My throat tightened.
Mom came back on. “Are you okay, baby?”
The room around me went too quiet.
I kept my voice steady because that was my job. “Yeah. I’m good.”
“Easton.”
Hearing my name in that tone was all it took.
Cade looked down. Briggs stopped pretending not to listen. Rider gave me privacy by turning toward the ice schedule taped above his stall, which somehow made everything worse.
“I’m good,” I repeated. “Just game head.”
“You sound tired.”
“I’m always tired.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
She breathed out, and I could picture her rubbing the space between her brows while trying to decide how much mothering she could fit through a phone before puck drop. “We’re proud of you. All three of us.”
I swallowed. “I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked at the C on my chest, then at the floor. “I’m trying to.”
The truth slipped out before I could stop it.
Mom went quiet.
I hated myself for giving her that much.
“I’ll see you after,” I said quickly. “Keep Vivi near the aisle if she needs a break. Don’t let Skylar buy anything from the student section with glitter on it.”
“She already did.”
“For fuck’s sake.”
“Language,” Mom said automatically, and for one second, she sounded less tired.
That helped.
I smiled slightly even though the pressure behind my ribs hadn’t eased. “Love you.”
“Love you too. Go be captain.”
The call ended.
I stood with the phone in my hand, staring at the blank screen.
Briggs broke first because Briggs was allergic to emotional silence. “I would die for your mom.”
“You’d die if she asked whether you had eaten a vegetable.”
