“With other people, right?” Denver asked. “Like, your hockey buddies or whatever?”
“Or whatever,” I joked in a flat tone. Of course, it didn’t land. My delivery needed work.
“This is serious.” Anna held the phone once more.
“So, I’ve heard.” I covered the receiver for a second and let out a sigh. Conversations with my family always went this way: I updated them on how I was coping, they gasped in horror at everything and preceded to tell me how I’d have never done stuff like this before. We barreled to an inevitable end in which they expressed their hopes things would start feeling normal again. Translation, normal for them. They didn’t like the new Finn. They’d never tell me that to my face, but I heard it in their voices. I wasn’t enough for them.
“We just want you to get better,” Anna said. “We’re not trying to make you feel like you need to be careful of every sharp object.”
“But do keep an eye out,” Denver added.
“Okay, ladies, could you…” Dad took over the call. “Look, champ.”
I winced at the nickname. “Hey, Dad.”
“Pops,” he corrected and continued forward. “Your sisters were having one of their ‘feeling moments.’”
“It’s called intuition,” Denver corrected. I could imagine the roll of her eyes. “And it worked all the other times.”
“They thought you were in trouble,” Dad explained with a chuckle.
“I’m fine. But thank you all for the concern.” They weren’t exactly wrong, but my issues with Naomi weren't something I wanted to share with them.
I needed to figure out how to hang up before I said something prickly that I regretted. It was a shame I’d never know if my family was always like this. I’d asked the guys how their folks affected their mood and their responses were similar to mine. Yet still, I felt like something was off. My reactions to speaking with family felt ten times as emotional and difficult to maneuver than they needed to be.
“Well, that’s good to hear,” Dad said. There was a lull where I’m sure I was supposed to say something. When I didn’t, he continued, “So, does this mean we can expect you home next weekend?”
I gripped the phone as I forced out my lie. “No, actually, I have a big paper coming up soon. I need to stick around campus. Plus, with our first game around the corner, things are going to get hectic.”
“Understandable." He didn't sound disappointed. In fact, he sounded relieved. The psychic's comment about me being a shell was probably still rattling in his brain.
“You’re still helping me with my stats course, right?” Denver asked. “In a few weeks? You’ll make time, right? You always made time.”
“Denver,” Dad warned.
“Yeah, sure,” I spoke before I knew what I was saying. Apparently, I’d been the one to tutor my sisters through most of their subjects since we were kids. Math wasn’t my strong point but they seemed to trust me with it and I couldn’t bring myself to be the bearer of more disappointment. At the beginning of the semester, I tried to refresh on some concepts but gave up because of frustration… and because Naomi's presence in the tutoring lab made me anxious. I suppose I could try again.
“Perfect!” Denver sung. The joy in her tone made me feel a tad less guilty. Damn, I wished I didn’t feel like I was on the outside of their bubble. As a whole, they seemed like fine people. Excessively superstitious, but even superstitious people had their moments.
“We’ll let you finish your run,” Dad decided with amusement in his voice. Denver was probably doing her happy dance. “Don’t push yourself too much. Remember, everything will start feeling like normal, eventually. You'll be the same again.”
“Right.” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see. “Normal and the same, eventually.”
“Exactly, champ. Talk to you later.”
“You too…” I hesitated before adding a “Pops.”
But by the time I said it, he’d already hung up.
Ihoppedintheshower after my failure of a run. I’d hoped the hot water would relax me for a few minutes. But even a shower couldn’t distract me today. My mind was determined to entangle itself with wanderings of Naomi and now worrying about my family. The water turned cold quickly, and I shut it off.
Out of us guys, I was the one to pull the short straw for bedrooms. That meant I had the only room upstairs without a bathroom attached. So, I used the one Naomi got stuck in during our first night here. I shared it with her, and quite a few of her shampoo bottles littered the shower caddy. I did my best to ignore how much her familiar scent surrounded me as I wrapped a towel around my lower body.
My feet left small puddles as I made my way down the hall. Sam called from somewhere downstairs, telling us to be ready in ten minutes to head out to the community center. My shoulders stiffened at the reminder. No part of me wanted to drive across town to spend the day watching kids. Every part of me wanted to sink back into my bed until I mustered the energy to head to the rink and get in a few drills.
I didn’t realize someone else was in my room until after I closed the door. My back was to her at first, so I removed my towel without a second thought. I went to the closet to grab some pants and a shirt. My eyes locked with hers in the mirror hanging on the closet door.
We both froze. Naomi had a vacuum in hand. She wore headphones with small, deer antlers on the top. I got those for her… well, Mid did. They’d been on her wish list for her birthday last year. I watched a VOD where she gave me a watery ‘thank you’ over stream when she realized how many items I’d sent over.
