His mouth twists. “Partly.”
“Then because of what?”
“I never had a good father figure. There wasn’t room for me in my dad’s life,” he continues. “He had his career. His… priorities. And when it got hard, he walked away.”
My throat burns.
Jake’s eyes flick to mine briefly. There’s a brutal kind of honesty in them.
“I would never do to my family what he did to us,” he says. “But I also couldn’t stay. So I decided a long time ago I’d never have to make that choice.”
He exhales.
“When my dad left, it was just me and my mom. And she did everything. She worked. She showed up. She held it together even when she shouldn’t have had to.”
He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“And I saw what it did to her,” he adds. “How tired she was. How she still tried to make life feel… normal.”
I reach for my water just to have something to do with my hands.
His voice drops lower.
“So when people talk about kids like it’s this sweet little dream, all I can think is… yeah. Until it isn’t. Until you’re the one failing them. Until you realize you can’t be what they need.”
My heart pounds.
“I’m gone all the time,” he says. “Travel. Games. Practice. Media. Sponsors. And when I’m home, half the time my head’s still at the rink. Planning. Fixing. Containing.”
He releases a slow breath.
“My priority is my career, Talia.”
He hesitates, then continues.
“I don’t want a kid who has to wait for me. I don’t want to be someone’s father and then realize I’m not capable of being there.”
His eyes drop to the table.
“And… my mom is gone,” he adds, his voice rougher now. “So now it’s just me.”
Something tightens painfully around my heart.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I say softly.
My voice comes out smaller than I mean it to.
I draw in a breath.
“I didn’t exactly grow up with the warm-and-cozy version of family either,” I admit.
Jake’s eyes lift to mine.
I look down at the pattern on the rug, gathering the right words.
“My dad was gone a lot too,” I say. “He was always… working. Coaching. Recruiting. Traveling. Hockey was the center of everything.”
I swallow.
