Page 106 of Time to Shine

Landon glared at Casey. “Thick walls, huh?”

Casey laughed. “I mean, I think between here and the basement they are.”

“They’d better be,” Landon grumbled. He left the bed and threw his pajamas back on. Then, as stealthily as he could, he opened the door and slipped out. He hoped his parents wouldn’t look up and see him leaving Casey’s bedroom.

They were both distracted by cleaning up whatever Mom had dropped. When Landon got closer, he saw that it was a broken plate that seemed to have been piled with French toast.

“I’m so sorry,” Mom said when she saw Landon. “It just slipped out of my hands.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Landon said as he crouched to help clean up. The plate, at least, had broken neatly in half, so there weren’t any shards. “I’m sad about losing the French toast, though.”

“You and me both,” Dad said.

“I’ll make breakfast sandwiches,” Landon suggested. “That’ll be easy.”

Casey bounded down the stairs, dressed in sweats with his hair pulled back. “Aw, man. French toast down.”

“We can pay for the plate,” Dad offered.

“Oh my god, no,” Casey said. “I barely even use my dishes. Ask your son.”

“It’s true,” Landon confirmed. “I think he just ate food out of his hands before I moved in.”

Casey ruffled Landon’s hair. “Everything got better when you moved in.”

Landon scurried to the garbage can with a handful of French toast, hoping no one could see the color in his cheeks. He made breakfast sandwiches while Casey made coffee and poured orange juice. It was nice, working together in the kitchen, entertaining his parents. It felt...homey.

“So,” Casey said after they finished eating. “You guys ready to see the best arena in the world?”

“Can’t wait,” Mike said. “I’ve never been in an NHL locker room.”

“I’ve been in way too many of them,” Casey joked. “Ours is the best, though. And after, I’m gonna be your guide to the city.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Landon said. It was a reflexive reaction, because despite everything that had happened over the past few days, he still couldn’t imagine Casey actual Hicks wanting to spend his time showing Landon’s parents around.

“I want to,” Casey said. Then his smile faded. “But I get it if you guys want to be alone. No worries.”

Landon glanced at his parents and saw a definite Please let Casey Hicks show us Calgary look in Dad’s eyes.

“I don’t really know the city very well,” Landon conceded. “If you want to join us, that would be cool.”

Casey lit up. “Sweet! I know a fun country bar that has decent food for lunch. You can get the cowboy experience. And we can go up in the Tower, and check out the Christmas decorations downtown. It’s gonna be awesome. Do we have time for the zoo?”

Landon laughed. “The zoo?”

“Yeah! It rocks.”

“It’s December.”

“The zoo is year-round, Stacks. But I like to set a whole day aside for that. Give all the animals the time they deserve, y’know?”

“Sure. Of course.”

Casey beamed at him, and Landon had to turn away to stop himself from kissing him. As fun as the day sounded, he found he was already looking forward to bedtime.

The locker room tour and practice went smoothly, right up until the moment Coach Patrick told Landon he’d be starting tomorrow night’s game. Landon began spiraling, wondering if his parents would even want to go to the game now. Would it be too stressful to watch live?

He waited until they were all headed back to Casey’s car to tell them.

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