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“What?” I asked.
She gave me a tentative look. “I don’t want to say it.”
I smiled. “Just say it.”
“I’m just…wondering if he’ll be back for more money soon.”
I sighed heavily. “I know, same. He had a job for a few months but he lost it. I wish I could help him get on his feet. I told him he could come stay with me, but he said he doesn’t want to be in my way.”
“At least you let him know he has someone who won’t turn their back on him.”
I took another drink from my glass. “Our dad and my grandparents love Luke. They want nothing more than for him to be a happy, functioning member of society. But they told him they won’t enable him anymore. He had limited access to his trust and he was being really careless with the money, so they took it away.”
Sam nodded. “I guess they thought he needed tough love.”
“It’s so hard because he does have issues. It’s hard for him to hold a job or have relationships.”
“You must worry about him a lot.”
I smiled sadly because it was true. Like I’d told Ford, I refused to believe I couldn’t “fix” things for my brother if I just stressed and cried until the answer came to me. I’d been doing that for a while now, to no avail.
“I have an idea,” Sam said brightly.
“As long as it doesn’t involve me and a dating app.”
“I still think you should give that one app a try, but I digress.” She grinned. “Let’s finish the pod and organize some shit, and then we can have food delivered and watch the Coyotes game, and we can call Ford and Dom pussies and cheer when they screw up.”
“That sounds lovely,” I said wryly.
“It’ll be fun, I promise.”
I wouldn’t admit it to Sam, but I was feeling just a little bit invested in tonight’s game. I would have preferred that pro hockey not be played at all, but tonight, it would be, and I was secretly hoping Ford and his team would win.
“Or!” Sam’s eyes widened hopefully. “We could try to get tickets to the game so we can call them pussies in person!”
“Absolutely not.”
I’d given Ford’s idea about attending a game some thought, but I wasn’t going to scream names at the players from the stands. It would be a professional outing, and I would be a professional.
Sam got up from the table. “Okay, we’ll watch it from here. I’m going to organize your linen closet.”
“You’re the best.”
“Pretty much. Now let’s get back to these horrible dating stories.”
She turned the podcast back on and I got back to work organizing the kitchen cabinets. I felt a little lighter after talking about my worries for my brother. All I could do was be there for him and hope he would eventually find his way.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Ford
“Check out this lady-killer,”my teammate Beau said, turning his phone screen toward me.
It was, of course, a picture of his baby son. Beau never missed an opportunity to show off photos of his kid. He showed them to reporters in the middle of an interview, to food delivery drivers, and even to his pool guy when the pool guy was ten feet away from the actual kid.
“Nice,” I said.
“Here’s him and Shelby,” he said, swiping to a photo of his wife and son grinning, their noses touching.
