All the Sauce (IceCats 4)

Chapter Sixteen

Owen

* * *

“Are you coming home for the summer?”

I make a face, glancing out to where Dart is looking at some protein bars. “I don’t know. Hold on, Ma. Hey, Dart, you going home for the summer?”

He looks up, shaking his head. “No. Rumor has it my mom is moving here.”

When he starts to sing “Rumor Has It” by Adele, I know there is no point in continuing the conversation, but that’s cool. I know he’s been missing his mom. Before I answer my mom, I focus on some protein powders that I have been staring at since she called. I’m at the store looking at supplements for Angie. She has been drinking some crappy protein, and I want to get her some good stuff.

It’s been about eight days since Angie and I…started talking? I don’t know. In my opinion, we’re dating, but I might need to run that by her. It sure does feel like we’re dating, though. I’m only talking to her, and I’m pretty certain it’s the same for her. One thing is for sure, this all feels pretty damn good.

“Yeah. I don’t know, Mom. I might, not sure.”

“Really? I assumed you’d come—oh Jesus, who is she?”

I grin widely, even though she can’t see me. “What? What are you talking about?”

“The only thing that would keep you from home is hockey or a girl. Hockey is ending—sadly, for both our teams—so who is she?”

I hold back my laughter. Leave it to my mom to know me completely. “I’m gonna act like I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You stay a constant pain in my ass. Please wrap up, Owen. You’re so damn busy.”

I shrug. “I have been on my best behavior while I’ve been here. She even said you and Dad raised a good guy.”

“Was she drunk?”

“Damn, Mom,” I say, feigning hurt. “I thought I was your favorite.”

“You are, very much. But I know you’re hurting, missing Evan, and I worry you’re just out willy-nilly with your dilly all over town.”

I pause while reaching for another protein. I look over at Dart, who looks back at me.

“What?”

“My mom says I’m willy-nilly with my dilly all over town.”

He snorts. “We should make that a T-shirt.”

“What in the world!” my mom screeches.

“We’d be rich,” I decide, holding back my laughter.

Dart beams, nodding as he humps the air. “Then we’d be really willy-nilly with our dillies ’cause all the women would want us.”

“I don’t know if I like that guy,” my mom complains then, and I laugh.

“You’re the one who brought up my dilly.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll leave your dilly alone, but please consider coming home. I miss you so.”

“I miss you,” I say automatically, and even though the season is ending in several weeks, I’m not ready to leave. I was before Angie, but not anymore. She could blow me off tomorrow, but it’s unlikely. I think she likes me, a lot, and I sure as hell like her. The only thing I don’t like is how surprised she is every time I call or text. We had two away games this week, so I FaceTimed her when I knew she was working out. She answered, as if she couldn’t believe I called. That was annoying. I even told her I would be FaceTiming her, but she still struggled to believe it.

“Hey, Mom, I have a question,” I say as I find the powder I want for Angie. I throw it at Dart, and he catches it one-handed before taking the wad of cash I hand him.

I point to the outside, and he nods as my mom says, “What’s that, my heart?”

My chest tightens, and man, I miss her. She’s been calling me her heart my whole life, and it’s honestly my favorite. Once I’m outside, I ask, “Did you ever struggle with insecurities about your weight?”

“Owen Michael, you’d better not be developing something. You’re so damn strong—”

“Jesus, Mom, not me. I know I’m hot.”

She pauses. “You know, for a second, I thought I was talking to Evan.” I chuckle, and she laughs softly. “But yes, all women do, honey. We live in a world where your weight defines your worth. I’ve worked very hard to instill in y’all that it doesn’t, but not everyone is taught that.”

I nod. “How did you deal with it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you go to therapy or what?”

“Well, actually, it was your dad.”

“Dad? What do you mean?”

“He reassured me. He loved me, hard, and always made me feel perfect in my skin. It didn’t work all the time, especially at the beginning. I honestly don’t know why he stayed with me. But obviously, he knew we were meant to be together even when I didn’t.”

I have to smile at that.

The epic love story of my parents is plastered all over our house and then on YouTube. My parents had broken up for a reason unknown to me; Posey said it has something to do with an aunt we don’t talk to, but I never got the full story. But they broke up, and when my mom showed up with her male coworker to an Assassins’ hockey game, my dad thought the dude was another man in her life. So, he shattered the plate of glass where she was sitting to “scream my love at her,” as he so psychotically puts it. Guess that did it for my mom because she wanted him back, so she sang to him in the middle of a packed arena, and the rest is history.