Page 44 of In The Game

She shakes her head and presses a finger into her sternum. “I’ve told you, he’smyson. I’ve been raising him. He only has one parent, and I’m very careful about who I let around him.”

I give her phone back.

“Good, then you won’t mind making sure Rob doesn’t go near him.” She tucks the device into her hand. “You may hate me now, but I’ll wear you down. I’m going to take you out again and we’re going to do this right.”

“I don’t date hockey players anymore.”

“Do you fuck them?”

“Go to hell.”

I ignore her answer. We’ll get there eventually. I’m not done with her.

“I’m going to call you every day. I want you to answer. If you block my number, I will come back here and find you.” She looks away from me with a trembling lip, and I tilt her chin up to look at me. “Never run from a bear.”

Her lips part. “I never ran. You did.”

* * *

Our game tonight is heated. All I can think about is Raleigh and Arthur. I’m seeing red. My son has gone his whole life without a father. I haven’t been there.

I didn’t know.

How could something like this happen?

And what’s with the restraining order she mentioned?

When I hit the ice, I check Colorado’s forward into the boards and bomb across the blue line. Sully passes to me, then I fake a return and pull the puck back to deke out their winger. Changing directions, I get the opening I need and shoot the puck into the net. The crowd goes nuts, but all I can think about is her. She and Arthur should be in the WAGs box tonight with Birdie and Micky and the other wives.

“Atta boy, bud! You’re on fire tonight!” Burke says.

I nod and head to the bench. I’m envious of Lonan. Sure, he went through his own time of being separated from Birdie, and it was longer than five years, but he has her now.Does he even realize how lucky he is?His wife is pregnant and he’s here to experience it. He doesn’t have to face the pain of realizing he’s abandoned his family. He got to find out with her when she took the test, got to watch her belly grow, he gets all the doctor’s appointments and ultrasounds. He’ll be there for the birth. For the first word, first steps, first birthdays.

I sit on the bench, and Sully climbs in after me. I grab my water bottle, and we stare out at the game. He’s probably the only guy on the team that can pick up on my mood. “You good?”

“Fine.”

“You need to compartmentalize that shit. We’re in game four.”

I point toward the jumbotron. “I’m putting points on the board, aren’t I?”

“Your head is somewhere else.”

No shit.

After three more shifts, second intermission comes around and I grab my phone when I get back to the locker room. I tap her name. It rings four times before she answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey. It’s me.” As if she doesn’t know, I’m the one who programmed my name in her phone. As soon as I hear her voice, the fury from the game fades and I exhale.

“What do you need, Barrett?”

“Just wanted to check in on you after today. How was the rest of your afternoon?”

“Fine…”

“What about Arthur?”

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