Page 105 of Not A Chance

While Emery and Liam had some flexibility with their jobs, it wasn’t the case for the whole family.

Once Theo told his family he was retiring, Chase had volunteered to let one of his co-leads take on the big project his architecture firm was working on this spring so that he’d have more freedom to come to Theo’s games. And for the first time in his career, Joe had left the SJSU football team in the hands of his assistant coach for a handful of games in order to be here.

My eyes threatened to fill every time I thought about them coming together for Theo. I swiped a finger under each eye just in case any rogue tears threatened to escape.

I’d worn waterproof eye makeup for a reason.

“Aw. You’re such a softie now, Ind. I love it,” Abbie said fondly.

“Am not,” I argued half-heartedly. I totally was. And I didn’t even mind anymore.

Even though I couldn’t see Theo’s face through his goalie mask whenhe’d come on the ice during the pre-game program, I knew he’d been thrilled. Last night, I’d texted Michaels to point Theo in our direction before the game started.

Instead of skating straight to goal, Theo made his way over to the glass and pointed his stick at me with a nod.

Now, hours later, after a nail-biting game, Joe and I made our way toward the locker room. I hoped that having his family here to celebrate him would ease the sting of the Tempests’ loss.

As we rounded the final corner toward the locker room, Joe stopped short.

“Indie, I know you must be anxious to make sure Theo’s okay, but do you mind if I go ahead and have a quick word with him first? I don’t want to spoil your moment.” Joe’s usual calm was punctuated with a quick roll of his shoulders. He glanced toward the door where the players would exit from.

Knowing how much Theo had always wished his dad had made it to more of his hockey games over the years, there was no way I was going to stand in the way of their father-son moment, especially with Joe initiating it.

Theo and I had all the moments in the world ahead of us.

“Of course, Joe.” I offered him a soft smile. “I can…” I gestured around the corner, offering to give them total privacy.

“No need. You’re welcome to stay. I only want to make sure Theo hears what I have to say before we rejoin the family and the chaos begins again. And before he comes out here, I want to thank you, Indie. Not just for now but for making my son so obviously happy all these months. I haven’t seen this kind of joy in him since before we lost Alice.” His jaw tightened briefly mentioning his wife’s name, but the tension around his eyes smoothed once he took a deep breath.

“He makes me really happy too.” My voice wobbled on the fewwords I could force out.

“I do hope you’ll consider calling me ‘Dad,’ you know, when the time comes?” He winked before moving to wait just outside the locker room door.

I couldn’t do anything except lean against the opposite wall, a ripple of surprised pleasure lingering in the wake of Joe’s words.

It was several minutes after the majority of players had already left until Theo emerged.

Thankfully, the hallway had quieted, giving Theo and his dad a moment together without his teammates vying for his attention.

Despite the team’s loss, Theo grinned when he saw us both waiting for him.

“Hey, Rocky. Hi, Dad.” He sounded tired but happy. As much as I wanted to jump into his arms and celebrate his last game with him, I nodded toward Joe.

Joe pulled Theo into his arms for a tight hug. He murmured something quietly into Theo’s ear before releasing him.

Joe kept a hand on Theo’s shoulder, his gaze steady on his son.

“I want you to know how proud I am, and have always been, of all you have accomplished in your career, Theo. I know for a fact that all my players over the years probably got tired of me bragging about my talented, dedicated son.” Theo’s mouth opened in shock, but no words emerged before he closed it again. Joe gave his shoulder an affectionate squeeze before continuing. “One of my biggest regrets has been that you might have believed that I didn’t support your hockey dreams.”

Theo swallowed deeply, hesitating.

“You mean you wouldn’t rather I played football?” he said quietly.

“Never,” Joe insisted, his tone sad. “I should have made myself clear when you started out, but I loved that your mom went allin with you on your dream. I wanted you two to have that bond since lord knows she had zero interest in football despite marrying a college football coach.” He chuckled warmly with the memory before sobering once more.

“I’m sorry, Theo.” He brought his other hand up to Theo’s shoulder, looking directly into his eyes. “I’m just as proud of you today, retiring as one of the top goalies in the league, as I was the day your Gong Gong first put you onto the ice in your brand-new skates. I have that very moment framed on my office shelf. It was always one of our favorite photos. Your mom was so happy when you were happy, T. Now that you’ve found love yourself”—he turned his head to smile at me—“and are moving home again, I hope you’ll give me a chance to be more present in this next stage of your life.”

Theo threw his arms around his dad in response. “Thank you, Dad. I want that too.” His voice was thick with emotion.

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