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It had a grip on him. Because this time, it was his daughter in the hospital. And while he hadn’t put her there, his anxiety couldn’t differentiate between the two experiences.
His mom reached for the mashed potatoes and slopped a good pile on her plate. “Did you hear what happened to Steve and Mel’s little boy?”
Kinny, trying to cut a green bean with the edge of her fork like the adults were doing, wound up losing control, and the utensil went skittering across the table. Vegetables flew off her plate and onto the floor.
“No. What?” Abby didn’t miss a beat and kicked them toward the dogs, who immediately hoovered them up.
“He pulled a Jaime.” His mom smiled at him fondly.
Which confused him. It sounded like something awful had happened to the kid, so why was she smiling?
“He thought he could fly. Took his kite up to the ridge and jumped off.” She shook her head. “Mountain boys. Always trying to conquer gravity. It’s amazing anyone lives to adulthood.”
Sometimes, it amazed him that his family could speak so casually about what happened that night. To this day, no one had held him accountable.
“Is he all right?” At least Abby sounded concerned.
“It’s not a vertical drop, Abs.” His dad held out his hand to show the angle of the mountain side.
“Oh, he took a tumble.” His mom chuckled. “Rolled until a rock stopped him. Well, maybe it was his head that stopped him when it hit the rock. Knocked him out cold, but he’s totally fine.”
Everyone laughed.
“I remember when I tried to beat Martha, the goat, in a head-butting contest,” Abby said.
“I was there,” his dad said. “Saw the whole thing, and I was the one who watched you get six stitches. Bet you never took on a goat again.”
“Nope.”
“Why didn’t you stop us?” Jaime blurted.
The laughter died, and everyone stared at him.
“Stop you from what?” His mom sounded genuinely confused.
“Running wild. Doing whatever I felt like doing. Why didn’t you stop me?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Did you want me to put a tracker on you so when Cole got the bright idea to skate on the frozen Snake River, I could drive over and demand you come home?” His mom looked at his dad as if he might know what Jaime was talking about.
“No.” He was frustrated. They had to know what he was asking. “Before it got to that. You never grounded me or taught me self-discipline.”
“You sure about that?” his dad asked. “Didn’t everybody have to be home for supper? Didn’t you have to get your homework done before you could play hockey?”
He couldn’t argue with that.
“We did that to give you structure,” his mom explained. “The consequence of not coming home on time was missing hockey. And since that was unthinkable to you, you were never late. I don’t know a better way to teach self-discipline.”
“Okay, but I took too many risks, and I was a shit role model.”
“Daddy.” Kinny gave him a stern look.
“Sorry, sweetie. You’re right.” He didn’t need to lose it in front of his kid.
Abby’s chair scraped back. “Hey, I forgot to bring over the ice cream I made this afternoon.” She reached for Kinny. “Come over to my place and help me?”
Kinny’s fork clattered on the plate, and she dropped to the floor. “What kind of ice cream?” she asked, as they crossed the kitchen and headed out the back door.
“You were a responsible young man,” his dad said. “You had good grades, you were a great sportsman, you did your chores around here. You did a hell of a lot more than most kids your age. I’m not sure how much better of a role model you could be.”
