Page 38 of Dancing in the Rain

“I get that.” He nodded.

“Sometimes I didn’t believe my mom when she said she had no way to find you. I figured you were a criminal or something and she didn’t want me to know. Then sometimes I thought maybe you were, like, the prime minister of Canada or something, and that was why it had to be secret.”

Drew couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of him. “That would be quite a scandal.”

“It happens.” She shrugged.

“True enough. Well, I’m just me. This has been a shock for me, too.” He looked across the room. “Do you want to talk about your mom?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“If you do, I’ll listen. I’m not very good at talking about my feelings, but I can listen.”

She smoothed a hand over the bright cotton duvet cover. “It makes me really mad.” She huffed out a breath. “At the world. At God. At the doctors. At everyone, pretty much.”

“Yeah.” Hence the outburst earlier. He couldn’t blame her. Not a bit. “I’ve been kind of mad at the world lately, too.”

She eyed him. “Why?”

He leaned back in the chair. “I hurt my knee. They tried three surgeries to fix it and it didn’t work. So I can’t play hockey anymore. I love hockey. It’s all I know how to do.”

Her face softened.

“And my marriage ended.”

“My friend Tyler’s parents got divorced. They were fighting all the time, yelling and throwing things.”

“Ugh.”

“Yeah. Tyler hated it. When they finally told him they were splitting up, he was happy. Well, nothappy. It’s still kind of awful because they hate each other so much and when he’s with his mom, his mom asks him questions about his dad and his new girlfriend and calls the girlfriend a skanky whore. Meanwhile, his dad says his mom is a lying, money-hungry bitch.”

“Jesus.” He clapped a hand over his mouth. “I mean, jeez.”

“Is your divorce like that?”

“No.” He shook his head. “We didn’t even argue much. We had our lawyers work things out, signed some papers, and never talk to each other now.”

“Well, that’s still sad.”

“Yeah, it is. So that’s my life. Sad.”

“And then you found out about me.”

He smiled. “That’s not sad.”

She gazed back at him as if not sure whether to believe him. Then she nodded. “Sorry I had a little fit down there.”

“We all have fits. Part of growing up is learning to keep them inside. Until we’re alone or with someone we can trust and we can blow off steam. I’m probably not the best one to learn from, though, since I still blow up sometimes.”And start fights in bars.

“Did you get in fights when you played hockey?” She leaned forward, eyes alert.

He smiled. “Sometimes. When you’re passionate about something, sometimes you get carried away by emotion.”

She tipped her head. “Is that why you and your wife didn’t fight? You weren’t passionate enough?”

He stared at Chloe. “Uh…yeah, that could be true.”

Christ.

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