Page 67 of Rainbow Kisses

The text came aroundnine-thirty Monday morning, just after I’d dropped Maddy off at the local YMCA.

The team had left the day after Christmas for two overnight away games. Maddy had stayed with Raffi, who had also entertained Krista and another kid from Krista’s school, whose parents had needed a last-minute caregiver for their son. The woman was a saint. Or a soft touch with a huge heart who rarely said no to anyone. Not that she was a pushover. Miss Raffi hadraised four amazing humans. Including the woman who’d just invited me to lunch.

Brian

Yes where?

Rain

My place? Working there this afternoon

Brian

1230?

Rain

See you then

Fuck,I’d missed her this weekend. I’d thought about her almost all the time I didn’t spend worrying about Maddy. How the fuck did real parents do this every fucking day?

I hadn’t seen Rain since Christmas dinner, which had been an exercise in self-control. I felt like every time I tried to talk to her, ten people watched us. Which was ridiculous. There’d been nearly twenty people at dinner and at least eight conversations going on at the same time. We’d been seated at the same table, but on opposite ends. Rebel had been at the other table but directly in my line of sight so I couldn’t easily ignore him. And he wasn’t about to be ignored.

I knew we needed to talk, but that wasn’t going to happen at practice or on the way to a game. And my downtime from hockey centered around Maddy after school, helping her with homework and getting her fed and doing dishes and cleaning up and making sure she had everything she needed for school the next day.

Maddy had been quiet when I’d dropped her off at Miss Raffi’s the day after Christmas. She’d given me a hug, her hand wrapped around the key her mom had given her. Then she’d disappeared into the kitchen where I could hear Krista chattering away.

When I’d picked her up Sunday, after a couple of grueling games that we’d split, and a busted lip from a high stick, we’d had to go to the mandatory intake session at the rehab. If we wanted to see Linny at all during her six-week stay at the center, we had to attend a meeting at the center, which was an hour and a half away.

Naturally, she’d been silent the entire drive, and I’d been anxious about what exactly this was going to be. Luckily, the session had been geared toward the kids, who ranged in age from two to seventeen. And the therapists had been amazing. They’d split the group into two by age. Maddy’s group leader hadn’t sugarcoated anything but had explained the process then let the kids talk and ask questions. Meanwhile, the adults had their own session in the next room.

On the drive home, she seemed a little more like herself, telling me about what she’d done this weekend, which had involved a lot of movies, cookies, and a couple pizzas, including one with broccoli that she’d actually liked.

We didn’t talk about the session. I figured if she wanted to, she’d let me know. We did talk about her plans for the week, since school was still out until after New Year’s. I’d been worried about leaving her alone in the apartment while I went to practice and workouts, but apparently, Miss Raffi had taken care of that too.

The local YMCA ran a program for kids during the day throughout the break. Swimming, art classes, songwriting workshops, video game programming. Hell, I wanted to sign up.Maddy seemed excited to go. And it kept her mind off other things.

I’d dropped Maddy off at nine that morning. She’d waved once then disappeared inside. And I’d gone to practice.

With a smile on my face because I knew I’d get to see Rain at lunch.

I was the first guy at the arena, but only until Rowdy walked into the locker room, dressed in track pants and a Devils’ sweatshirt. I expected a greeting but not a conversation. Instead, he motioned for me to follow him into the deserted coaching office, next to the locker room.

“Hey, everything okay with you? I know you got a lot going on, but is there something I can help with?”

I grimaced. “That first game was pretty shitty, wasn’t it?”

I’d fumbled a couple of passes that might have cost us goals in both games. And the fact that we’d lost one of the games hadn’t helped.

Rowdy shrugged that off. “We all have shitty games sometimes. I wasn’t talking about your ice time. How’d the rehab meeting go?’

“Not as bad as I thought. I think…we’ll get through this.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it. I just need you to know that if you need anything, I’m here. No matter what. We’re friends first.”

A friend whose sister I was looking forward to getting naked in a few hours. And whose brother would have my head if he knew. Reb and I absolutely needed to figure our shit out before Rain and I got caught. And we would. It was a matter of time.

I’m not sure Rowdy would be too thrilled with me messing around with his sister either.

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