This made me like her immediately—finallysomeone in the Wright family that worried Barry was being too nice to a random janitor claiming to be the mother of his child. That this was true was neither here nor there, some skepticism could do this family right. They are rich as hell, after all. They should maybe be more wary of people, like as a default.
Well, Barry was rich, and I suppose his parents were well enough off on account of the surgeon situation, but I couldn’t speak to the relative wealth of Chloe.
“If you’re thinking it sounds suspicious, I know,” I said.
“I—”
I raised my eyebrows knowingly, and Chloe’s shoulders slumped a little.
“Okay yeah, maybe it sounds a little conveniently coincidental, actually.”
“Yeah,” I laughed and took a bite of the blueberry chia pudding that Barry made for me this weekend. He got food at the facility each day, healthy snacks from coolers or fresh food cooked by the nutritionists, but he still made these for me. Said one of the chefs even gave him the recipe.
“I met Barry at your brother’s comedy show. I had no idea who Barry was.”
“Really?” This appeared somehow more shocking than me being a janitor, though I suppose she would think he was as famous as he was, especially if she grew up watching hockey.
“Yeah, I didn’t know anything about hockey. It was a surprise. Well, this was a surprise too.” I pointed at my stomach, and she gave a tentative smile. Her eyes lingered briefly on my stomach, looking almost excited. I shouldn’t have been surprised—the baby would be her niece as much as she would be to my siblings’.
“I can solemnly vow I have no nefarious intentions with your saint of a brother.”
“So you guys are like, together then?” Chloe asked.
“No, not really.”
“You moved in, though?”
My eyes lit up.
“Barry didn’t tell you about the mold?”
Chloe leaned on the counter toward me, full attention on me. “He hasn’t told me many things, it seems.”
I grinned and licked my spoon. “It’s because Barry did something very sneaky.”
After sitting on the couch with Chloe for an hour, I could say with authority that she was as much of a delight as her mother, and very funny. She told me about her job in LA, how life in California is fun and exciting but can be lonely too, how sometimes when she spent Christmas with their other siblings, she felt like she was behind.
“More behind Scotty and his comedy?” I asked.
“Sometimes!” Chloe laughed and then groaned. “At least he has hobbies.”
The front door beeped before Barry stepped inside, bag slung over his shoulder. Chloe pushed off the couch immediately to hug him, and Junior jumped off my lap to rub on his ankles too. Barry hugged his sister, then came and squeezed my shoulder, refraining from what had become his usual greeting, which was much too handsy for polite company.
“I got you a jersey for the game tomorrow,” Barry told Chloe.
“Did you get it for Dupont? Best player on the team.”
“You are evil.” He glared and pointed at her. “Hearing this, Hannah? And you think your siblings are cruel.”
Any worry I had about the game with Chloe that night being awkward was forgotten when we sat down with our twin sodas and she immediately said, “Who are the top three hottest guys on the team, not including my brother? I’m going to start strong with Coach Gaines.”
“Great choice, and underrated.” I nodded and pretended to think about my first answer, as if Kate and I hadn’t already closed the loop on this question at a game last month and revisited it semiweekly with updated rankings. “Gross because he’s your brother, I know, but Barry is the hottest guy on the team, objectively, by a country mile. But I’m going to say O’Neil, Kozlov, and Nilson.”
“Oh my God,O’Neil? He’s a tool,” she said.
“He is?” I quite liked O’Neil at the Christmas party, not to mention he was always very friendly when he saw me at the practice facility, calling me by name, even before he knew his teammate was the father of my child. He seemed great.
“Yeah, he’s a player, haven’t you seen?”
