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“Nah.I’m good.”
He nodded, walked to the back of his truck, and opened the tailgate for me. “Okay. Toss it in.”
I threw my bag into the bed with the other two over-stuffed bags already in there and shut the tailgate. I kept my backpack with me and put it on the floorboard when I climbed into the passenger seat.
Kingston jumped behind the wheel but didn’t start up the truck. “Is that Frey’s Jeep?” he asked, pointing to the bright green car in front of us.
“Yeah. He’s inside onmy Xbox.”
“Huh,” he grunted and turned over the engine. He pulled onto the street, and I settled into my seat as we headed north. “So, you guys are really close?”
While he kept his eyes firmly on the road and his words were gruff, he was being more talkative than usual, so I decided to copy him, putting effort into this whole “friends” thing since we were going to be stuck together for at least the rest of the season. I just had to treat him like Mason. That should be easy, right? “Extremely. We met as kids and have been together ever since. He practically grew up in that house with us. He even has his own key.” I snorted out a laugh. “I’m pretty sure he came over a few times while I was in Seattle just to watch tv or stealmy games.”
A puff of amused air escaped his nose, and I counted that as a win. I knew he wasn’t the complete hard-ass I thought he was at first. He could smile and crack jokes, it just took a second for him toget there.
“It’s a nice house,” he said then fell silent again.
“Thank you. My brother signed the deed over to me this morning. It’s officially mine, but it looks exactly the same as my parents left it. I know I should redecorate or something, but I can’t bring myself to change it,you know?”
Kingston’s head turned towards me for a moment, but I couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses. “Iget that.”
Damnit. Dead parents make people uncomfortable, Warren!
It wasn’t like I forgot that, but after their funeral, Drew and I made a pact to mention them as much as possible. We promised not to shy away from our memories of them. We wanted them to stay as present as possible in our lives. It wasn’t easy at first, and we spent a long time in therapy. But eventually, we got the hang of it. We talked about them often, not allowing ourselves, or anyone else, to forget them.
But, for Kingston’s sake, I changed the subject. “What about you? Where were you born? You’re Canadian, right?”
“Yep, born and raised in Ottawa.”
“Oh? Do you speak French?”
The scar cutting through his stubble twitched as his lips pulled into a little smile, and I stopped myself from wondering if his eyes were sparkling in amusement behind his shades. I wasn’t going there.
Icouldn’t.
“Not as much as my parents would like,” he said
“Do they still liveup there?”
“Yeah, and my sisters too. I visit them a lot. My parents still live in my childhood home. I offered to buy them a new place, but they refused. Sentimentality.”
Oh. When he said he got it, hemeant it.
“Do you drive?” I asked. “Ottawa’s not too far from here.”
“Yeah. It’s about a six-hour trip. Sometimes I bring Jones with me. My parentslove him.”
Kingston got onto the highway, and it looked like we were headed to the Bronx. We fell into comfortable conversation about the team, me doing most of the talking, as the truck sped upthe road.
Twenty minutes later, I stared out the window, watching the buildings and pedestrians fly by. I recognized the area and couldn’t fight my nostalgic smile. It had been a while since I’d been back inthe Bronx.
“So, what exactly are we doing?” I asked. Coach and Kingston hadn’t elaborated much theother day.
“The program I partner with is for underprivileged kids. I donate and help raise money for equipment, and when I can, I join a team for practice. Today we’re practicing with the Pucks. It’s a pee-wee team.”
Awesome. Eleven and twelve-year olds were hilarious. I worked with that age range in Seattle when I volunteered. It seemed like Kingston and I were pretty similar.
“We’ll start with a warmup then do some drills,” he continued. “We’ll talk to them some and answer questions. Then, we play a short practice game after.”
