Page 97 of O Goalie Night
“I’ve got to get going. We fly to Tampa in a few hours.”
“Of course.” He stands and starts to walk me back to the front door. “Thanks for coming over, Foster.”
“Thanks for having me. I’m really glad you reached out.”
“Maybe we could do this again sometime?” He looks at me hopefully.
“I’d really like that. I want to meet my niece properly. And Jenna.”
“Do you–” He clears his throat looking suddenly nervous again. “I don’t know if you have plans, but if not, we’d love to have you over for Christmas dinner. But I understand if it's too much, too soon.”
I place my hand on his shoulder and say, “I’ll be here.”
My brother pats me on the back before stepping forward and throwing his arms around me. After nearly a decade, I’m hugging my brother. It’s not the stiff, awkward kind you’d expect after so many years—this is the kind of hug that says everything words can’t.
“I’m sorry I fucked up,” he says, his voice breaking.
“Everyone fucks up,” I answer, feeling him chuckle at our grandfather’s words.
When the hug ends, we’re both sniffing.
“Let me know what time to be here on Christmas,” I say as I’m leaving. “And what I can bring.”
“Just bring yourself.”
I scoff, shaking my head. “I’m definitely bringing Amelia something. I’ve got nine years of presents to make up for and I want it to annoy you as much as possible. I’m thinking a drum set.”
CHAPTER 38
BETH
“Thank you for making the time to meet with me. While there are several topics I want to cover, I promise not to take up too much of your time.”
“Jesus, Beth,” my sister Tara chides from the laptop in front of me. “You’re acting like this is a job interview.”
I feel like this is a job interview. To be honest, I put more preparation into this than I did when I was interviewing for positions I really wanted. The outline I made is next to me on the bed. Several prompts and talking points are highlighted in bright pink and yellow. I’ve mapped out all of the objections I’m expecting my family to raise and how I will respond to each one. They’re there to remind me of the goals I’m trying to accomplish and help me stay on track.
But this is not an interview; it’s a video call with my immediate family, minus Ally and Ben. Ally is on a night shift at the hospital. Ben’s on his way to Florida with his team and while he offered to join the call for support, I told him I wanted to do this on my own.
No, I need to do this on my own. I may have onlyrequested the family meeting earlier today, but in a way I’ve been preparing for this for most of my life.
“First of all, I want to apologise for not telling you earlier that Foster and I were dating. I can understand if you felt hurt, but the relationship was new and we didn’t–”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Sweetie.” My dad holds his palm out to the screen, momentarily obscuring my mom’s face. “You don’t owe any of us an apology.”
I blink in surprise. I mean, I don’t really think I owe them an apology either, but I’ve found that people respond better to criticism when they feel mollified. “I don’t?”
“Well, I, for one, would have appreciated finding out from you directly,” my mother states in a tone that makes it clear she’s still disappointed in me. “But I’m going to be the bigger person, as usual. So everything is fine. We’re all very excited to see you on Friday. Foster is more than welcome to come, too. The more the merrier.”
Slack-jawed, I glance down at my notes for direction, but this is not a scenario I prepared for. Four days ago they wanted me to end my relationship with Foster and move home. Now everything’s peachy and they want me to bring him for the holidays?
None of this makes sense.
“Well, great. That’s great.” I should just accept this change of heart for what it is: a rare gift. But a nagging suspicion that they aren’t telling me everything won’t allow me to let this go so easily. “What changed?”
Six eyes stare back at me like they didn’t understand the question.
“Tara?” I ask because, say what you will about my oldest sister, I can always count on her to tell it like it is.
