Page 24 of Mr. Broody

My heart warms that my brothers care so much for Henry’s son. That thought is accompanied with a painful tug in my chest for everything I’ve missed since I went away, but I push it back down.

“Really?” Bodhi asks.

“Absolutely, we’re late all the time. Except to hockey practice. We’re never late for hockey.” Waylon shoves the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth and stands from the chair.

“No rush, Daddy!” Bodhi calls.

Hearing him call Henry Daddy makes my ovaries ache in the best way.

“Tell the twins I’ll meet them at the rink Sunday.”

My heart stops, and my face heats when I hear Henry’s voice. It takes me a second to realize that my brothers are staring at me.

“Awesome. Thanks, Henry,” Owen says.

“Say bye, Bodhi,” Henry says in the background. There’s some noise through the speaker, then I hear footsteps running away in the distance. “Want me to bring Conor for some goalie tips?”

There he is—crystal clear and talking right into the phone.

“That’d be awesome. Would he do it, you think?” Waylon asks.

“I’m sure he will. Okay, I gotta finish getting ready…”

“Thanks, Henry,” Owen says.

I’m thankful the conversation is ending so I can continue my day and not have to think about Henry half naked and getting ready for the day. Who am I kidding? My day will be filled with images of what I think his abs might look like now.

“You’re welcome… um… hey?”

I freeze, grabbing the keys off the counter so I can drive the boys to school.

“What’s up?” Owen asks.

“Is your sister there?” Henry asks.

My heart damn near pops out of my chest. I swivel around and shake my head at my brothers.

“Uh… she’s in the car waiting for us. Did you need to talk to her or something?” Owen cringes at me like “what do you want me to do?”

“No… I just… no. See you Sunday.”

They hang up, and I’m speechless for a moment, wondering what he wanted with me. Or did he sense I was in the room listening in? So many questions I’ll never get the answer to.

“You two have major issues.” Waylon grabs his jacket and bag, walking toward the back door.

“Yeah, they do.” Owen gets his stuff and walks by me, opening the back door.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I swipe my purse off the hook.

“I know that you ignore his existence, and every time he’s over, he’s always asking about you. Seems like the two of you never got over each other.” Owen slaps his brother on the back to get going, and they walk down the stairs toward our detached garage.

I can’t even say they’re wrong, which really sucks.

It’s my first day at St. Pat’s, so after I drop the boys off at school, I park back at the house and check on Mom before walking down the block to the school, just as I did for half my childhood. The problem is that I feel Henry’s absence even more because for many years, we walked this same cracked sidewalk side by side.

The school asked me to shadow Mrs. McConnell since her due date is closing in. Which I was all for since I have no idea what I’m going to be doing. My only saving grace is they told me Mrs. McConnell is very organized, and she’s already written up all the sub plans for while she’s gone. Surely, I can follow someone else’s directions.

Since I’ve been obsessed and nervous about today, Henry hasn’t been on my mind as often as he would be otherwise, which is the entire point. So my plan is working.

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