He kisses me on top of the head. “Breakfast. Then a shower in that bathroom. Then Nordstrom or Suitsupply.”
I tip my head back against his sturdy body. “Not gonna lie—I need all this dad energy right now.”
“Just don’t call me daddy, and we’re good.”
Two hours later, I’ve been fitted with three new shirts, a few new ties, and a sharp navy-blue suit. The store is going to rush the tailoring and deliver it to Boulder, too.
The bill comes to…a lot. I actually tense until the credit card screen says approved. “Feels like a big splurge,” I say as the happy salesperson hands the shopping bag with my shirts and ties to Forest.
“It’s not,” he says. “You have a two-way contract, right? You’re about to earn, what, three or four grand a night for a few weeks? You need the clothes, Beck. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.”
“Okay, yeah,” I mutter.
“Besides, you look really fuckable in that suit. Just saying.”
“You should’ve led with that.”
He chuckles and squeezes my shoulder with his free hand. “Strap in. We’ve got more errands to run. Let’s ditch one car and then I’ll drive, okay? You’ll open up the emails from Powers and read every word. Then you call your mom.”
“Okay,” I agree, happy to let him take charge. I’m at least as overwhelmed as I am excited. “I wonder how much I should pack to go with me. I only have the one suitcase.”
He bleeps the locks on his truck. “We’ll fix that too, Beck. Get in.”
A while later I look up from the email I’m reading on my phone to see that we’ve pulled into the lot of Charlie’s junior high school.
The kid himself comes running but pulls up short when he sees me. “Beck!” he screams. Then he yanks open the back door and climbs in. “I didn’t finish my math homework last night because I was too busy screaming at the TV.”
“Dude, really? And here I thought math was going well again.”
“It’s fine.” He waves a hand, dismissing the problem. “The teacher will forgive me. I told her my tutor was playing for the Cougars last night, but I’m not sure she believed me.”
“Not sure I believe it myself,” I admit. “Now they’ve called me up today to practice with them throughout the playoffs.”
Charlie’s eyes practically bulge out. “Holy…! So what are we doing right now?”
“Shopping and helping Beck pack,” Forest says. “Strap in. Next stop: Costco.”
Forest pushes the cart while I play the role of anxious wreck in the aisles of Costco and then Whole Foods. It’s a tag-team effort—protein powder, produce, toiletries, snacks that meet Charlie’s approval. I don’t even realize how much we’re buying until my credit card gets hot enough to melt my wallet.
Forest drives me back to Loveland so I can pack, and then he and Charlie pop out to buy us some dinner. I’m left behind with the silence of my house and the realization that I leave for Boulder in, like, an hour.
It’s fine. Everything is fine. Totally normal to be thirty percent packed and one hundred percent panicking.
Apparently, Charlie sees right through me, because I overhear them in my kitchen while they’re unpacking the Mexican food they bought.
“Beck seems nervous, Dad,” he says in a voice that sounds like he’s trying to whisper. “He has that face—like a goalie trying to read the play when the puck is already in the net.”
Ouch. Accurate, but ouch.
“He’ll be fine,” Forest says in a low, comforting voice. “It’s hard to rearrange your entire life in a single day. He’ll feel better when he puts his skates on tomorrow. All that hard work and all those hours of practice will pay off.”
“Good thing he has us to help him,” Charlie says, and my heart thaws a little more.
It’s almost eight by the time we lug everything into the long-term hotel suite the Cougars set me up with. It’s nicer than I expected—like they’re trying to make me feel fancy, even though I know this is just temporary. There’s a shopping bag on the coffee table full of Cougars workout gear in my size. And a Cougars puffer jacket, too.
“That’s sick,” Charlie says approvingly.
“Isn’t it?” I can’t resist pulling it on and walking over to the full-length mirror. “Look, Mom. They gave me the jacket. It has to be a sign.”
