Arne was a loyal kid.“There are a lot of hockey players, you know.More than thirty teams, and each team has more than twenty players.”
His brow furrowed.“Three times two— Sixty?”
“Six hundred.Each year some new players come and some old ones leave.And there’s college teams, and farm teams, and teams in Europe…”
His jaw dropped.“That’s a lot.”
“So you have to be very, very good to make it into a book.”
His mouth twisted as he thought.Whether he was trying to figure out if Justin would ever be in a book, or if Arne himself wanted to be, I wasn’t sure.I didn’t dare ask.
“Ready for breakfast?Lots to do before your dad gets here.”
Arne nodded and slid out of bed.“I’ll help you, Mommy.I’m getting big now, so I can do lots.”
Where was that coming from?It was nice that someone wanted to help out, but that wasn’t Arne’s responsibility.
We got dressed and headed down to the kitchen.Arne was making a case for pancakes, but as much as I liked to spoil him, he needed healthy food to grow.At the bottom of the stairs was a stack of mismatched boxes, about a dozen in total, and some garbage bags stuffed full.Mom was in the kitchen, making coffee, obviously struggling, so I gently nudged her aside and took over.
“What’s with the boxes?”I asked.
“Cora is moving out.”
I jerked and turned around.“What?”
Mom’s smile wobbled.“Yeah, she got a job with a couple of friends.They’re looking after a property or something, and get an apartment with it.”
“Seriously?Does Cora even know how?”She’d never done much around here.
“She’ll learn.”Bruce spoke behind me.He didn’t normally get up early, so when I saw a smug look on his face I braced myself.He crossed his arms.“We need to talk.”
“We do?”
“Yeah.”He looked at Arne.“Without kids.”
I didn’t like his expression.He was looking forward to this, which meant by default that it was going to piss me off.
Arne was quiet, biting his lip.Damn Bruce.“Hey bud, your dad will be here soon.After you have some cereal, we’ll get you ready for that.”I turned to Bruce.“We can talk then.”
Bruce grunted.“Don’t forget.Things are going to be changing around here, so you need to get with the program.”
He sounded like a bad motivational speaker, but I was worried.
I managed, somehow, to keep a smile on my face as Arne ate his breakfast, and we packed up a change of clothes and some books in case Arne had time to kill while he was with his dad or managed to demolish his clothes.Erik didn’t notice anything odd in my behavior when he came by, and I waved them off with a leaden feeling in my stomach.
I stood in the doorway of the living room.
Mom smiled at me.“How are you, Mia?”
“I’ll be better when I know what Bruce wants to talk about.”
Bruce smirked.“Cora’s moving out, so she won’t be able to take care of your kid anymore.”
“Okay.When is she leaving?”I’d need to find someone to get Arne from camp during the week.Could I pay Dorian to do that?
“She’s moving tomorrow.Needs to use the car.”
The car was mine.Paid for entirely by me.“I might be able to make that work.”