Page 42 of The Fall

“We won three out of four games on our road trip. And today’s the anniversary of my dad’s death. Always kind of a shitty day for me.”

Arthur takes a tentative sip of his coffee and nods with satisfaction. “I’d forgotten what good coffee tastes like.” He sets the cup back on the table. “How long has it been since your dad died?”

I’ll never forget the night before it happened. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me how much he loved me and that I should keep working hard in hockey and in school. That my mom would be proud of me and want me to be happy. I had no idea why he was saying those things, but it was because he had a plan in place.

“Thirteen years.”

“It’s been more than fifty years since my late wife and I lost our baby girl.”

I meet his eyes, surprised. “I didn’t know about that. I’m sorry, Arthur.”

He nods. “She passed away in her sleep at one week old. My wife...I think she knew. When we woke up that morning and Annette hadn’t cried all night long, Mabel... she flew out of our bed.”

“Was she older or younger than your two sons?”

“Older. She was our first. When Mabel got pregnant both times after Annette, she prayed for boys because she didn’t want to feel like she was having another girl to replace the one we’d lost.”

I think about my teammate’s young kids, about Tate and Sam. I can’t imagine what their parents would go through if they lost them.

“Having our sons helped dull that pain, but we never forgot Annette.”

When I first met Arthur, I saw him as an old guy. I never thought about him once being my age. My teammates who volunteered with me at the nursing home would say they didn’t know what to talk to the residents about. I felt that way, too. But over time, I’ve realized that I can talk to Arthur about the same things I’d talk to anyone my age about.

“I’m still carrying around some baggage over my dad’s death.” I look out the window at the barren brown trees and gray sky. “I guess it’s one thing when someone dies from a disease, but it’s different when they choose to go.”

“That’s a hell of a thing,” Arthur murmurs.

“Yeah.” I take a deep breath in and let it out. “Anyway, you want to play some chess?”

“You’re a sucker for punishment if I ever saw one.” Arthur shakes his head. “Let me eat my donut first.”

When I getto practice later, Dom’s sitting on one of the locker room’s long wood benches, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

“Hey,” I say to him. “What’s up?”

His forehead crinkles with worry. “Tess is stressed, which meansI’mstressed.”

I sit down next to him. “About what?”

“She took over for Cam with the boys when Cam was sick, so now she’s helping Sam build a castle for an end-of-the-semester project, and you know Tess—it has to be the biggest, best castle any adult has ever done ninety percent of the work on. She’s been to every craft store in the city looking for some sort of crackle paint.” He pauses to take a breath. “Tate told her Sam’s been down because he can’t do the Cub Scout winter campout because it’s a father-son thing. So Tess came to me, and I said, of course I’d go. It’s during All-Star weekend, so what are the chances I’d actually be able to make it during the season? But I can. Only Hannah’s big dance thing in Florida is the same weekend. I can’t be in two places at once.”

He gives me a frazzled look.

“Hannah still gets to do the dance competition whether you go or not,” I say. “And Sam will have to miss the campout if you don’t go. That seems like an easy choice.”

“I know, but...I want to be a good stepdad. And this is a big deal for Hannah. She was excited about the whole family going. She actually said that when Tess told her it was All-Star weekend and I could go, too.The whole family.”

My best friend has grown more than I thought he was capable of since meeting Tess and her kids. He’s still got a teenage boy sense of humor, but he manned up so he could be good for them.

I envy him. He gets to be a father figure for Tess’s kids and Cam’s. And he knows what a big deal that is.

“Hey, you got tape?” Ben asks us.

I get into my locker and hand him some. “That’s my emergency stash, though. Bring it back.”

He nods and takes the tape and his stick into the training room.

I lean against my locker, looking down at Dom. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

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