Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I knelt closer to the tombstone, sitting on the back of my heels. “I asked him to give us some privacy today, but you probably already know my surprise so I won’t say it in words. I feel like I know you by now, but I always feel the same when I come here. I wished I had known about you earlier. Maybe I could’ve helped? Who knows. Your brother--our brother--he helped me a lot. He does well for others. He cares. I got to know Grandpa a bit too and I already miss him. Can you give him an extra hug for me? Tell him his new granddaughter misses him.”
This was where she was buried, but I didn’t believe that’s only where she was. I believed she was around us all the time. Since knowing about her, I swear that I felt her at times too. Mal said the same, but he liked to shake off the thought.
I found comfort in it. Our loved ones were still with us. That meant my mom had never left my side. I liked that idea a whole lot.
After we were there a bit longer, Mal indicated he was ready to leave.
Once we were in his car, he asked as we pulled out of the cemetery, “Do you and Tyler have plans once the Grays are done?”
“Tyler will want to go on vacation and travel around. He mentioned taking Sky and Zoey to Europe. Probably swing into New York to see Nolan. You know. Travel around to see friends. Do you have plans?”
He shook his head. “I get to travel with my work. So…” He laughed to himself. “It’s the same for me.”
“Lindy wants to come to Minnesota and do a camping thing. She mentioned cabins. Would you be interested in joining us? You are my brother.”
He softened. “I could probably be talked into an appearance. Bring Dad too.”
Now I was the one softening. “Yeah. Bring Dad. That’d be nice. I don’t think my nieces will have a problem having three grandpas.”
“Certainly not. Especially when they go and see Grandpa Keith and tell him all about the toys you know Dad will insist on bringing.”
Meeting my father had been life changing. It took a while until I was ready to meet him, and it took another year before I believed he actually wanted me in his life. I would always struggle with my stuff. It’s how I was raised, but I was doing better.
“When do you start with your new client?”
“I’m taking all of June off for hockey and training camps start mid-July, but I’ll check in with him and his team after the holiday. Touch base. We’ll go from there.”
“Are you excited to return to the NFL?”
My client had been in the first round pick for the NFL draft and he went to a team that was trying to do a rebuild. I finished my season with the Grays and agreed to help their minor league team the following year. A tier one Juniors team also asked for me to consult. I’d enjoyed going between the two. There was a different air to both levels of hockey. Freeing. Less pressure. It was contagious as soon as I walked into each arenas. But this year I got an offer to return to American football and I couldn’t pass it up.
“I am, actually. It’ll be a nice change, but I think I’ll be going back and forth between the two sports for the foreseeable future.”
“As long as it makes you happy.”
“It does.”
Mal dropped me off outside of the house I shared with Tyler. I walked in, he was yelling at the television. He’d been watching my brother’s team in their round of the playoffs, but tonight I was grateful he hadn’t invited half the team to watch with him.
They’d taken to just showing up as well, at all hours of the day and night.
“COME ON, YOU’RE FUCKING BLIND! These refs!” Tyler was on his feet, yelling at the screen as if the referees could hear him. “Connors completely high-sticked Nolan first. It was right in front of you. How did you not see it?”
I waited a beat, but the call stayed. New York took a penalty and my brother swept past the seats, hitting the partition where two fans quickly shoved their signs in his face.
One read,
You get your skating skills from your daughter. Not the other way around.
I grinned at seeing Skylar make a face at Dane.
The second sign read,
Your wife plays better than you do.
Eric was holding that one up.
The announcers were laughing and talking about the connection from Skylar, to Tyler, to me, to Dane and how it was full circle when the penalty call was against Tyler’s best friend. What the announcers didn’t know was that the whole reason Skylar was in New York for this game was because she and Nolan had started to see each other. That was full full circle, in my opinion.