Page 120 of Breaking Away

“Sorry—” he interrupts. “But your assistant is messaging me, Lokhov. Pat needs to get in touch. She says it’s an emergency.”

I pull out my phone. It was on silent.

Hughes and Kavi ask me if everything is okay.

It’s not.

It’s my dad.

47

KAVI

Dmitri tellsme everything is okay right until my flight to Seattle. I don’t have enough time to pry out of him what’s wrong. He has to fly to his dad, and I’ve got an interview to attend. Everything is happening too fast.

And now I’m meeting my mom, squeezing her in before the interview. We’re in her greenhouse, surrounded by luxurious plants, nestled in a three-walled structure of criss-crossed wooden panels and plastic. Behind us is not the house I grew up in, but the mansion my dad bought after he got hired as the Blades’ head coach.

From a distance, Kirandeep Basra seems put-together. Cardigan, linen pants, and tidily manicured hands.

But there are smudges under her eyes, and an underlying restlessness in her limbs. She’s been hedging every word, as if afraid I’ll get up and never come back.

Mom brings out a jug of lemonade. “Are you back in Seattle? Not that I’m saying you should or shouldn’t be. Only that I’m–” She pours out two glasses. “Hoping you are?”

“I’m interviewing. For an admin job here.”

“Oh. Good. Good.”

“It’s not guaranteed?—”

“Of course, not. But you could—” She takes a deep breath, giving me the lemonade. “Move in with us? If you needed to?”

I drink deeply, ignoring the new rock in my throat. “I, um, don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Right. I get it.” She turns away, bending down to prune stems.

“Mom?”

She rubs her nose with the back of her garden glove. “I’m sorry.”

There’s a wallop in my chest. “Sorry?”

“I know why you don’t trust me. When we were together in Vancouver, I pushed you to see Tyler when you weren’t ready. And I’ve not been supportive, telling my daughter things likemen make mistakesinstead of giving her real advice.”

I put my drink down and crouch to join her.

Her hands aren’t steady enough for the clippers. I gently take them away.

She sucks in a breath. “You were vulnerable. You felt unsupported by us, and like you had nowhere to go.”

My apartment was taken away. Ididhave nowhere to go.

“I was telling you to give Tyler a shot. On the other hand, your dad was saying Tyler’s performance on the team was suffering because you weren’t talking to him. And then—you moved in with this Dmitri Lokhov. It’s clear what happened. You felt like you had no choice. And I don’t know what he’s like, only that you stopped taking my calls?—”

Because her calls were always the same. About me and Tyler reconnecting, or about this lucky life we lived where we could focus on our hobbies because we were going to be cared for…

And now she’s apologizing.

Mom turns to face me, palms out. “Kavleen, I want to stand by you. I should have done it from the beginning. You don’t have to live withhimanymore?—”

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