AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a huge barn-shaped building I had built for events,” he said. “It’s on the other side of the lake. We do barn dances, bonfires, wedding receptions, that kind of thing.”
“That sounds perfect. Andrea always planned the kids’ parties, so I’ll have to figure all that out.”
“Talk to my sister,” Grady said. “She’s great at event planning. She and Avon are planning the wedding.”
“How is Shea? I haven’t seen her since high school.”
“Shea’s good. She’s the chef here.”
“Really? That’s great.”
I vaguely remembered Grady’s younger sister. We hadn’t hung out much since she was younger, but I’d seen her a few times when I was with Grady. I remembered her with braces and thick glasses. Sweet kid.
“So, if you don’t mind my asking, is your ex-wife nearby?” Grady asked.
I knew when I chose to move back to my small hometown that my life would be subject to greater scrutiny than it had in Minneapolis. Everyone knew everyone here, and they also thought they should know everything. I considered Grady and Keller friends, so I didn’t mind them asking. The rumor mill would churn no matter what.
“She’s in California,” I said. “She met someone else about a year ago and decided to tell me about it after he got her pregnant.”
“No shit?” Keller’s eyes widened.
“No shit. She filed for divorce and took me to court, trying to get full custody so she could move the kids to California, where her baby daddy lives, but the judge wouldn’t give her permission to move, so she gave me full custody and went by herself.”
My friends just stared at me for a few seconds.
“Jesus,” Grady finally said. “I’m so sorry, man.”
I shrugged. “It hit me hard when it went down, but I’m in a better place with it now. So are the kids. I retired so we could all get a fresh start.”
“Do you still have to pay her alimony?” Keller asked.
I chuckled, though I wasn’t amused. “Hell yeah, I do. And she got half of everything. But I’ve been smart with money, so I just paid her and moved on. Honestly, it just felt great to be rid of her.”
“Had to be hard on the kids, though,” Grady said.
That was an understatement. Marley had cried herself to sleep in my arms for nearly two weeks after her mom left. Spencer was quieter about his feelings, but I’d taken both of them to counseling for six months after Andrea split, and Spencer’s counselor had told me he had a lot of big feelings to work through.
“Yeah, it was. But if I’m being honest, Andrea carried most of the parenting load when we were married. It took two weeks of solo parenting for me to see that I had to retire.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over that,” Keller said. “You were a pro athlete and that takes total dedication. Her only responsibility was the kids.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess what I mean is that I’d never have known my kids as well as I do now if the divorce hadn’t happened.”
Grady grinned. “Look at you, all wise and shit. Now we just need to find a nice Beard girl for you.”
“No way. After what Andrea did to our kids, I don’t want them worrying I’m going to shack up with someone and leave them, too. My kids and the new arena are my entire focus.”
“Speaking of the arena,” Keller said, “I had my CFO run some numbers based on the sign-ups we have so far, and it looks like we’re actually going to make money off of this thing.”
Keller and I were fifty-fifty partners in the new youth hockey complex. It was a multimillion-dollar project, and we’d both invested because we were passionate about it, not because we expected to make money on it. I was surprised to hear him say there was even a possibility.
“That’s unexpected,” I said.
“It’ll take a while, of course. But we already have hundreds of players signed up and the place isn’t going to be done for another six months.”
I nearly choked on my beer.
“Hundreds?”
