Page 71 of Untouchable Player

M.I.T would have been amazing, but it definitely has more of an urban city feel and I would have missed this lake and these trees and how far you can travel before seeing a single house or even a car.

I look at Jesse and he’s watching me with an amused smile.

“Have you never seen the lake before?”

“I’ve seen it, I’ve just never… appreciated it.”

“It’s pretty,” Jesse agrees, glancing between me and the lake.

“Prettier than Philadelphia?”

He snorts. “Don’t tell anyone back in Philly, but, yeah, definitely.”

“What’s your house like back home?”

He shrugs and looks embarrassed, “not as big as yours.”

Now it’s my turn to be embarrassed. “It’s not my house, believe me, I won’t be living somewhere that showy when I graduate.”

“Oh yeah?” he turns to me with a challenging grin.

“My dad has the point of view that everyone has the ability to pull themselves up by the bootstraps because he did, so as soon as me and Harrison graduate, we’re on our own.”

“Your dad hasn’t always been rich?”

Him coming right out and calling my parents rich feels a bit like a slap for some reason, but I can see he’s not doing it to be unkind.

“No, he used to work construction.”

“Like my dad.”

“Yeah.”

“So how did he… how did he make money?”

“If you ask him, he’ll give you chapter and verse. How he and his friends pooled their money together and started a business up from the ground. He got a business loan, poached customers from his old boss and gave them a discount on their first job…” I trail off because surely this must be boring? But Jesse is still listening intently and nodding.

“That’s cool.”

“I guess. Does your dad like his job?”

Jesse snorts, “hates it. Never thinks of leaving or doing anything else though.”

“How come? Tell me to mind my own business if…”

“No,” he smiles, “it’s okay. I don’t know why. I guess he had kids and thought he could live vicariously through them, or that one of them would grow up and play in the NHL and pay their mortgage off and give them an easy life.”

Jesse drops his eyes.

“That’s not your job.”

“All my hockey camps and training and equipment was an investment to him. A bad one.”

“You’ve tried your best.”

Jesse lifts his head, “I have.”

It’s never good enough though,he doesn’t need to say it. I want to reach over and squeeze his hand, but we’re on the bus and I don’t think he’d want people to see me doing that. I haven’t forgotten how he said he’d never date a guy, how he just likes to sleep with them. It’s times like this when I think we’re goingsomewhere that it floats to the forefront and gives me a kick up the butt.

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