Page 10 of A Little Puck Luck

At least the kid wasn’t upset with me. If anything, he seemed to be interested as he munched on the pizza.

“How did you know?”

I pulled out my phone. This was going to be so fucked up, but I didn’t know what else to do. Besides, my mom would be happy to oblige once the shock wore off.

“I can show you, but it would mean calling my mom. Would you want to do that?”

Eric nodded, and I took a deep breath.

I wished I had a couple of shots flowing through my system, but there was no time. I loved my mom, but she could be intense, and she was going to ask so many questions. Probably questions I didn’t know the answer to myself.

I pulled up the commands to Facetime my mom. She picked up right away, but it took her a few moments to actually angle the camera correctly. Once she was ready, I had to ask, “Mom, are you sitting down?”

It was a dumb question since she spent a few seconds getting herself situated, but I really couldn’t tell if she was standing or not.

“Yup. What’s wrong, Ter? Why do I need to be sitting?”

I motioned for Eric to come over. “I’ll catch you up later, but I have someone I want you to meet. This is Eric.”

I didn’t addyour grandsonsince it was obvious, and I still needed to ask her something.

He waved at my mom while her jaw hung open.

Yeah, she had no poker face, and I wanted to hug the kid so he didn’t feel weird, but I barely knew him. I didn’t want to make things too awkward. “Can you get out some of the old photos of me?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” She got up and went over to where she kept the photo albums. I could hear some background noise. After a few moments, she came back and held up my first-grade school picture. “You mean something like this?”

“Oh s—that looks like me.” Eric gasped.

Did my kid almost swear and then stop himself? Although now he could understand why I realized he was mine.

“Why not show him a couple more? Do you have my first hockey card?”

“Of course.” My mom then flipped through a couple of pages, pulled it out, and held it up to the screen. “This was one of my favorites. So, I should probably ask. What’s your name?”

“Eric Diaz.”

After that, everything felt good, and it was easy to talk to my kid. He was pretty cool and I couldn’t wait to know even more.

Chapter 7

Annette

D-Daywascoming.Itwas time to be discharged, and I had no fucking clue where I was going to live. Probably at a shelter, but I wasn’t sure yet.

It couldn’t be the same shelter as before since Luke had found us there the last time, and I was never going back to him. If I did, I would end up dead at his hands.

There was a knock on the door.

That was when I saw Terry’s face peeking in. If it were possible, it seemed like he was even more apprehensive than last time.

Trying to break the ice, I said, “Two times now. It must be my lucky week.”

He cracked a smile, which was more than I could have asked for.

His smile was still breathtaking, and it could make the world stand still. But then I remembered he wasn’t mine anymore.

He shut the door when he came in. Then, he settled into the seat beside me. “We need to have a talk.”

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