My team and Jess were my foundations, and I needed to make them rock-solid.
Marge checked my hand in the morning and made my protein smoothie.She insisted on being there while I did my workout, just in case.I got hot and sweaty, but kept on my T-shirt, not comfortable stripping it off in front of her.
That was going in the creepy column.After years of being in the locker room, I didn’t care about going shirtless normally.
If it turned out this was just me being weird about having someone around, the next few weeks were going to be excruciating.I assured Marge I didn’t need any help in the shower (I wanted to call that creepy, but shewasa nurse) and by the time I was supposed to meet Dad, and maybe Mom, I was glad to have somewhere to go.
Stanley Park was beautiful.I’d run a lot of miles along the seawall here, enjoying the trees, the ocean, and the views of the city.I met Dad near Second Beach.It was just him, which I’d expected when he suggested the location.Mom wasn’t really a park person.
I hadn’t been sure of my welcome, but Dad pulled me into an awkward hug.
“I’m glad you called,” he said once we’d broken apart.We turned and walked down the path toward the Lost Lagoon.“I wasn’t sure if you’d answer if I reached out.”
I tugged on the brim of my cap.I’d hoped that between it and the beard I wouldn’t be recognized.“I needed some time to work things out.”
“Yeah, I thought maybe you did.”
For a moment we were quiet, nothing but the sounds of our footsteps, some people in the distance, the water on the shore.
“Mom still upset?”
He shot me a glance.“She is.She’s always wanted the best for all of us.”
I shoved my left hand in my pocket.“I know that, but she has her own view of what’s best.”
Dad didn’t pretend to misunderstand.“She grew up with money.She didn’t know how to cope without it.”
It was a peace offering, and it would have been easy to let the past go.I was tempted.But I didn’t ignore the discomfort.“Placing that burden on me wasn’t fair.”
He hissed in a breath.
“I was eighteen.I had my own dreams.I could have still gone to school, gotten a degree even without the money you guys lost to the Denbrowskis.”
“But you wanted to play hockey, didn’t you?”
I stopped.“Hockey was one of my dreams.It wasn’t the most important, or I wouldn’t have signed on at SFU.I wanted to go to school and get a degree.More than that, I wanted a future with Mia.I sacrificed all that.”
His shoulders sagged.“I guess we told ourselves that this wasn’t so bad, that you planned a hockey career anyway.”
“I’ve been lucky in hockey.I made the NHL and I haven’t been so seriously injured that I couldn’t play anymore.But eleven years ago there was no guarantee that I’d make it, or that I wouldn’t get hurt.I could have ended up playing for almost nothing.Or out of the game altogether, injured, with no skills.No education.”
Dad looked over my shoulder toward the water.“Back then, we just needed a bit of time to recoup some of our losses.Maybe a year.Then?—”
“I’d still have missed at least one year.I couldn’t just shuttle back and forth between playing professionally and college.I’d already lost Mia.”
He bit his lip.He didn’t like to criticize Mom.Part of the reason Jess and I were so close, and why we’d bonded more with Grandma than our parents, was because Dad and Mom were a tight unit.Jess and I had always been on the outside.
“In hindsight, we might not have handled it well.”
That was closer to an apology.But it wasn’t the only thing they’d done.“And for years after, there were the requests for money, for repairs to the condo or whatever, that were a lie.”
His gaze shot back to me again.“A lie?”
“You wanted money to go after the Denbrowskis.Or to invest.”
He straightened.“We wanted to get our money back!”
Totally ignoring that it wasn’t going to happen.Or that they broke my trust by lying to me.“Have you come to terms with the fact that it’s gone?If you actually found the Denbrowskis now, they’ll have spent most or all of the money.It’s not coming back.”