tyler some privacy. But then Tyler turned to them with a brittle, tight smile. “We’d appreciate the help,” he said.
Jamie ached for him.
Onni and Ollie did most of the heavy lifting, while Jamie or his moms held doors open along the way. Jamie was relegated to carrying things he could hold with one hand–a potted orchid, a bag of stuffed animals, or a duffel over one shoulder.
His mom convinced Tyler to stay upstairs with Rowan so he could tell them where to put their things. There wasn’t much–a bed, a wooden crib, a chest of drawers, a few cool baskets where they kept toys, and a folding card table. Two mismatched wooden chairs, a beanbag chair, and a worn loveseat couch rounded out the last of the furniture.
Dotty had gotten Rowan to play on the floor where they’d set up the toys, freeing Tyler up to start unpacking. He didn’t go far, though, casting frequent glances over at his son.
Jamie set himself up in the kitchen, pulling dishes out of a box and setting them on the counter. Tyler joined him quietly, putting dishes up into the wooden cabinets.
Jamie was surprised when Tyler broke the silence. “Your moms are nice.”
“They’re amazing,” Jamie said, smiling.
“How’d they meet?”
“They worked together for years,” Jamie said. “They were close friends. As soon as my mom noticed her feelings changing, she went to my dad and told him.” Jamie couldn’t remembermuch about the days leading up to his parents’ separation. He’d been thirteen and solely focused on hockey. Then one day, they’d sat him down, his mom had come out, and his dad had voiced his support for her. He could look back on it now and recall the hurt his dad had felt, but at the time, it felt amicable. “My parents sold our house and found new places,” Jamie went on. “Mom and Dotty quietly dated for a long time before they were open about their relationship. During that time, my dad met someone, and they’ve been together since then. I’ve got a few younger half-siblings, too.”
Tyler had stopped putting away dishes, and was leaning against the counter, listening intently to Jamie. The tattoo of the moth around his throat looked darker than usual.
“It was hard for my parents to break up, I think. To walk away from something certain–maybe not perfect, but reliable and safe. But life got better for both of them after my mom came out. My dad’s second wife loves him to pieces. Mom found something beautiful with Dotty.” Jamie shrugged, not entirely sure why he was sharing all of this with Tyler.
There was a wistful look on the younger man’s face, like there was something about what Jamie said that spoke to him. Like maybe he understood.
Jamie wondered what his story was. Where he came from, how Rowan had come into his life. His gaze trailed down over the moth, over the tattooed hands. He wondered if the tattoos had their own stories too.
He wanted to know.
He was curious. Captivated.
Tyler was beautiful, Jamie realized. An other-worldly, inaccessible beauty, like a famous singer on a faraway stage.
Only Tyler wasn’t far away. He wasright there,in front of him, with a smidge of dust on his pale cheek.
The meal they shared was predictably loud and boisterous. Dotty had made her pot pie, which she served with roasted broccoli and a salad.
Jamie’s mom had sat right next to Tyler, and within minutes she had Rowan giggling and bouncing on her knee. Tyler seemed to have relaxed slightly, a hesitant smile on his lips as he watched Rowan and fielded questions from Jamie’s mom.
Dotty was a rabid Muskies fan, asking Ollie and Onni questions about their division opponents and what they were working on in practice. Jamie felt a fond warmth as he sat there with his family–his blood family and hockey family blending together, and now, the new addition of Tyler and Rowan.
“You went to school here?” His mom asked Tyler. When he nodded, she went on. “When did you graduate?”
“A little more than three years ago.”
“And Rowan’s mom?” Dotty asked.
