“You two realize this looks very familiar?” Aunt Sloane said, gesturing at me as Dad came to stand next to Mom. She turned back toward me. “Except Adrian was smart enough to tell the girl he’d do anything to be with her and have a goddamn conversation about their options. I’d blame it on your age, but I made fantastic decisions when I was twenty-two.”
Aunt Lavi snorted loudly. “Okay, baby.”
“Iwoulddo anything to be with her, including break my contract and walk away from hockey,” I said.
“Did you tell her that?” Aunt Sloane asked.
“Yes, but she’d never let me do it.”
“Idiot.” Aunt Sloane shook her head and stood up. “Go fire up the jet, little dude. You’re both looking at this like there are only two options. There is a world of options. Go take a shower and then discuss them with the woman you love because you’re making the entire condo smell like shit.”
I sniffed my pits.
Is that terrible smell coming from me?
“I strongly agree with the shower suggestion, but I think when you go, you should fly commercial,” Aunt Lavi yelled. “You don’t need to killthe environment by abusing a private jet that no one in this family needs just because you’ve finally come to your senses.”
Mom poked her head into the hallway to look at her. “Do you know how much of a hassle it is to sell a private jet?”
“That is, by far, the most privileged thing I have ever heard your billionaire-Barbie ass say, Princess,” Aunt Sloane said with a chuckle. In Mom’s defense, she had tried to sell the jet. Turns out, most people who can afford a private jet don’t want a used one.
Mom sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Leo, as much as it pains me to agree with Sloane on this one, you need to at least call Sophia so the two of you can get creative with your solutions. If you don’t, you’re going to lose her forever because you both decided not to try.”
“I don’t want her to resent me,” I said.
“Let her decide if that’s something to worry about. Sloane’s right, your father was smart enough to include me in the discussion. So go pick up a damn phone and talk it out with the woman you love. And if you won’t do that, then at least take a shower and let me wash these sheets.”
I looked down at the T-shirt and sweats I was in.How long have I been in these clothes? Did I put these onlastweekend?
“I’ll shower and think about it,” I agreed, tossing off the covers. They all filed out of my room and left me alone.
When I stepped out of the shower an hour later, Dad was the only one left in the condo.
“Where did they go?” I asked, running a hand through my wet hair, heading to the kitchen for food.
Dad pulled a salad out of the fridge and set it on the kitchen counter for me. “Mom made you this,” he said. “They went to a shelter to visit a dog that Aunt Lavi wants Mom and me to adopt. I met him yesterday.He’s a cute Shepard mix named Thor. I’m confident your mom will bring him home.”
I smiled. Mom had missed having a dog around since our family dog passed away a few years ago. I was glad she was finally ready for another one and wondered if me planning to move out for good in a few months had anything to do with that.
I picked up the salad and sat at the dining room table. Dad pulled out the chair next to me and faced me. “Leo, you’re miserable,” he said.
“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed,” I groaned, stabbing at the lettuce.
“Why didn’t you and Sophia try to make it work?”
“Because her home is a continent and an ocean away while my hockey career is right here. Because everything I’ve worked for my whole life ishereand everything she loves isthere.”
“Did you ask her to stay?”
I shook my head. “I promised her I wouldn’t. We knew what we were getting into when we made it official over Christmas.”
“And you think that after everything you shared since then that she wanted you to let her go still?” Dad asked.
I looked down at my salad through tears as I swallowed the food in my mouth. “No. I think she wanted me to ask her to stay. But you know what the life of a professional hockey player looks like,” I said.
I looked up at him and he sighed. “I know what the schedule of a hockey player looks like. I also know that many NHL players are married with families. I have no idea if that’s easy or hard for them, but I know it’s possible to have both.”
“I can’t ask her to live a life like that. She’d never see her family. She’d be alone here when I’m traveling or following me around. She’d have no life of her own.”
