"What? You call and ask if you can bring someone. Of course, that causes excitement."
To my surprise, there wasn't an ounce of embarrassment in her tone. If anything, she sounded pleased.
I smiled despite myself. "I'm Kieran."
"It's lovely to meet you, Kieran."
Before I could decide whether I was supposed to offer my hand, Dorothy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. The gesture caught me so off guard that for a second, I forgot to hug her back. Heat crept into my face as I awkwardly returned the embrace. Dorothy either didn't notice or was kind enough to pretend she hadn't.
The hug lasted only a few seconds. Long enough for surprise to give way to something else. Long enough to remind me how unfamiliar simple affection had become.
When she stepped back, smiling as though hugging near-strangers was the most natural thing in the world, I found myself momentarily at a loss for words.
Richard followed a moment later. "I'm Richard."
"It's nice to meet you both."
The warmth of their welcome surprised me. Not because they'd done anything extraordinary. They hadn't. They'd simply made room for me. And for someone who had spent most of his life feeling like an outsider looking in, that was more powerful than I wanted to admit.
"Come on," she said. "If we stand out here much longer, they'll start wondering what we're up to."
Before I could ask who "they" were, Dorothy had already linked her arm through Richard's and started toward the entrance.
Thane fell into step beside me.
Inside, the facility felt bright and welcoming. Christmas decorations appeared everywhere I looked. Garlands draped the railings. A tree stood in one corner of the lobby, covered in handmade ornaments. Soft holiday music played somewhere in the background, blending with the low hum of conversation.
As we made our way toward the dining area, several residents greeted Dorothy and Richard. A few waved to Thane.
"There's my favorite hockey player."
Thane smiled and stopped beside an elderly woman seated near a window. "Mrs. Davis, you say that every time I visit."
"Because it's true every time you visit."
The woman patted his arm before turning her attention to me. "And who's this?"
"Kieran," Thane said.
"It's nice to meet you."
"You too."
The exchange lasted less than a minute before we continued on our way.
As we moved deeper into the facility, more people greeted Thane. Some waved from armchairs. Others stopped to exchange a few words. Nobody seemed particularly impressed that he played professional hockey. They greeted him the same way they greeted Dorothy and Richard, as though he belonged here as much as anyone else.
What struck me wasn't that people knew who he was.
It was that he knew them.
Every conversation seemed to begin in the middle of another one. He asked after a resident's daughter. Promised to look at photos from someone's recent family reunion. Remembered the name of a nurse who was leaving after the holidays.
Nobody treated him like a celebrity.
Here, he wasn't the assistant captain of the Seattle Orcas.
He was Dorothy and Richard's son.
