“I asked her what kind. Like what kinda beer, ya know? And she thought Coca-Cola was alcohol. All I did was tell her she was wrong and try to explain it to her, but then her face turned really red like she was going to explode. She started crying, andIgot yelled at!” he shouted, clearly outraged at the whole ordeal.
I stared back at him, not quite knowing what to say.
“What?” Duke questioned me. “What aren’t yousaying?”
What I wouldn’t tell Duke was that Craig was going through a messy divorce and battle for custody over Claire. Her older sister, Addie, was eighteen, and she practically ran away from the entire situation. No one had seen Addie at the rink in months even though she’d qualified for Nationals. Everyone was pretty shocked that she was blowing the whole thing off… But Claire saying she thought her dad was a drunk driver was not a good sign for Craig…
“Maybe try being a little nicer to her?” I suggested. “You never know what people are going through at home, ya know?”
He blew out a breath at that and leaned his chin on the butt of his stick. “I guess.”
Nick and Sav finally appeared at the front of the hospital when the sun was beginning to set.
Nick was wheeling her out in a wheelchair because of the hospital policy that we all knew from our frequent trips there through the years, and she looked pretty banged up.
Her left foot was casted up to her knee and Nick was wearing a grim face and carrying crutches as he pushedher.
So, we’d been right.
It didn’t take a genius to look at her foot and know it was broken though. And fuck that coach for not even caring to look after her and telling her to take her skate off. He better hope that didn’t cause her more damage, or else he’d have me and Nick to answer to. I’m sure Nick was thinking the same thing.
Sav slowly lifted herself up and hopped around a bit until she could get the crutches under her arms, and then they slowly made their way over to us. She was tiny already, and hobbling around made her seem even moredelicate.
“How ya feelin?” I asked as soon as Nick opened the passenger side door for her.
He shook his head, basically saying, ‘shut it, dude.’
Alright then, she was not ready to talk.
Nick helped her in, carefully placing her casted ankle on my truck’s dashboard, and then swiftly got into the backseat with Duke.
We wordlessly drove back to Sav’s house. I white-knuckled it, trying my absolute damnest to avoid any potholes that could cause her more pain… or would cause her to wake up. All three of them were peacefully snoozing as I drove us, and I felt an enormous responsibility on my shoulders. Because they were my family, and today reminded me of just how fragile people really were.
Damn. This must’ve been what a dad felt like after driving home from the hospital with his baby for the first time.
Shit, if I could barely handle this, maybe I really wasn’t cut out to be adad…
I made a mental note to conference with Nick about this later. He always had profound thoughts on future topics such as these.
20. Sav
I laid in bed the next morning, staring up at my bedroom ceiling, mulling over the fact that I had absolutely zero desire to move.
I wondered what would happen to me if I didn’t so much as lift a finger for the next eight weeks of this brokenankle.
I wasn’t even hungry, how weird was that? It was breakfast time, my favorite meal of the day, and I didn’t want a single thing. I usually had to stop myself from overeating because I didn’t want to look bloated on the ice and prompt any harsh criticism from Victoria… But right now, nothing. I just wanted to lie here and become a part of my bed.
The doorbell rang downstairs, and I heard the sound of Duke running to thefoyer.
That had to be Nick and Griff. They were coming to pick him up for his kiddie camp at the rink so he wouldn’t be sitting here watching tv all day long.
Thinking of my boys made me tear up. Because now, besides them coming over to pick up Duke, when would I even see them? I was finally having fun again at the Ice League… and now all that wasshot.
I looked down my bed at my casted fucking ankle.
I was done.
What a way to end acareer.
