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I slowly gathered my books, shut off the lights, and locked my door, feeling relieved that we finally made it to the end of the day. I swear, sometimes getting to a break felt like competing in an American Ninja Warrior contest.
Walking across the parking lot, I smiled and waved to kids, shouting out my own goodbyes. There truly was something to be said for having students know you, even when you’d never had them in class. It really showed how much of a positive impact you could have in people’s lives just by having good conversation.
My phone buzzed on my way to my car. I pulled it out and quickly answered, “Hey Dad.”
“Hi honey,” his gruff voice replied. “How was the last day?”
“It was interesting, I’ll say that,” I sighed. “One of your bonehead hockey players swore in front of a class of second graders,” I informed him. A mental picture of Tyler from earlier flashed in my mind… His boyish grin, the long eyelashes surrounding those warm brown eyes of his, and that strong jawline. Oof. He was a super attractive guy.Too attractive to be honest. Those were the dangerous ones… Plus, he played hockey. I shook him out of my head real quick.
“Shit,” he said, “which one?”
I rolled my eyes. No wonder the guy swore in a moment of distress, my dad’s vocabulary was probably rubbing off on him. “Tyler Jettersen.”
I could hear him laughing on the other end of the line. “He’s having a rough few days, honey, you see that goalie take him out? But don’t worry, I’ll deal with him.”
Hearing that did make me feel a little bad. Tyler had seemed a bit… sad. The way his fingers trembled as he set the book down to leave the room had me wanting to give him a hug to be honest. And really, had his swear word mishap happened outside the school, I probably would’ve laughed, but inside school? No way. I had no choice but to discipline him.
“I think I already did,” I returned.
“I bet you did,” he said with a wry chuckle. “When will ya be home?”
While I loved living at home, my days there were numbered. I needed to change up my life. I finally scheduled to move out during this break. When I first brought it up, my dad hated the idea of me living in downtown Detroit by myself, but we struck up a deal: He couldn’t bug me about moving out so long as he got to choose my apartment building. So, he did all the research and chose one close to the rink– no surprise there.
“Soon,” I told him. “I’m stopping by to get bundled up, then heading to Campus Martius.” I always took shifts monitoring the outdoor skating rink in Detroit’s little square during Christmastime. I grew up figure skating competitively, but these days, I just enjoyed outdoor skating during the snowy months.
“Great. Steak sound good for dinner?” he asked.
“Sounds perfect,” I smiled. I think part of the reason my dad didn’t want me to move out was because with me home, we could overpower my mom when it came to dinner choices. My mom went vegan a few years ago and my dad hated eating anything green. She only ever cheated on her veganism when my dad took her to her favorite Italian restaurant in town.
“I’ll have it ready for when you’re back,” he said.
“Thanks, dad,” I added before hanging up.
9. Tyler
Holding my designated pond skates– my extra pair that I didn’t care about getting trashed– I hurried down my apartment stairwell and pushed out into the snowy night.
I was meeting Casey and the rest of the fam for some outdoor skating. While his boys, Tyler Joseph, Ty for short, and Beau James, were only two-and-a-half-years-old, Casey had them pretty stable on skates already. Casey coached a U16 AAA team in metro-Detroit and had been bringing them to practices all fall just so they could skate here at Campus Martius by Christmastime. My older brother wasn’t a sap, but he’d do anything to put a smile on his wife’s face, and this was about to make Addie so happy she’d surely cry.
I jogged a few blocks down the street to the lit up little square in the middle of the city. Detroit really went all out for Christmas, making Campus Martius look like a village straight out of a Hallmark movie. Holiday music blared through the square, lit up trees lined the little rink, and a huge ass Christmas tree was erected right at the center of it all. There was also a huge tent housing skate rentals, and a long line of people waiting for hot chocolates and goodies from the concession stand that was decorated to look like a gingerbread house.
I quickly picked out my brother in the crowd, standing in line for the concession stand. He was taller and more built than the average guy. I was pretty sure he’d never let the term “dad bod” apply to him. He could still probably snap me in half even though I worked out almost every single day.
“Hey, guys,” I said, a little out of breath as I came up to him holding one of the twins.
“Hey, took ya long enough to get here,” Casey said with a grin. “Me and Beau here are just grabbing some hot chocolates. You want?”
“You got trucked!” his son called out.
I cut Casey a look. “Dang. Was hoping you two went to bed and missed it,” I said.
“Oh, they did miss it in real time,” Casey said, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “They caught the replays, little brother.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled. “That goalie put them shorthanded and we won, so his loss.”
Casey grinned. “Nah, I think it was still yours.”
I shook my head.
