“Hullo,” a gravelly voice replied.
I knew that greeting. He didn’t even have to say his name. Excluding his father, Greyson was the only person I knew who changed his e’s to u’s in saying hello. My teenage self got a kick out of it. Now it made my chest feel tight.
“Grey?” Saying his name aloud after all these years felt so foreign. It had been a word I omitted from my vocabulary, not to be uttered.
That perked the little man’s ears up, and he immediately looked at me with interest as he shoved a handful of chocolate chips into his mouth.
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“Yeah,” he drawled out. “I was just calling because… Canyon.”
“Oh. You want to talk to him? He’s right here,” I supplied.
It still felt so odd to hear his voice on the other end of the phone. I’d wanted it more than anything else for years. But instead of the comfort I used to get from his voice, it now brought shaky nerves. I’d be happy to pass off the phone call to my son to give myself some time to get used to this new dynamic, but I couldn’t handle it if he was going to be taking digs at my life choices to my son.
“Can you keep it to hockey?” I said tightly.
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“Yes,” He breathed out.
I handed the phone to Canyon and gave a shrug.
“Coach?” He mouthed to me with wide eyes, and I nodded.
“Coach Grey?” Canyon asked into the phone.
I couldn’t hear the other end of the line, but Canyon happily chatted away with him, so I continued the pancake making process.
A couple minutes later, he got down from his chair and went to peak in the garage.
“Yeah, we got it here,” I heard Canyon say.
Canyon wandered back into the kitchen and handed me my phone.
“Good chat?” I asked him, to which he nodded vigorously. He took his spot back on the counter and watched me pour the batter onto the griddle.
Right when I was handing him the first three pancakes, the doorbell rang, causing me to almost drop them.
I took in a deep breath. I didn’t think Kevin was coming over to see Canyon today. I did not want to have to gear myself up to see him. I hoped it was just Jen asking us to watch Troy.
“That’s for me!” Canyon announced and raced for the door, cutting off my thoughts
“Wait, Canyon who is that?” I called to him.
“Coach!” He called.
“What?!” I asked with alarm in my voice.
Canyon stopped in his tracks halfway to the door and looked at me like I was crazy, “I thought you said I could invite friends over.”
I continued to stare at my kid who didn’t have all the pieces to connect that he’d just invited my ex over.
“I can’t tell him not to come now, Mom. He’s gonna help me with my shot! He’s already here!” He protested.
“Uh.. okay, I guess,” he did have a point, but I was having trouble grasping the concept that Canyon considered Greyson Scott his friend.
I couldn’t see the front door from my place in the kitchen, but I could hear as Canyon opened the door.
