Page 44 of Goaltender Interference

“Eleanor Safaryan-Zhang,” Jessica called over her shoulder, “what did we say about bothering Dad and Uncle Matt’s friends about hockey?”

“Not outside the home and not in places you can’t normally play hockey.” A mulish frown twisted Ellie’s mouth. “But hewantedto help me, Mom.” She glanced sideways at Aiden and whispered, “Okay, but will you? I wanna be the best, and if you have Cups, you must be pretty good.”

Aiden said, “Yes, of course.”

Ellie flashed her tooth gap at him again. “I’m going to be your best student.”

“You’re going to be the only student,” Aiden said, thinking about the long stretch of hours during the day where he had nothing to do except arbitrarily created tasks.

Ellie just beamed, and then looked up and frowned, like she was seeing the paintings for the very first time. “Wow, this art is so bad.”

“You know, your uncle and I used to think stuff like that, but it’s actually just a matter of perspective...”

The stretch of birthdays that Matt had experienced over the last decade were mostly unremarkable, blending together in a long, lonely stretch. They had even been pretty lonely when Emily was around to host the parties, which mostly teammates attended. There had been a few years after player assistance when he had been completely sober, and the gatherings had been awkward and stiff, no one quite knowing how to treat him, whether they were allowed to drink, too.

Those were the worst kinds of parties, and this birthday had the same exact feeling. Everyone was on edge except for Jess, who was never on edge anywhere, no matter how tense the atmosphere was. That probably was a side effect of being an orthopedic trauma surgeon, but Matt didn’t have the benefit of years of working under crisis conditions.

He felt like at any minute he was going to have to lunge sideways and separate Miles and Aiden. Miles was usually a pretty chill guy, on and off of the ice, but he did have his protective instincts. And he was watching Aiden like a hawk,just waiting for him to step out of line, so he could swoop in and bite his head off.

Instead, Miles cornered Matt in the MMFA while Aiden was busy talking to Ellie. “I’m serious, Matthew, what the hell are you doing?”

“I told you this morning,” Matt said patiently. “Aiden’s recently retired, he was having a hard time, and we both agreed that it would be good for him to get out of New York for a little bit.”

“I meant aboutyou.”

“Miles,” Matt said, surprised by the flicker of anger that lanced through him, tamped down again. It wasn’t fair to get upset with Miles: Matt knew what he’d put the family through. No one had ever let him forget it. “I’m an adult. I can make my own choices. I’m not the same kid I was back then. I’m not—”

“But you don’tknow,” Miles was saying urgently. “Campbell’s...he’s unreliable, Matt. He’s just going to chew you up and spit you out again, like he did the last time, and then we’re all going to have to pick up the pieces and—”

“Hey,” Matt said, surprised by how loud his voice sounded in the echoing halls of the gallery. Everyone turned to look at him, and he smiled awkwardly and turned back to Miles. He lowered his voice. “Listen to me, Miles. I know how you feel. I understand why you feel that way. But it doesn’t matter. Don’t talk about him like that. Not to me. We were both young and stupid back then, and I—I had a really hard time accepting that things were over. But this is different.”

“How?” Miles demanded, looking like he was about two seconds away from putting his hands in his hair and pulling it out in frustration. “How the hell is it different?”

“I’m older,” Matt said, slowly. “He’s older. I’m not going into this with any expectations. It’s just been so good to have him back. It’s just... Miles, how would you feel if you hadn’t seen Jessin ten years, and then all of a sudden, she was back in your life again?”

“That’s different! We’ve been married for years. We’ve got two kids. Jess neverdumpedme.”

“And if she had?”

Miles deflated, suddenly. They’d never liked fighting off of the ice, outside of the direct competition of sports. His voice was still a low whisper, but it had all of the urgency as if he’d been yelling. “I don’t know, man. It’s hard to imagine my life without her in it. I can’t even picture it. But it’s not the same. She’s mywife.”

“And I’d gone as far as buying a fucking ring, Miles. It didn’t work out. That doesn’t change the fact that...” Matt couldn’t quite bring himself to say what he’d been thinking about saying. He didn’t fully think that Miles would understand. “Listen. All I’m asking is that you try to be alittlemore open-minded about it. Whether you like it or not, he’s part of my life, in the past and right now.”

“Yeah?” Miles asked, a little bitterly. “For how long?”

Matt exhaled. It felt a bit like a punch in the gut. “I don’t know. And honestly, I don’t care. This is enough.”

Miles just looked at him, sad and a little resigned. “Okay... I guess you know best, yeah? I just... I love you so much, Matt. And I’m really fucking worried about you.”

“It’s different this time,” Matt said.I’m different this time.

“Okay,” Miles said, but it didn’t sound like he believed it.

It was a busy day, especially for Aiden, who was starting to realize how few busy days he’d had since his retirement.

They hit most of the major tourist attractions, and by the end the kids were yawning and sleepy. Miles spent the last bit of thewalk carrying Theo over his shoulder. It could have been worse: Miles mostly pretended Aiden didn’t exist, and Aiden obliged him by not getting in the way.

Matt spent most of the time trying to bridge the gap between his family and Aiden, which functionally meant talking to either Miles or Aiden but not both at the same time. There were more than a few times that Aiden had gestured for Matt to go ahead and not worry about him.

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