“Oh, no. We can’t possibly intrude last minute. Plus, I’ve already bought food and it’s probably best for Brayden to rest.” She reaches over to pat his hand.
“Thanks for the invite, Sylvia,” Brayden tells her. “And for checking on me. I think these two have me covered.” He pauses for a second. “There isn’t anything you need, is there? With Scott being gone?”
She waves her hand at him. “No. I’m fine. I have practically an army at my hands waiting to help Lizzy and me, if needed. I’m glad you’re doing okay. I just wanted to check on you.”
He thanks her again and then I walk her out. When I return to the bedroom, it’s only Brayden and he’s texting.
“Where’s your mom?”
“She went to put her things away and to start dinner, I think.”
“How was your day?” I ask as I sit on the edge of his bed by his knees.
“Fine. Thought I was going to make it symptom-free, but didn’t quite get there. Better than yesterday, though.” His attention is on his phone, this thumbs moving every few seconds, and that bugs the hell out of me. He’s always given me his full attention; what gives?
“Who are you texting?”
“Raelynn.”
“Excuse me?” I’m so caught off guard by that answer, that’s all I can manage to say.
He glances up at me. “Mom asking Sylvia made me think of her. EJ just said her only family is Jackson, so I’m texting her to see if she wants to come over tomorrow.”
“Jackson?”
“Her son.”
“Are you sure? You want two kids over here? You can’t even have the volume up on the TV.”
Brayden frowns at me. “She has the option to say no, but I’m at least asking. It’ll be fine.”
I sure hope so. I’m not sure it’s the best idea, but he seems determined. “I’m going to help your mom.” She’s down in the kitchen, fixing dinner. She points me to a pot. “How was he today?” I ask, even though I’ve already asked Brayden.
“Better than yesterday.”
I smile because that’s exactly what he said.
“Do you want to get married one day? Have kids?”
Just like that, my smile disappears. This conversation went from nice to serious in two seconds flat.
“What does Brayden want?” I ask instead.
She chuckles, as if knowing I’m avoiding her questions. “He has what he wants. I want to know what you want.”
“Wait. What do you mean?”
“He’s wanted a woman he could commit to; that’s you. He sees something in you that makes him take the time to be with you and stop thinking about hockey all day every day. The fact that he’s hurt and wants you here? That proves that to me. In his last long relationship, he was injured. I came to visit him. He kicked her out of the house, Deanna. No matter what I said, no matter what she said, he wouldn’t budge.
“All he would say is she interfered with his recovery. It’s still the craziest thing my son has ever done or said. Now, I don’t know what happened before I got here, but he was convinced if he stayed with her, she would ruin his career. Didn’t matter that he supposedly loved her. Didn’t matter that she lived here. He kicked her out. Paid for her to stay in a hotel until she found a place to live. Once he decided she was bad for him, he was done and refused to allow her anywhere near him.”
“He sounds like a jerk,” I interrupt.
Maryann nods, completely agreeing with me. “All he saw was his career and apparently his girlfriend being in the way somehow. I don’t know how. He would never talk about it with me. So, anyway, Brayden currently has what he wants: a woman and a dog. He’s always wanted a dog, but I’d never let him get one when he was younger.”
“Why didn’t he get one when he moved out?”
“He didn’t like the idea of having to rely on a dogsitter so much during the season. Now.” She turns toward me. “What do you want?”