Page 91 of Scoring Grey

“Dad could never hate you. If you told him today, I guarantee the first words out of his mouth would be I wish you had told me, followed by I love you.”

“Maybe,” she says with a long sigh, fidgeting with her gold cufflinks.

“What’s wrong with Dash?” Iverson asks, appearing in the doorway, wide-eyed, and we all turn to stare at him and his unexpected intrusion. “I tried to say hi, and he shouldered past me.”

“Damn.” Ada looks at the ceiling. “He heard everything.”

“Wait, he knows about Dad?” Iverson questions, his eyes darting around the room, trying to catch up.

“If you saw him coming from this direction, then yes, he heard everything. Your sister knows, too. I’m going to see if I can’t find him.”

“Mom, he deserves to know,” Eloise says. “He’s a good guy, and if you spent any amount of time with him, you’d love him too.”

“I know, Eloise. I’m very abreast of all things Dash Westin. I just hoped I’d be the one delivering the news. I have only myself to blame for this mess now.” She nods toward the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can’t make things right.”

As Ada exits, Iverson raises his eyebrows and clasps his hands together. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, you arrived at just the right time to help me plot my father’s demise.” I point to the chair opposite Eloise’s bed. “Have a seat. It’s going to be a long night.”

26

ELOISE

“Mom!” Adler runs through the front door, startling the shit out of me.

“Adler.” I throw my hand over my chest. “Are you trying to give your mom a heart attack?”

“Sorry, Mom. Dad sent me up because he forgot his wallet. I asked if we could stop in the pub next door for one of those giant pretzels, and now he can’t pay.”

I look across the room, and sure enough, his wallet is on the foyer stand beside the door. “Okay, I guess we better go bail him out.”I grab his wallet. “Next time, we can call an order in and have it delivered. Your dad is exhausted after games.”

“I know, but he said he was hungry too. Did you see the game tonight? He was a beast. He scored one goal, and since we won two to one tonight, that’skind ofa big deal, Mom.”

“Yes, buddy, I had the game on. I didn’t miss any of it,”I say as we take the elevator downstairs.

The Kings are in the playoffs, and I’ve missed the first two games so far. It sucks. On the first day, I wasn’t dischargedin a timely manneras expected. They kept me overnight for observation, but when I woke up with a sore neck, the doctor wanted to have it X-rayed.Needless to say,I missed the game, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because the last place a person with a concussion needs to visit is a stadium packed full of screaming fans.I’m so upset I could cry, but I’m trying to put on a happy face for Adler and Cal.My dad and Iverson haven’t left because, well, duh,Cal is playing for the Stanley Cup, and they wouldn’t miss a game for the world, but still, I wish it were me attending with them.

“It’s cold outside,MissEloise,”Jenkins says when he sees me coming innothing more thanjeans and a sweater.

“I’m aware. We’re just going next door. Apparently, Cal can win hockey games, but he can’t remember his wallet.”

“Oh, I wonder why he didn’t just put it on his tab?”Jenkins comments.

“You’re right, that’s a good?—”

“Come on, Mom”—Adler pulls me out the door—“the foodis going toget cold, and Dad’s tired.”

“Adler Michael, why do I feel like you’re up to something?”I ask as I pull open the door to the pub, only to be drenched in darkness. “What in the world?”

“Surprise,”is whispered in a hushed chorus as the lights slowly dim onand my family and our friends greet me.

“What is all this?”I smile as Cal pulls me into his side and hooks his arm around my shoulders. He must have rented the place out for the remainder of the night.

“We knew you were upset you couldn’t make it to the games because of your accident, and we wanted to celebrate with you,” he says, gesturing toward our guests.

“And we got you these,”Roe says, handing me a pair of noise-canceling headphones.“Nowyou can come to the game tomorrow.”

“You guys, this is too much. Really, you didn’t need to do all of this for me. You should be focused on winning the game tomorrow. Thisis the Stanley Cup.”

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