Page 80 of Off Season

Jackson hesitates at the door. “Call me if they give you any trouble.”

“I’m sure they won’t, but I’ll call you if there’s an emergency.”

“Bye, Daddy!” Isabela sings, waving her hand so hard her entire body shakes.

Jackson sighs, gives another small smile, and nods. “Okay, bye. See you later.”

The door clicks shut behind him, and I look down at the little curly blonde girl hanging off my leg.

“So, what do you wanna do?”

She shrugs. “Color?”

“Uh, yeah, okay.”

She takes my hand—or more like she grabs hold of my fingers—and drags me into the living room, where she’s dumped her pink backpack. She empties the contents out on the floor and collects an assortment of colored pens. I sit down next to Ryan, who’s engrossed in the hockey game highlights showing on the screen, his eyes wide.

“How’s hockey camp going, Ryan?” I ask.

He nods slowly, not taking his eyes off the TV. “Good.”

“Did you go this morning?”

He nods again. “Yeah, scored two goals.”

“That’s awesome, dude.”

He aimlessly sticks his thumb up at me, making me laugh. I don’t think he’s blinked once since he’s sat down. He’s following in his dad’s hockey footsteps, and from what Jackson has told me, he seems to be thriving in the U8’s.

It’s wild to think he’s now the same age I was when my dad left.

Isabela climbs onto the couch next to me and settles on her knees, popping the lid from one of her pens before starting to color one of my tattoos.

My brows furrow in concern.

“Uh, Isabela, are those permanent markers?”

“What’s perm-an-ent mean?” She looks up at me curiously.

“Like, this will come off, right?”

“Dunno.” She shrugs, then continues to color, completely unfazed.

I turn to her brother. “Ryan? Do you know if these pens wash off?”

“I think so.” He shrugs too. What’s with these kids shrugging all the damn time? “Can we have snacks?”

I look down at where Isabela is holding my wrist with one hand while she concentrates on coloring with the other. Her tongue peeks out of the corner of her mouth, just like Elliot’s when I walked in on them making bracelets.

“Sure, yeah, go help yourself.”

Ryan jumps off the couch and sprints into the kitchen, returning minutes later with a big bag of chips.

I guess he found the stash I keep for whenever Elliot raids the pantry.

“Don’t eat them all or your dad will go crazy on me.”

“Yeah, okay.” He shoves a handful into his mouth, laughing when the presenter shows fight highlights from last season.

---