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I don’t know what purpose it will serve, other than to remind us we’re lucky the house was empty and BJ likes to sleep on our recliner.
“Yeah.” He’s still staring at his phone.
“Did you call your parents?” I pop a crunchy marshmallow into my mouth. “You don’t want them to see it on the news first.”
“Shit, you’re right. It’s gonna be everywhere.” He waffles between his mom and dad and finally settles on his dad.
BJ video calls him. When his face pops up, it’s like looking in an aging mirror. BJ has his mom’s dark eyes, and his hair is darker than his dad’s salt and pepper, but they are essentially replicas of each other. Uncle Randy’s grin falls as soon as he sees BJ’s serious expression. “What’s wrong?”
BJ explains what he knows so far—that there was a fire, and it started in the kitchen, but they have it under control now. Uncle Randy throws a million questions at him, so we end up walking back over to the house so his dad can talk to someone in charge.
Of course when the police and firefighters realize it’stheRandy Ballistic, former NHL player, they all lose their cool.
Like my parents, BJ’s live an hour or so away. They bought a piece of property on Lake Geneva a few years ago, and when our dads—along with my uncle Miller—decided to start their own training camp, they moved out there too. It didn’t hurt that some of their former teammates and friends had also moved back to the area.
So of course that means BJ’s parents are coming to assess the damage. Within the hour, I have a call from my mom, telling me they’re coming too, along with the Romeros and the Bowmans.
BJ and I end our respective calls, during which there is no room for argument, and both exhale the same, long, distressed breath. It sucks that we’re the only ones here to deal with this.
“My parents aren’t going to tell Mav before the game,” I report.
BJ yanks on his beard a couple of times. If he keeps doing that, he’s going to start pulling it out. “Yeah, but, like, everyone on the block has seen the spectacle, and for sure people were recording it out there and posting it. Someone’s gonna send something to the guys.”
I bang my head on BJ’s biceps. He’s right. It’s going to get back to them. “I guess it’s better coming from us?”
“Probably.”
“I’ll call my brothers?” River might be at practice, but if he catches wind that BJ’s house caught on fire, he’ll be worried because those two are pretty tight. I make a face like I’ve sucked on a lemon. “You can call Quinn and Kodiak? Or Mav can tell them?”
BJ nods resolutely and pulls up his contact list while I call Mav and tell him what happened.
“Oh shit, Kody’s gonna flip his lid.” Is pretty much all Mav has to say.
After that, I call my twin. I assure him everything is okay and he tells me he’ll be home in a couple of hours.
BJ and I sit on my back deck, where the nosy bastards who are filming and posting on social media can’t see us. There’s now a police barricade at the end of the street to keep people from driving by. Neighbors are throwing porch parties, watching the fire crew clean up. It seems like the worst of it has been taken care of, but the air is sharp with smoke.
“Everything is going to smell like a freaking campfire. Kody is going to lose his mind.” BJ keeps rubbing his beard.
I tip my head back and look up at the sky. “Do you think he’ll have a meltdown?” Kodiak has always been very particular about his things.
“Absolutely.” BJ laces his hands behind his head. “He’s being a fucking idiot.”
I glance at BJ. “What do you mean?”
“He’ll for sure have some sort of massive attack, and it won’t be pretty because he’s Kody, but I’m not talking about the house. I mean with you. He’s being an idiot. I know he’s been nothing but a dick to you.”
“He really hasn’t beenanythingto me since we were kids.” Such a stupid lie.
“If you want to play it that way, you go right ahead. But I’ve known both of you my entire life. You two were tight, like it was . . .” He shakes his head. “I remember being jealous as a kid.”
“Jealous? Of what?”
“I don’t know exactly. It’s weird. Everyone wanted to protect you all the time, and I get why, because you went through a lot.”
Like everyone else, BJ talksaroundthe carnival incident.
“River has always been the worst, and I understand why, ’cause he’s your twin, but Kody, man, he lived for you, and you were the same. You had this thing no one could touch. It drove River fucking insane.”
