He cracked a wry grin and wagged a finger at me. “Ah, I’m glad I put up with you three. You turned into my best friends.”
“You’re ours too, old man,” I said forcefully, feeling the need to assure him that we valued him just as much.
We walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to his car, but he paused when he reached his driver’s side door. “Do me a favor?” he asked, his bright blue eyes finding mine.
My eyebrows rose in surprise. In all the years I’d known him, I’m pretty sure he’d never once asked anything of me. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Take a break from the ice for a bit.” His weathered face went serious. “You just had a very long season. I love seeing you at work every day, but you need a break from the place, yeah? Can you do that?”
“Oh.” I rubbed my jaw. “Yeah, I guess I should probably take a couple days off, rest up a bit.”
When I looked back up, his blue eyes held a little spark. “Maybe you should book a vacation.”
I laughed. “And go by myself?”
“Why not?” he asked, his eyebrows slamming down. “I go by myself every year.”
That was news to me. I couldn't even picture him on vacation. In my mind, the old man practically lived at the rink. “But where would I go?”
“Think about it.” He grinned while tapping his temple. “It’ll come to you.”
“All right,” I said with a laugh, patting the top of his car. “I’ll think it over. Get home safe now, okay? Or we’ll have to send Kappy to save you. He’s the only sober one.”
Hans cracked a grin while slowly folding himself into his seat. “Never thoughthewould turn into my emergency contact.”
I smirked. It was kind of rich that Kappy, who was usually the leader of every prank we ever pulled, had suddenly become the responsible one.
As Hans’ old Ford Taurus drove off down the tree-lined street, his advice echoed in my head. Making my way back to the party, I mentally kicked around a couple vacation ideas, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it’d be kind of lame to go by myself. I was about to ask Kappy if he’d join, but I got stopped in the driveway by a gaggle of kids.
“Uncle JP will help us!” Lucy called out, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward. “Right?” A tiny conspiratorial smile grew on her face. I had to laugh because she fully knew I couldn’t say no to her. Right after Lucy was born, Kappy and I practically moved in with Colt to help raise her. Those first few weeks were a blur of dirty diapers, spit up, and tears—from both Lucy and Kappy—but when she rewarded us with a smile, it was all worth it. Lucy was a big reason I wanted to have kids of my own one day.
“He’s perfect! He’s agiant!” A tiny kid with glasses and popsicle stains down the front of his shirt nodded in approval.
“Yeah?” I laughed. “Perfect for what?”
Lucy rubbed her hands together like a mad scientist. “You’ll see.”
And that is how I got roped into spending the next hour picking kids up and putting them down so they could “slam dunk” the basketball over and over again, which I knew was probably horrible for my shoulder. The mothers all laughed as they watched while I was sweating bullets, and their husbands completely evaded the scene so they wouldn’t get called over to help.
When Colt finally brought out water guns, the kids thankfully lost interest in basketball, so I wandered into the garage where some of the younger guys were playing beer pong.
I hadn’t realized how many hours had passed, but it was dark by the time I left the garage, and I had trouble walking in a straight line as I made my way back to the patio.
Plopping my ass on the outdoor sofa, I watched Colt, Mer, and Lucy in the pool together, cooing over the tiny baby boy in a little floaty device.
“You look like someone kicked your puppy,” Kappy said with achuckle. “Here.” He handed me a water bottle. “You need this more than I do.”
“I don’t have a puppy.” I shook my head, making my vision swim. “But maybe I should get a puppy. Maybe that’d be better than a damn vacation.”
Kappy’s shoulders shook with a laugh. “Oh boy, stop rambling and drink.”
I cracked the water open, spilling half of it on myself in the process, which just made Kappy laugh harder at me. I glared at him as I guzzled the rest of it down.
“You know,” Kappy started, “you could always listen to my advice and go find her.”
“Go find who?” My tongue was lagging, making my words slur together. I blinked hard to refocus my vision.
“Don’t play dumb, JP.” Kappy slapped me on the back, making me cough out my sip of water. “I've known you since we were in daycare, bud.”
