Page 1 of The Waiting Game

PROLOGUE

APRIL, TWENTY-FOUR YEARS PRIOR

“Hey, why didn’t you finish your snack?” Felix Hale asked. He poked at Jonah with his sneaker.

Sprawled on the floor of his garden shed fort, Jonah Brewer stared at the plate of apples and peanut butter his Grandma Ji-min had made him. He was usually hungry after school but not today.

Felix’s plate was already empty. He’d even scraped the peanut butter up with his fingers then licked it off them.

Jonah gave Felix a listless shrug. “You can have the rest if you want.”

Felix scooted a little closer, eyeing the offered snack. But he didn’t reach for it. “What’s wrong?”

Jonah blinked, eyes welling with tears. “Coach Bates is leaving.”

“Ohh. Yeah, that sucks.” Felix frowned.

“Everybody leaves.” Jonah’s lower lip quivered.

Felix shifted until he was on his belly too, lying beside Jonah, their sides touching. “Hey, I know you’re sad. Your mom and dad are gone. But it’s okay for boys to cry. That’s what your grandma and grandpa said.”

“I know but I’m sick of it.” Jonah swiped angrily at his eyes.

He didn’t want to cry. Not again. He felt like he did it all the time. Felix was nice about it, even when some of the other boys in hockey teased Jonah but he hated when people called him a crybaby.

Felix had fought someone about that last week and he’d gotten in big trouble with his parents.

A tear trickled down Jonah’s cheek. “I just miss them so much.”

It had been a year since Jonah’s parents died in a plane crash. It had been hard at first, moving from Seattle to Toronto to live with his grandparents. He’d been sad and scared a lot and he’d even had to go to court and stand in front of a judge.

There had been lots of whispered conversations between his grandparents and talk about wills and legal things he didn’t understand.

But he liked living with Grandma Ji-min and Grandpa Cho. And he liked Felix. He liked the hockey they played together.

“I know.” Felix scooted even closer, pushing his head against Jonah’s like the neighbor’s orange and white striped cat.

Felix’s red curls tickled Jonah’s cheek and made him smile, just a little.

Jonah was happiest when it was the two of them on the ice together or playing here in the fort they’d built in Jonah’s grandparents’ garden shed.

But his stomach hurt when he thought about all that ending. “I’m just scared it’s going to go away,” he whispered.

“What is?” Felix lifted his head.

Jonah turned to look at him. “The good things. You and hockey and Grandma and Grandpa.”

Felix scowled. “Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

Jonah gave him a wobbly smile. “But someday you’ll grow up and leave. Just like Coach Bates.”

“That’s cause he’s marrying Mrs. George. She lives far away. In Sudbury.”

“I hate her.” Jonah scuffed his sneaker on the rough wooden boards.

“No you don’t. You liked her when she brought the team cookies a few weeks ago.”

“Yeah, but she’s taking him away now.” He hated that.

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