AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Mighty Ducks wasn’t even a contender for greatest hockey movie ever made, but seeing my nephew so content was worth watching it again. I’d gotten close to him, and it reinforced how little I really knew about Andy’s kids.
I wished I could have it all—hockey, my family, and Jolie. But it just wasn’t meant to be.
Clanking dishes and the smell of freshly brewing coffee woke me up the next morning. I’d fallen asleep on the couch, my neck sore from the awkward position.
“Like that?” Joey asked from the kitchen.
“Perfect,” Jolie said. “How did you become such a perfect pancake flipper?”
“Uncle Boone taught me.”
I slipped into the bathroom to take a leak and brush my teeth, and when I walked into the kitchen, Joey was tearing into a big stack of pancakes.
“You want some pancakes?” he asked through a mouthful of food.
“I’ll make eggs, dude. You eat the pancakes.” I approached Jolie and kissed her softly. “Morning. Nice to see you still here.”
“Morning. I think we all fell asleep during Mighty Ducks Two.” She poured a mug full of coffee and passed it to me. “I have to go. I’m going to swing by my place and shower real quick before heading to the lab.”
“Can I go with you?” Joey begged.
“Not this time. But I promise I’ll take you again soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
She gave me a quick kiss and then went over to Joey and kissed the top of his head. “Be good, you two. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, babe,” I said, walking her to the door.
“Do you love her?” Joey asked when I walked back into the kitchen.
“Whoa, where did that come from?”
He shrugged. “You guys kiss all the time.”
“Did she say anything about love?”
He shook his head. “No, but she let me sleep in your bed with her.”
“So you two slept in my bed while I was wedged into the corner of the couch? And now I’m stuck with a sore neck?”
“Yep.”
I stabbed his top pancake with my fork. “I changed my mind; I’m taking one.”
“Hey!”
“You can’t eat all those, Jojo. And I’m making eggs and sausage if you want some. But as soon as you finish eating, you need to hit the shower. You’re going over to Wes and Hadley’s while I go to practice.”
Joey groaned. “Are those two babies gonna be there again?”
“The twins?”
“Yeah, they cry all the time.”
“That’s what babies do. You just have to live with it.”
He sighed dramatically. “I don’t like babies.”
“Less complaining, more eating.”
After eating a few bites in silence, he set his fork down. “Uncle Boone, can I be on a hockey team?”
I looked up from the eggs I was whisking. “Hell yeah, you can. I mean, we have to ask your mom, but she’ll probably say yes. Andy and I started playing when we were about your age.”
“Okay.”
Joey was going to be a hockey player. A great one. At least if I had anything to say about it.
“So that’s what a power play is,” I said about an hour later as I turned into Wes and Hadley’s neighborhood. “Does that make sense?”
“Yes.”
I was about to ask him to explain it back to me when my phone rang through the speakers in my car, my brother’s name popping up on the screen. It was unlike him to call in the morning, so I was immediately worried.
“Hey, man, everything okay?” I said in answer.
“Mikey.”
His voice was strained with emotion, and my blood ran cold.
No. No, no, no. I wasn’t ready. He was going to tell me the cancer had spread, and I wasn’t ready to hear it. I’d break down in front of Joey, and that would upset him.
“Hey, can I call you back in ten minutes?” I asked, my throat tightening.
After a moment of silence, he said, “It worked.”
I waited for him to elaborate, not breathing.
“I had my appointment this morning, and the chemo worked. There’s no detectable cancer left.”
He was crying because he was happy. Tears sprang to my eyes and ran down my cheeks.
“It worked?” My voice broke as his words sank in.
“Yeah, I have a couple more tests to clear, but the doctor said I’m probably in remission.”
“That’s…” I couldn’t even think of a word for it.
“I know. Carrie and I haven’t stopped crying since we left the doctor’s office ten minutes ago. Mom’s at church praying because she knew I had this appointment this morning and she doesn’t get cell reception there, so she didn’t answer when I called her.”
“I’m so fucking happy for you, man,” I said.
“Thanks. Hey, Mom’s calling me on the other line. I have to go.”
“Okay, let’s talk more later.”
“I love you, Mikey.”
“Love you, too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jolie
“Dr. Gizzard, this is excellent work and the committee agrees with me.” Dr. Matello peered at me over his glasses, the most recent version of my dissertation in front of him. “I mean it. This is fantastic.”
