“Jeez, Dad, I know you’re, like, missing Maddy or whatever, but it’s really bad parenting to take it out on us.” Riley crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a mini-glare. It’s so similar to an expression Lainey used to give me that I laugh, even as my chest aches.
“You know I’m missing Maddy?”
She gives me her signatureare you stupidlook. “Duh. She hasn’t been here, and Zoe told me she overheard Brian tell Liv that Maddy hasn’t been at work since before the game last week. Since you’ve either been at practice or here, that means you haven’t seen her since Denver.”
That little reminder has my heart giving one painful throb in my chest, my brain once again filling with the ever-present images of Maddy’s shattered eyes, the broken expression on her face when she walked out of my hotel room in Denver.
The way I couldn’t fix it, even though fixing it is all I wanted to do.
“Did you break up?” Ethan asks.
Riley flops back into the chair opposite the couch. “Of course they didn’t. But Maddy and Dad were keeping their relationship kind of a secret because it’s bad optics for a team doctor to be dating a player except then someone found out and wrote an article about it, so they’re lying low.”
I snort out a laugh at Riley’s very astute assessment. “How do you know the word optics?”
She shrugs. “I’m thirteen. I know stuff. I also texted Maddy when I read the article to tell her I think it’s total bullshit. Also to tell her not to read the comments because people are horrible and really need to get a hobby.”
“Did she text you back?” I wince internally at the eagerness in my tone. The clawing need to know if Maddy is communicating with Riley in a way she isn’t really with me. She texted me when she got home from Denver and sent thank you texts for the coffee, breakfasts, and snacks I’ve been sending incessantly to her house over the last four days, but other than that, we haven’t talked much since Monday.
My stomach twists when I think of that morning. Of her walking away from me. I replay it over and over in my head a thousand times a day. While I make breakfast for my kids. At practice. When I lie in bed at night not sleeping because all I can think about is her.
I know there was something else going on in her head. Then and now. Something more than just being upset that our relationship was outed the way it was. I saw the second her expression changed from angry and resigned toI need to get the fuck out of here. Something caught her off guard. I don’t know what it is, but I love her enough to give her the time she needs to work through it. As long as the time she needs isn’t more than a week because if she doesn’t come talk to me before the AFC Championship on Sunday, the second the game is over, I’m going to get my girl.
“Of course,” Riley says casually. “She always texts me back. We talk every day.”
The thought that she’s still texting Riley, talking to her like everything is normal, has warmth spreading through my chest. She might need some space from me—from us—but she would never take herself away from my daughter, and that just makes me love her more than I already do, which I suspect is morethan anyone has ever loved anyone in the entire course of human history. I’m just about to say something when the doorbell rings and Ethan pops up, yelling, “I’ll get it.”
I hear the door opening, and there’s silence for about ten seconds until… “Holy fucking shit!”
Ethan’s excited voice comes from the entry way and I groan. I really need to put a stop to the swearing. “Ethan, language. Jesus.”
“But Dad, it’s Oliver Wright.” Ethan reappears in the living room, eyes wide as he glances over his shoulder, as if to be sure he actually saw what he thought he saw. “In our living room.” His awe-filled whisper makes me laugh, and I glance over to see Maddy’s brother strolling into the living room, followed by Tyler and Drew.
“Hello? I’m right here. I’m a famous athlete too, you know.” Drew ruffles Ethan’s hair and tosses an arm around his shoulders.
Ethan just rolls his eyes. “I mean, kind of, I guess. But you’re not Oliver Wright famous.”
Tyler cackles, slapping Drew on the back. “He seriously burned you, dude.”
“He’s just stating straight facts, which is that hockey is the superior sport, and it takes very little skill and stamina to toss a ball around for an hour a week.” Oliver winks at Ethan and turns to me. “Hey, Cam, good to see you again.”
I nod at him, confused about why he’s here since I only met him that one time at dinner on Halloween. But he’s so close to Tyler they might as well be brothers, and he’s Maddy’s actual brother so if he knows something about where her head is, he’s my new favorite person. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but thanks for making Ethan’s day.”
“We thought you might need some company,” Drew says quietly, laying a hand on my shoulder and squeezing. For some reason, that small gesture has my throat tightening, the ever-present ache settling deeper into my chest.
“He does,” Riley says with a nod, eyeing the three men as ifto assess their ability to cheer me up. “He’s been sulking and needs a friend. Or, like, a bunch of friends, so it’s good you’re all here. I’m taking Ethan to Lola’s so you can talk. I texted her and she said to come over for dinner. Our grandma,” Riley says to Oliver. “She lives down the street.”
I give Riley a grateful smile. She can be stubborn and dramatic and drives me insane half the time because parenting a teenager is not for the weak, but she’s also sensitive and intuitive with a caretaking streak a mile wide.
“I don’t want to go to Lola’s,” Ethan says, crossing his arms stubbornly. “Oliver Wright is in my house. I’m staying.”
“You’re not.” Riley narrows her eyes at her brother. “Dad needs time alone with his friends. Besides, there’s way too many men in this house, and I need to get out of here. You’re coming with me.”
“I am a man,” Ethan says, setting his mouth in a firm line.
Riley rolls her eyes. “Maybe in like seven or eight years you will be.”
“We’re just talking about boring adult stuff anyway,” Oliver says with an exaggerated grimace before Ethan can protest. “You’ll probably have more fun with your grandma. And hey, if you want to hang out sometime and it’s cool with your dad, I’d love to take you to the arena one day soon, maybe to watch a practice and then skate with the guys afterwards? Maddy told me you’re a kick-ass hockey player.”
