“And why don’t I know about this?” Colin inquired, probably feeling pretty stupid right about now.
“I don’t know, Dad.” He stepped closer to his father, then suddenly wrapped his arms around Colin, looking up. “Can we go to the bookstore now? Mom always says that reading is good, and we don’t say no to good things.”
“I’ll just let you discuss this all by yourself and get my stuff,” I said and immediately fled the scene.
Was Colin going to take Kieran to the bookstore? Totally, and if only because it meant that Kieran was going outside—in public—for once.
Ten minutes after heading into Kieran’s bedroom, I finally found the folder with my portfolio. Okay, I would’ve found it faster had Kim not been spending most of that time clinging to my legs.
Kieran’s bedroom looked like the most organized grandpa lived there. He had tons of books neatly stored on his bookshelf, barely any toys around, and I saw some kind of mathbook on his desk. It was a ninth-grader mathematics book. That kid was ten, and he was doing more math than I’d ever bothered to learn.
I had good grades, but I was pretty sure Kieran was acing all of his classes. Jamie, his cousin, was a whole other subject. Honestly, I was convinced Kieran was taking Jamie’s tests and doing his homework just so he wouldn’t be held back.
“Uncle Reece’s Cups?” Kim sat down on my foot, once again swinging her arms around my leg to stop me from leaving.
I looked down, refraining from rolling my eyes at a three-year-old.
“Yes, Kiwi?”
“Daddy and I come watch your hockey today,” she told me.
“Really?” I said, earning myself a convinced nod in return. “Are you sure you’re not already asleep at that time?”
My game didn’t start until eight PM, and Kim was usually asleep by six.
“I sleep now, and then I and Daddy go to hockey, okay?” She held up her pinky, and though I truly doubted she was going to be awake for my game, I hooked my pinky finger with hers.
“Deal.”
Within seconds, Kim let go of my leg, stood up, ran across the hall, and right into her bedroom.
“DADDY! I NEED MY JAMMIES!” she yelled. “UNCLE REECE’S CUPS SAY IS OKAY WHEN I GO TO THE HOCKEY GAME! I HAVE TO SLEEP NOW, AND THEN I BE AWAKE!”
Closing the door behind me as I exited Kieran’s room,Colin was already in the hallway and heading toward his daughter’s room.
Colin rolled his eyes at me as if his daughter growing up and evolving a love for ice hockey was my fault. Surely not his, right? He was the professional ice hockey player in the family, but it was my fault nonetheless.
“Why would you tell her to sleepnow?” Colin asked. “Do you know how exhausting three-year-olds can be at a sports game? Especially at a time when they’re supposed to be sleeping.”
I nodded. “You have three kids, and Lily took me to every single game of yours—well, the ones she went to anyway. I sat in a room with all the players’ partners more often than you could even begin to imagine. That was a room full of little, crying kids, and parents—and Luan, sometimes even Miles and Emory—beingdesperateto find a way to get them to either stop crying and watch the game, play with the other kids, or fall asleep in someone’s arms.”
Colin chuckled, shrugging at me. “Considering that I’m usually on the ice when all that happens, that’s not my problem.”
“Considering that I’ll be on the ice when Kim gets restless, it’s not my problem either.” I looked into Kim’s bedroom, watching as she used her bed as a trampoline, rather impatiently waiting for her father. “Kim will be fine, I’m sure of that. Look how excited she is.”
She hadn’t been to many of my games. Mostly because she was still very young, but also because she went to enough of Colin’s games that Lily didn’t want her to go to mine anymore. Hockey games were super stressful for little kids, and far too loud for their ears.
Colin peeked into the room, sighing softly. “Kimi, stop jumping on the bed.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Kim plopped down, giggling.
“Oh, before I forget to tell you,” Colin began, looking back at me. “Mom and Dad are coming tonight as well. They landed about two hours ago and should probably be on their way to their house by now. It was supposed to be a surprise but I know how much you hate it when they show up without telling you first.”
It wasn’t that Ihatedit, but I just wanted to know when my parents were here.
Since they moved to Spain, it didn’t happen often that they watched me play in person. Knowing they were there made me want to be better. For them. I wanted to score for them. Make them proud.
While I knew they watched my games on TV every time, them being there in person was different.