Page 42 of The Long Game

“Wimp,” Colton said and Jack laughed.

Grady eyed Jack. “Oh yeah? I guess that means you’re going all in on the grandissimo blueberry bomb?”

Jack smiled like Grady couldn’t see the alarm in his eyes. “Why not? I’m sure I’ll love whatever you’re having, Colton.”

Even Colton looked dubious, which should have been fair warning. He bolted to the counter while Grady and Jack stepped aside to linger by the door. Grady took that moment to check his phone.

He zeroed in on one particular email, growing more unhappy the further he read.

“You okay?” Jack asked.

This was not the time or the place. “I’ve got an update for you, but we don’t have to talk about it now.”

“No, not now,” Jack agreed, casting a meaningful glance at Colton. “We can talk about it later.”

Grady ran a hand down Jack’s arm and squeezed his hand. Jack smiled gratefully and Grady was smiling back when Colton arrived with two bathtubs of coffee and one “boring” latte.

He looked between them and muttered, “Unbelievable.”

Jack hefted his huge, frothy, liquid sugar high from the crook of Colton’s arm and led the way outside. They wandered down the street and settled on a park bench by the world’s largest lobster statue that overlooked the harbor beyond.

Jack took a tentative sip, his eyebrows going up. “This is pretty good.”

“Told you!” Colton crowed, grinning as he drank half of his in one go. Grady was getting heart palpitations just thinking about all that caffeine. Jesus.

Jack took another sip. “You know CPR, right?” he asked Grady. “Because a diabetic coma is a definite possibility. I think they put extra-extra sugar in this thing.”

“Please,” Colton said with an eye roll. “You got the most carefully crafted coffee that woman has ever produced.”

“What makes you say that?” Jack asked.

Colton looked at Jack like he was an idiot and leaned toward Grady. “Does he honestly not know?” he muttered out the side of his mouth.

Grady bit back a smile while Jack pretended not to hear them. “Ignoring it is his superpower.”

“Huh.” Colton considered Jack for a long moment. “If I had a face like that, I’d be out—”

“Ooookay,” Jack said. “So, what do you think of Shediac?”

Colton shrugged, willing to humor Jack. “It’s cool. I’ve never seen the ocean before. That’s why I came this way.”

Grady had a thousand questions about where Colton had been for the past two years and where he had been headed before landing in Moncton. Was the goal Halifax? Or was Moncton the farthest he could manage with a shelter he couldcount on? Grady knew woefully little about how kids like Colton moved around the country, though he was certain he would be horrified to find out.

“We can do better,” Jack said while Grady struggled with his grim thoughts. “Shediac Harbor isn’t really the ocean.”

“No?” Colton asked. He wrinkled his nose. “Sure smells like it.”

Jack grinned. “I mean, itis, and the Northumberland Strait is cool, but we should go out to Cape Breton sometime. Maybe if Grady can get a couple of days off before my schedule gets crazy with the hockey season. It’s beautiful and there’s nothing but the ocean between there and France. It’s like the edge of the world.”

Grady held his breath, exchanging a look with Jack over Colton’s head while they waited for his answer.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“That would be great. I haven’t been in ages.” Grady’s voice was calm, like he wasn’t doing mental fist-pumps and hoping like hell Colton was coming around to his proposal. He still had no idea what the hell he was going to do with a sixteen-year-old in his life, but he suddenly, passionately, wanted to take said sixteen-year-old to the goddamn ocean. “The Bay of Fundy is an option, too. It has these huge tides. Over forty feet.”

“Sounds interesting,” Colton allowed.

Hoping he wasn’t pushing too hard, too fast, Grady nudged Colton with his shoulder. “Have you thought at all about what we talked about? About coming to live with me?”

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