Page 164 of Goaltender Interference

“Can you both excuse me a minute? I need to—” She gestured vaguely and Nolan and Connor both nodded.

She disappeared toward the sign marked ‘restrooms’ and Connor turned to look at Nolan.

“Hey. How are you doing, Nols?”

“Uhh.” Nolan looked a little dazed. “I don’t know.”

Connor patted his shoulder. “That’s okay. You don’t have to know. Not right away.”

“Do you think shemeansit?” Nolan asked.

“That she loves you and wants to support you? Absolutely.”

“And like, what she said, that means she doesn’t quite get it all but she’s gonnatry, right?”

“Yes. It means she needs a little time to adjust,” Connor said softly. “It’s hard, when you grow up believing something and you have to confront the fact that maybe it isn’t what you thought it was. And that it’s hurting the people you love. And in order to take care of them, you have to leave those beliefs behind.”

“Is that what you did?”

Connor nodded.

“So like, Mom might stop being Orthodox?”

“I don’t know,” Connor admitted. “That’s a choice your mom has to make for herself. But she is gonna have to figure out how to take her family’s beliefs and her own and settle them with what her world looks like now.”

Kelly’s coming out had been one thing, but with a bi ex-husband and a gay son, that had to have shaken up her world in a very big way.

“Are Grandma and Grandpa Enescu gonna be okay with this?”

“I don’t know,” Connor said slowly. “I hope they will, but I don’t really know.”

Viv’s parents were quite a bit older than Connor’s. Viv had been an only child and been born later in life for both of them. They were deeply involved with their church in New York and although they loved Nolan and the girls, they’d never approved of Connor or his family.

The kids had never seemed particularly close to the Enescus and even Viv had never pushed for them to spend a lot of time there.

“But don’t forget, you have eleven million O’Sheas who love you,” Connor reminded his son.

Nolan cracked a smile. “I know. Hey, is it okay if I tell everyone at Thanksgiving?”

“You can tell them whenever you feel comfortable,” Connor assured him.

Viv appeared at the table again, her face washed free of most of the makeup she’d been wearing and she suddenly reminded Connor of the girl he’d fallen in love with. The slightly awkward but pretty one who had seemed more interested in her law books than him at first.

She smiled tentatively at their son. “You can say no, Nolan, if you want. But how would you feel about staying here for a bit while your dad and I take a walk and talk about some things?”

Nolan shrugged. “Um, sure. That’s fine.”

He dug through his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. His headphones were already around his neck and Connor had no doubt he could keep himself entertained for a long while.

“You’re gonna have to let me out then,” Connor said, nudging his son’s leg. “I’m not crawling under the table.”

Nolan laughed, looking more like his usual self, and a stab of relief went through Connor.

After he was out of the booth, he squeezed Nolan’s shoulder. “Text me if you need anything, otherwise, we’ll be back in a bit.”

“Okay, cool.” Nolan already had a video pulled up on his phone, clearly ready to be done with his parents already. Not that Connor blamed him.

Connor and Viv walked out of the café in silence, but Viv was barely through the door before she burst into tears.

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