Page 15 of Return to You

“Your coach seems like a good guy.” Other than his obvious crush on Ali, the man did seem like a great guy.

After a short conversation it was clear to Kade that Savage knew what he was doing. He’d studied under the Gracie family and was accomplished in his own right. The kids all seemed to respect him, which wasn’t an easy accomplishment when talking about pre-teens and teens these days. Not one of them pulled out their phones the entire hour and a half which was a testament to how he ran his gym.

“He’s cool,” KJ stated flatly.

Kade realized he wasn’t getting anywhere with this line of questioning so he figured he’d drop it for now.

“I really am sorry I missed your guys’ birthday.”

“It’s cool.”

Ali was cool. The coach was cool. Kade missing his birthday was cool. He had a feeling this was the teen equivalent of a woman saying, I’m fine.

“What did you guys do?” Kade followed both boys on Instagram and Snapchat, but their social media had been suspiciously quiet the weekend they became teenagers.

“Nothing.” KJ shrugged again. “Aunt Ali wanted to have a barbeque or go take out our dirt bikes, but I didn’t want to.”

From the time the boys were old enough to balance on a dirt bike, Patrick had taken them off-roading every chance he got. Since he ran the shop, his weekends were usually spent working, but he would sometimes let the boys skip school to take them out for the day.

“Why not?” It didn’t take a genius to guess the answer, but Kade wanted to give KJ the chance to talk about it.

“What’s the point? It’s a stupid birthday. It doesn’t matter. Nothing does.” KJ stared at the television and destroyed at least a dozen zombies that were trying to infiltrate the abandoned building that they were holed up in.

“KJ!” Ali’s voice rang out from the top of the stairs. “It’s almost eleven. Turn it off.”

“Ten more minutes!” KJ countered.

“No.” Ali held her ground but Kade could hear how worn down she sounded. “You still have to take a shower.”

“I’ll take one in the morning.”

“No. You won’t. You always say that and then you never get up. Turn it off. Now. Shower. Bed.” The door shut and he could hear Ali’s footsteps walking across the kitchen above them.

Kade wasn’t sure when bedtime had become a conversation. In his house, if his dad had to repeat himself, there was hell to pay. Granted, George McKnight’s parenting was nothing to emulate but Kade couldn’t remember the boys ever talking back to Patrick like it seemed KJ did to Ali every chance he got.

From the moment the boys were born, Kade had been in awe of his best friend. Patrick was only twenty-one at the time, an age when most guys were partying and living it up. But not Patrick. He was running the business that had been passed down from their grandfather, raising his little sister, and then becoming an amazing dad of twin boys.

Kade would never fill his shoes, he knew that. But he was sure as hell going to do his best to do right by the boys and Ali.

Starting now. Getting up, Kade clicked the power button on the console and the screen went black.

“What the fu—”

“Let’s go,” Kade cut off his exclamation. He didn’t give a shit if the boys cussed but he had no idea what Ali’s rule for it was.

You don’t know what Ali’s rule is for anything, his inner voice pointed out.

It was true. He didn’t. But he’d learn.

Beside him, he could see KJ was fuming and entertaining the idea of talking back to Kade, but the kid decided against it and opted instead to throw his remote control on the floor as he stood up and stomped away. Kade’s first instinct was to tell him that if that was how he was going to treat the present he wasn’t going to be allowed to play it, but he decided to let it slide.

There was going to be plenty of time to figure out his role in the boys’ lives. He didn’t need to suddenly become an authority figure.

Like Ali had, he thought.

Kade knew she’d always helped out with the boys when Patrick needed an extra hand, but his friend had talked to him about wanting Ali to have a “normal” life, something that Patrick had forfeited thanks to an alcoholic mother. He’d been responsible for Ali long before he actually became her legal guardian. Even in second grade, Patrick would rush home to check on Ali after school. He would even miss school sometimes when his mom was too wasted to take care of her.

The basement door slammed and he scrubbed his hand over his face. He sighed as he walked over to the trophies that were collecting dust on the bookshelf that ran along the far wall. Some were Patrick’s and Ali’s and some were the boys’. He traced his finger over Patrick’s name on a most valuable player trophy he’d earned their senior year.

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