Page 8 of Dangerous

I ripped open the door and stood in shock.

“Hey, Katy. I know it’s earlier than we planned, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to brunch early. I’m bored on the farm and since I can’t train yet, I really don’t want to watch soccer on TV.” Ethan’s gaze roamed over my body, my barely there, short pyjama clad body.

“Wh-what?” I asked as I tried to move behind the door. What was he talking about? Brunch? I couldn’t recall—and then I did. After meeting him that night at the pet store, Ethan texted me joke memes and ones for encouragement as I studied for my exams. We’d spoken a little bit about how he was getting along in Winnipeg, undergoing his medical and fitness testing. For the previous three years, Ethan had been under contract with the youth development soccer team in Winnipeg. He’d joined them when his parents moved back to Canada from England where he’d been in developmental camps with one of the English Premier League Football Clubs. But last winter, he’d been in a serious car accident and while his body was almost completely healed, it wasn’t enough for him to be medically cleared to play soccer this year. Plus, the brain injury he’d received hadn’t completely resolved which was why, when his father’s job moved him again, it had been decided that Ethan would be better off moving to his uncle’s in Voyageur Bay where he could be treated at Dr. Muir’s clinic for the head injury. The previous weekend,I’d fulfilled my promise to show him around the area and he’d extracted a promise for brunch today to thank me.

A promise I’d completely forgotten about.

“I’m so, so sorry, Ethan. I completely forgot and something’s come up. I don’t—” Liam choose that moment to wake up, crying at the top of his lungs. Without caring that I’d be revealing my barely clothed body, I raced back into our living room to pick up and comfort the squealing baby.

“Whose baby is that?”

I turned to find Ethan had followed me in, closing the door behind him as I rocked from side-to-side trying to calm Liam. He shouldn’t have been hungry—at least I didn’t think so—but then again, I wasn’t really familiar with babies this young. And the few I’d been around, their mother’s had breastfed them, lamenting about how often breastfed babies had to feed in comparison to bottle fed ones.

I rubbed circles on his back as I hummed, praying that he just needed to burp.

Ethan stepped in front of me. He dislodged my hand, using his large hand to rub Liam’s tiny back. Within a few rubs, Liam burped and calmed down. “Katy, where did you get this baby from?”

Now that Liam was calm, my brain began to work. Looking around the room, I could see what it looked like to Ethan. Outside of the empty Moses basket, there wasn’t a single baby item. Even if I’d been babysitting at my house instead of the baby’s—not that little Liam had one at the moment—there should have been more baby items. Baby items I desperately needed and had no way to get… except maybe now I did.

“He’s the neighbour’s son and was dropped off unexpectedly while my neighbour is out of town. It’s why I’ll need a raincheck on brunch, but do you think you could drive us over to thehospital? Mom says I can borrow a car seat from there. Then I’ll take her car to go purchase some supplies.”

Ethan lifted Liam from my arms and gave me a little shove towards the stairs. “Go wash up. I’ll take care of the little tyke and then drive you to pick up the car seat. But we’re still having brunch. We’ll just have it in Winnipeg or wherever you need to go to purchase the things you need for him.”

“I can’t let you give up your time for this, but I will accept the ride.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering. And you’re not going to say no. Now go shower up while I get his little guy back to sleep.” And as if Ethan’s voice had magic qualities, Liam’s little body snuggled into Ethan’s chest—reminding me of those black and white photos where a large, muscular man cradles a little baby, the ones where every woman who sees it swoons—he closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep again.

Accepting the offer for what it was, I ran up the stairs, not knowing how long Liam would give me to get ready. I might not have known Ethan for long, but we seemed to fit like how Mason and I fitted together before everything changed. With Ethan things were simple. We didn’t have a long history of friendship. We didn’t have years of interactions, both ours and the knowledge of others with us, to put pressure on us. And with my few friends busy with work schedules or with others, and Mason, despite the awkwardness and hurt between us, having moved, I needed the simplicity, the innocence of the friendship Ethan was offering. It’s why I didn’t put up another protest when we finally got into his car—me riding in the backseat since we didn’t have a car seat, and I wanted to avoid the airbag—and he informed me that he mapped out a couple of baby stores in Winnipeg near one of the Walmart’s.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Thanks, Ethan. I really appreciate it.”

He squeezed my hand back. “Anytime. It’s what friends do. Besides,”—he winked at me in his rearview mirror—“I like coming to your rescue. It’s how we first met. At least this time, you’re coherent.”

“Stop it.” I swatted him before sitting back in my seat and doing up the seatbelt. “I’m a coherent and sweet drunk. Very lovable.”

“All buckled up?” I nodded, letting him know he was good to start driving. “You are all those words, sweet, coherent, and lovable, but I’m not sure they apply while you’re drunk. Maybe you should carry preprinted flash cards with things you’re likely to say the next time you go out drinking. That way you can just hand them to people instead of trying to talk.”

“Hardee-har-har. You’re so funny… not.” But even I was smiling as he laughed.

In no time at all, he pulled into the hospital parking lot near the emergency doors.

As soon as I walked inside, the desk clerk called me over. “Sorry kiddo, we got slammed with a big accident on the highway, so your mom left the car seat here along with a list of suggested supplies we give out to mom’s-to-be. She’s circled what she thinks you should pick up so that the baby’s father will have enough to start out with. And she said to tell you that Dr. Bishop Senior will look at the baby tomorrow. Otherwise, she’ll pick you up from work at the end of your shift.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a partial smile. It wasn’t her fault that mom was needed, but still, it hurt a little. Whenever I needed mom, she was always at work and then when I came, after making plans, she wasn’t available. And right now, I could have used mom’s support and advice.

Without being asked, Ethan picked up the car seat, carrying it and the papers outside as I followed. It took only a couple of minutes before we had the base installed, ensuring the attachedlevels all indicated that it was in the correct spot. Putting Liam into the car seat itself, well, that took a little longer because he did not like to be put down and he let his displeasure with the act known. But once we started driving, the motion of the car soon put him back to sleep, giving us a peaceful ride into Winnipeg, even if I worried about him with every kilometre we drove. What was going to happen to Liam when Peter returned home? How was I going to act? And most of all, how was I going to care for him for the next few days until then?

7

Peter

This three-day weekend had been perfect and exactly what we needed to reconnect. It lifted the huge weight that had been crushing my spirit. Spilling those innermost secrets, those hopes, dreams, and even fears to the people you love, the people you cherish had a way of doing that, making you feel lighter in your soul. Something I should have known considering the number of times it’s written about in books. But somehow, we often forget that even in fiction, nuggets of truth can be found. They’re just wrapped up in pretty packaging so that they are more easily palatable. Kind of like how people hide vegetables that their kids won’t eat in their desserts.

“You ready to come clean? To tell the whole truth to Katy?”

“No more backing off and treating her feelings like a damned yo-yo?” Jarrod added.

It didn’t surprise me that Jason and Jarrod wanted to double check my resolve on the drive home. Being completely honest, this past year had taught me that I was behaving selfishly, likean immature, young man and not like an adult or the man my father raised me to be. If he were still alive, he’d have been so disappointed in me and my actions. But I was past letting him down, letting the ones who I loved down. They didn’t deserve that from me. Instead, they deserved my best or even better, they deserved more than my best. And every day from now on, I’d work at being better than I was the day before. I’d do it for them.

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