Page 117 of Time to Shine

“But isn’t it too soon? Or too...” Landon sighed. “I’ll be gone soon.”

“We could make it work, though, right?” Casey asked.

“How?”

“We can still see each other sometimes, probably. And we can talk.”

Landon was silent a long while. “I don’t want to do that. It’s not fair to you, and it wouldn’t work, long term.”

“But what if—”

“Casey. Think about it. We literally won’t be in the same city for months once I’m gone. And then maybe we can see each other a bit in the summer, but then what? I could end up anywhere: the East Coast, a different league, Europe. Who knows?”

“Or,” Casey argued, “Morin retires at the end of this season and you take his place.”

Landon shook his head. “They won’t do that. They’ll sign someone better. Trade for someone. It won’t be me.”

Anger flickered in Casey. Landon didn’t even want to try? “I don’t want this to be over when you go.”

“Sometimes life is just really unfair and there’s nothing you can do about it.” That hung in the air for a moment before Landon said, “I’m sorry. There’s just a lot going on with me at once. I don’t mean to be an asshole. Let’s just—” he gestured at the house “—have a good Christmas. We can figure stuff out later.”

“Okay,” Casey said, though his heart felt much heavier than it had a few minutes ago.

They carried everything from the car through the giant double front doors, which both had wreaths on them, and into an actual Christmas explosion. Like Casey’s own house, the layout of the cabin was very open. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all enormous, and all visible from the front entrance. Garlands, wreaths, lights, and other festive decorations were everywhere: around the windows, draped along the solid wood railing that ran around the mezzanine-style second floor, on the walls, on the floors, and on every other surface. And to cap it all off, a massive, lavishly decorated Christmas tree stood in the very center of the house.

“Casey! Landon! Welcome!” Mom said. She had a glass of wine in her hand, which she set down next to a figurine of a moose wearing a Santa hat so she could hug them. “Merry Christmas.”

“Did you do all this decorating?” Casey asked.

Mom laughed. “Oh, Casey. No, it came like this.”

He supposed it had been a stupid question. He was sure he’d ask a lot more of them over the next couple of days, and get a similar fond-yet-mocking response every time.

Landon bent and put his lips close to Casey’s ear. “I was wondering the same thing.”

Casey pressed his lips together to stop himself from kissing him.

“Should we put the gifts under the tree?” Landon asked Mom.

She waved a hand. “Yes, and wow! You boys did some shopping, huh?”

“A bit.”

“What can I get you to drink? We have everything. Like, literally everything. I challenge you to think of something we don’t have.”

“We can get our own drinks,” Casey said. “You relax.” He waved at Dad, Grandma, Mike, and Joanna, who were sitting in the living room in front of a roaring fire in the massive stone hearth.

“Sorry I only scored two for you last night, Grandma,” he called out.

“You should be,” she joked. “Absolutely terrible.”

Casey and Landon put their gifts under the tree, then went to the kitchen. Brooke was there, adding thinly shaved meat slices to a large charcuterie board.

“This is my contribution to the festivities,” Brooke said. “’Tis the season to consume way too much salt.”

For all of Mom’s bragging about drink selection, there was no lemonade. When he complained about it, Brooke said, “Mix limoncello with soda water and thank me later.”

So he did. And after he’d downed his second one, he thought maybe the ratio in the glass shouldn’t be 50/50.

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