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There’s no way my mom developed an interest in hockey or a desire to visit Ohio overnight.
“Oh, just me, your father, and Jameson. Plus Parker and her parents.”
“Why the fuck would the Maddens go?”
“Language,” she chides. “And they, uh, their nephew plays for Fabor.”
Our expected opponent.
All the pieces come together. Their future in-laws are going tosupport their nephew, so my parents feel obligated to come see me play for the first time.
I’m pissed—at them and at myself.
I’d rather they continue to make snide comments about me spending time pushing a rubber circle around the ice than feign any interest. And I hate how, for a few seconds, I thought that maybe they were coming forme.
There’s a soft knock on my bedroom door.
“Come in,” I call out, figuring it’s Conor or Hunter.
They’ve seen me scowling on the phone before, so who cares if they witness this?
But when the door opens, Rylan is the one standing in the doorway.
“I have to go, Mom,” I tell her, then hang up and sit up, tossing my phone away onto the mattress.
“Hey.” Rylan’s expression is all uncertainty as she takes a step forward, playing with the strap of her backpack. “I didn’t mean to, um, interrupt…”
“You’re in my bedroom,” I say stupidly.
Obviously, she’s in my bedroom, and I’m too shocked to do anything except state that fact.
“Yeah. Um, I saw your texts, and I just…you’re okay?” Rylan scans me over like she’s looking for a defect.
“I had a rough practice, and I’m sore as shit, but otherwise, yeah. I’m good.”
“And we’re…uh, good?”
“This is about the texts.”
She’s here because she thinks she hurt my feelings.
My irritation spikes, right along with my pain level as my side protests sitting upright. “I told you nothing else that happened between us would affect tutoring.”
“Yeah, you said that. Andthenyou canceled tutoring the week after you…”
“The week after I what, Rylan?”
She holds eye contact. “The week after you went down on me.”
That’s my girl.
Well, notmygirl.
“I meant what I said. Me rescheduling had nothing to do with eating you out last week or you not answering my texts. I’m having a shitty fucking day and I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus tonight. That’s it.”
Rylan studies me for a minute, then nods. “Okay.”
She tugs the zipper of her jacket an inch higher.
