Page 100 of I'm Your Guy
“I got her a day at the spa.”
“Ooh.” My mother sounds impressed. “That’s nice. I was going to suggest tickets to the Trenton game for her and Brian.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” I admit. My sister let her season tickets go after I got traded. “But, Ma, I don’t know if I want you guys at that game.”
She’s so quiet for a second that I wonder if the call got dropped. “You think there’ll be another fight? With Marco?”
My stomach rolls just imagining it. That game is going to be so difficult, and she has no idea. “I think it’s a possibility,” I say carefully. “All I can promise you is that it won’t be me who starts it.”
“Well good,” she says, and I wince. “You never told me what happened between you two. But I believe in you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“And Tommy—I know I raised you with the idea that family is supposed to try to get along. But maybe that wasn’t right. I never accounted for the fact that your cousin is an angry little shithead.”
I choke out a laugh, because I’ve never heard her speak like this before.
“That doesn’t mean I want you to punch each other again. There are better ways of dealing with bullies, Tommaso.”
Are there, though? I wish I could think of one. “Does it bother you much? That there’s a rift between us?”
“No,” she says quickly. “Your uncle saved us when I was young and stupid. And I was so grateful, but my gratitude isn’t infinite. Not everyone is deserving of our love. And I know you. My boy listens more than he talks. My boy doesn’t start fights with his teammates on national TV. So whatever Marco and Vin did, I can only imagine how long it had been brewing. For years, I bet. And I should have known.”
I blow out a breath. “It’s not on you, Ma. That doesn’t make sense.”
“Doesn’t it?” she grumbles. “I wanted you to play hockey with your uncle and cousins, because I didn’t give you a proper father. I thought you needed that. But I grew up in a house with Vin. I know how he can be.”
Do you? Then why did you ever subject me to that?
I’m not going to ask, though. It won’t help her heal. And Vin’s behavior is nobody’s fault but his.
“Do you want to see a hockey game while you’re here?” I ask her.
“Absolutely,” she says immediately. “I don’t care if it’s a long night. I just want to be near you. And bake Christmas cookies.”
“All right, Ma. You’re in. And I’m ready for those cookies.”
“Now I’d better go. Gia is here to take me home.”
“Bye, Ma. Do whatever the doctor wants you to.”
She promises she will, and we hang up. I recommence wandering around my house, feeling restless.
Mom wants to meet Carter, but I don’t know where things stand with him. And he still isn’t here, so I end up shooting him a text.
Are you all right?
I immediately regret hitting Send. Because of course he’s all right. He’s a full-grown adult going about his business. I’m just the loser who’s on edge about everything that’s happened.
He doesn’t return by the time I leave for the game, and I drive myself into Denver, almost wishing Newgate’s car was still broken. I don’t need more time alone, where I’m trapped inside my own head.
Kapski pulls into the parking lot right as I do. “How are you?” he asks me in his team leader’s voice as we approach the entrance. “Nice morning off?”
Well, Kapski, I sixty-nined my hot interior designer. And then I made everything awkward. “It was a pretty good morning. You?”
“Can’t complain.” He holds the door for me, and we head inside.
When I walk into the dressing room, Stoney is wearing nothing but a jock strap and a Santa hat. He’s carrying a metal bowl with little strips of paper inside. “Secret Santa time!” he says, shaking the bowl in my direction.
