AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded, her expression echoing my worries about our brother. “And he’s feeling okay?”
“He’s hanging in there. He’s lost weight. But you know Andy; he’s a fighter.”
Emma smiled. “I want to take Joey home when I’m done here. I have a lot of amends to make.”
I paused, then said, “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
She kept her gaze focused on the canvas, where she was layering on coats of blue and white paint. “It’s part of my program. I don’t know if Joey and I will stay there, but I need to go there in person to see them.”
I nodded, holding my brush in front of the blank canvas in front of me. I hadn’t painted in years. What the hell was I supposed to paint a picture of?
“You know you guys can stay with me, right?” I said. “For as long as you need.”
She gave me a grateful look. “I’ll probably take you up on that.”
I looked over both shoulders to make sure no one was within earshot, then spoke in a low tone.
“Just between us, I’m moving home at the end of my season.”
Emma’s brows shot up. “You mean like a trade?”
“I hope so. But either way, I’m going.”
She smiled, looking hopeful. “Then that’s where we’ll be, too. I hope Mom and Andy will forgive me and we can all spend time together.”
Before his cancer diagnosis, Andy was deeply protective of our mom. He resented Emma for her lies and bad treatment of our mom. He was a lot mellower now, though. More focused on what truly mattered.
We painted for around forty-five minutes, Joey whipping out three completed canvases. One of them was a picture of me playing hockey that said, “Mavriks ar the best.” It was definitely going to be hung up in my apartment.
“You like it?” I said, flipping my canvas around to show him.
He put a palm to his forehead and laughed. “What is it?”
I furrowed my brow as I glanced down at the face I’d painted, which had tiny eyes, hair going in every direction, and ears that were two different sizes.
“It’s you, my dude,” I said. “Can’t you tell? It looks just like you.”
“Uncle Boone, you’re one of a kind.”
He’d heard that comment from Jolie, and now he repeated it all the time, whether it was relevant or not. She was so good with him, always snuggling with him and reading stories together. She’d always tell him how smart and kind he was. I’d never realized before how important it was to me that my partner be great with kids.
Maybe because I’d never even considered having kids. I wasn’t old enough for that yet. Several of my teammates were becoming dads, though, and between that and taking care of Joey, I’d started to think about when I’d be ready.
Lars Jansson was a dad. I still couldn’t believe it. My big, awkward teammate had gone from zero to one hundred in the nurturing department since meeting Sheridan. Their babies, Clara and Claudia, had been born the day before yesterday, and he was spamming the Mavericks group text with photos of his kids already.
“You look thoughtful,” Emma said as we waited in the buffet line to grab something for lunch.
“I met someone.”
She waited for me to say more, but I just shrugged.
“Come on, since when are you shy, Mikey? Tell me about her.”
I looked over my shoulders again, irrationally paranoid that Coach would jump out and bust me at the mention of Jolie’s name.
“She’s my coach’s daughter. Jolie.”
Joey was in the buffet line between us, and he frowned at the woman who had just scooped food onto his plate.
