Page 44 of The Forever Vault

“She’ll be happy to see you.”

We didn’t need to say it out loud, but Cam knew that they were my family. My mother and I had repaired our relationship, but it would never be what Cam and Heather had. And we were fine to ignore the elephant in the room that was my father. It was better for me to focus on the future anyway.

“I’ve got some news as well.”

“Oh?” I asked, putting my sandwich down.

“Now don’t freak out.”

Uh oh.

“You know Ezra’s coach, Zane?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s Zane Hunter.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I stood up so quickly my chair fell over.

“What? Are you going to go beat him up with one arm? Sit down, it’s fine.”

“Wait, it is?”

“Well, it will be.”

I put my chair back in place and sat down. “I asked Ezra his last name. It was something with a K.”

“Korhonen.”

“Yeah. That.”

“He got married. Took his husband’s name.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled. “Well, that explains it. I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize him.”

“Well, when’s the last time you thought about him? It had been a few years for me, so…it’s understandable.”

“I know, but still. Fuck.” I wiped my hand across my face, eyes closed, trying to regain some composure. “What happened?”

“Oh, I recognized him immediately. I swear I could see the rage materialize, I was that pissed, so I pulled him into Coach’s office where I laid into him. He talked and apologized. It’s still new and it’ll take some time, but I’ll be okay. Turns out, some guy in college gave him the same treatment. Unfortunately, that’s what made him realize how terrible he treated me.”

“And it took him this long to say something?”

“Apparently he tried and failed, multiple times, and if I’m following the advice I gave you about your mother, people can change. I mean, it’s not perfect, but she did change.”

“This.” I reached across the table to grab his hand. “This is why I love you. You’re such a good person. I don’t think I could forgive someone after that.”

“Well, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. It’s okay, not perfect. I figure I need to, you know, focus on the Olympics first, and possibly deal with intense personal trauma after.”

“True. You just seem so chill about it.”

“Well, I wasn’t so chill at the reveal.”

I finished my sandwich as Cam told me in more detail exactly everything that happened. After he finished, I jokingly said, “I bet his husband’s ugly,” hoping it would make Cam smile. “And missing teeth.”

It did.

“Haven’t met him yet, but let’s hope so. Where are we meeting Shane again?”