All?They’re exaggerating, right?How the hell could someone steal all of their money?“How much did you invest with them?”
“Your mother said.All.They had documents, referrals.The return was better than what we’d been getting…”
Mom and Dad had been greedy.“But you didn’t touch our money, right?Not mine and Jess’s?”
Mom chews on a fingernail again before standing up and walking to the windows.Dad watches her with furrowed brows, then answers me.“We wanted you two to have as much as possible as well.”
Fuck.“So the college fund?The money we were supposed to get when we’re twenty-one?”
“All gone with the Denbrowskis.”
Math has never been my strong point, but I try to figure out what this means and what we can do.“I have my scholarship at SFU for hockey, so that takes care of me.Can you maybe sell this place and get something smaller?”Jess doesn’t have a scholarship—she never considered applying, since we have money.How can we work this so that she can still come to SFU this fall?
Dad’s lips pinch.“We mortgaged this place.And the place in Palm Springs.”
My jaw drops.“When you say you’ve lost everything, you really mean everything?”
Dad nods.“Your mom’s a wreck.We’re trying to put together how much, and what we can salvage.”
“You have a plan?”
He looks at Mom, then back at me.“We have something, if you’re willing to help.”
“Of course.”We aren’t super close, the way some families are, but we are family.
“We’ll be listing the properties, hoping to sell for enough to cover the mortgage.If we don’t have the funds for a smaller place, we might have to move in with my mom.”
His mom.Grandma.He’s talking about the house in Port Coquitlam.Holy.Shit.Things are bad if that’s an option.Mom and Grandma do not get along.And it’s a three-bedroom house.Right now, there’s a room for Grandma, one for Jess, and one for me.Maybe I’ll move into the basement?The couch isn’t great, but I didn’t ask SFU for student housing since I could commute.And what will Jess do for school?It’s too late for her to get a job, and she’s counting on her college fund.
“So you want me to move into the basement?”
Suddenly Mom speaks.“No.We want you to go to New York.”
The room starts to spin around me and I drop into a chair.“What?”
“We need everyone to help.Your dad and I can do something with the travel agency—that wasn’t touched.If you can get a hockey contract, then your expenses are covered.And maybe you can help us out?”
“But—”
New York wants me at prospects camp next week and training camp in September, they’ve already said.They lost their best defenseman to retirement over the summer, and a couple more to free agency.It isn’t likely that I’d play with the NHL team right away but it’s a pretty sure thing that I could make the farm team.The money isn’t as good on the AHL level, but it’s more than I can make anywhere else.
But…as much as I love playing hockey, I have other dreams.I want to go to university and learn something.With hockey, I might get injured, not make the big league—I need a backup plan.And I want to be with Mia, not on the other side of the continent.She can’t leave PoCo, not now with her siblings so young and her mother unable to handle things on her own.
Mom crosses to me, gripping my hands and swallowing hard.“They’ll be caught, the Denbrowskis, before long, so we just need to get through these next months.Maybe a year.I know you have plans, and I hate to ask, but if you could put them off for a year.Jess won’t be able to go to university with you anyway, and your girlfriend will understand—she takes care of her family.”
I want to say no.It isn’t my fault, so why do I have to give up everything?But to stay here, going to school when Jess can’t, everyone packed in at Grandma’s… Can I really do that?If I ask Mia to wait for a year, she can still go to school, and maybe I’ll do three years of hockey with SFU after, if they’ll let me.Finish my degree in the offseason, if I end up playing.
And Jess—Jess would give up her plans for me.We’ve always been close and we’d do anything for each other.It’s a lot to give up, but for one year?
I hear my voice saying “Yeah, if you really need me to.”It’s the first time they’ve ever actually needed me.When they ask if I’ll call New York, I agree.
What else can I do?
Mia
Justin won’t tell me what’s wrong, just asks me to meet him at the park at the end of the block.The sun’s set, so not many people are here.A few preteens are hanging out at the swings, but other than that, the place is quiet.Justin is sitting on the bleachers at the baseball diamond.My heart gives a lurch when I see him.Every damn time.
He looks up when I sit down beside him, and something is wrong.Really wrong.It looks like he’s been crying.