Aaron shot her a look that was far too old. “Ben is going to make him leave. I know it.”
“He’s your uncle—”
“So?”
“So, you’re family.”
“That doesn’t mean he’ll stay.”
“He loves you.”
Aaron’s lips twisted as if he were chewing on the inside of his cheek, and she knew, she could see it, that he didn’t believe that for a moment. Not for one moment did this boy believe his uncle loved him.
Oh, Jeremiah, what are you doing with these boys?
“So tell me about this team you’re playing today. Are they good?”
“Best team in the league.”
“So, you’re gonna kill `em, right?”
He grinned sideways at her and launched into his team’s entire defensive strategy. Twenty minutes went by. A half hour. She thought about planting a salsa garden like she’d read about, all the ingredients needed to make the dip. So practical.
She realized he was silent. Blinking at her as if he expected a response.
“You really like hockey, huh?” she asked.
He looked down at his thumb, rubbing at a worn spot on the shoulder strap of his backpack. “My dad taught me.”
His voice was gruff, and he turned and looked out the window, hiding his face and grief.
She took the next exit off the highway and the community center was just to their left. She pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car.
“Here we are,” she said and checked her watch. “Right on time.”
“Thanks. I’ll be done in two hours,” he said. “If you...you know, want to meet me?”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. She grabbed her purse with her book and phone in it. “This is my first hockey game mister, and I didn’t drive all this way not to see it.”
“You’re going to watch?”
“Duh.”
He beamed at her. Radiant in his pleasure.
“Awesome,” he crowed and barreled out of the car into the sunlight.
Why was Aaron so much easier than Ben? she wondered. Maybe instead of trying to get Ben to work, all she needed to do was lock him in a car and drive around until he cracked.
She smiled as she climbed out of the car, walking across uneven pavement to a tiny, slightly run-down ice arena that she’d never even heard of before.
The ground dipped beneath her and she had one of those moments—slightly out of body—of not recognizing herself in this landscape. Dressed in her own clothes, her own skin, she felt like a stranger to herself.
Driving a boy to his hockey game, making him happy by going in to watch, talking about his grief. She was miles, literally thousands of them, away from the life she’d thought she’d have. The life she’d thought she wanted more than anything.
And she wasn’t entirely sure that was a bad thing.
Jeremiah tried really hard not to seem like some kind of hovering parent, but in the end he just gave up and sat on the porch, waiting for Lucy and Aaron to come back from Beauregard.
The game was a big deal. Aaron’s team was up against their rivals, and he felt really shitty that he couldn’t be there.
He liked those tournaments, Ben and Casey sitting beside him while they watched Aaron carve up the ice. It was one of the few times he felt like they were really a family.
Perhaps it was time to change some things around the ranch. Hire a full-time housekeeper. He’d been reluctant up until now, largely because Cynthia was helping out and he didn’t want another woman in the house making the boys upset. But he was missing too much of the important stuff, worrying about garbage like laundry.
But laced with his nerves and excitement to hear about Aaron’s match was the fact that Lucy was going to be here.
He hadn’t seen her since Saturday night, but he’d been thinking about her nearly every other minute since then with a fatiguing mixture of shame and excitement.
Honestly, it was like he was sixteen and had the hots for the senior cheerleader. He’d put away his anxiety about growing too attached to her. She was leaving—it wasn’t even a question. He just had to keep that in mind and he could have all the fun and trouble she wanted to get into.
Finally headlights speared through the bruised twilight and he stood up, the rocking chair behind him banging into the backs of his knees.
“They’re back!” he yelled through the open screen door.
“Does that mean we can eat?” Casey asked.
The car stopped in front of the house and he stepped down off the porch just as the passenger side door was thrown open.
“Well?” Jeremiah asked.
Aaron’s face said it all. He gleamed in victory. “We won, four to three in overtime.”
“Thatta boy!” Jeremiah cried, pulling Aaron into his arms for a quick hard hug.
“He was great,” Lucy said, and he turned, meeting her eyes over the roof of her car.
“You watched?” he asked, stunned at the thought.