Page 8 of The Home Game

“So, what are you going to do about housing?” Matty asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned a hip against the counter near Antoni.

It made his biceps pop and Antoni looked away before he got caught drooling. Those arms. Holy shit.

This guy was something else.

“Um,” Antoni managed, staring out the patio doors at the backyard. This place had a fucking tennis court. What in the hell were you thinking, Aunt Sharon? “Pray a lot?”

Matty shrugged. “I mean, I’ll never knock anyone’s faith but you might need something more concrete than that, buddy.”

“Probably,” Antoni admitted, slumping back against the stool. He covered his face in his hands. No, he couldn’t fucking cry again. He refused.

Matty settled a hand on his back, rubbing a little. “Aww, you’re really going through it, aren’t you?”

Numbly, Antoni nodded, dropping his hands into his lap and taking a deep, shuddering breath. “I just … I have to take care of my kids. I have to find a house. If I don’t, they could be taken away.”

Matty frowned. “By the courts or child services or whatever you Canadians call it?”

Antoni nodded, swallowing hard. “Yeah. So basically, after my friends died, I was granted ninety-day temporary guardianship.”

“Uhh.” Matty scratched at his short beard. “Math was never my best subject but I thought you’d had the kids since last spring and something’s not adding up.”

Antoni managed a faint smile. “Yeah, they’ve been with me since April. I’ve applied for permanent custody but their grandparents served me saying they’re applying for custody as well. It’s a whole complicated mess but the short version is, earlier this summer they extended my guardianship while they do a parenting assessment.”

“Okay.” Matty frowned.

“The parenting assessment takes a few months and they check in periodically to see how we’re doing. Once that’s done, there’ll be a settlement conference with all of the lawyers and a judge. That’ll happen sometime this fall and I’ve got to get our housing figured out before then. I can’t have the kids living in a shitty motel or something, you know? I have to show that I have this situation under control. I need them to see that I have a stable home environment for the kids and that they’re happy and safe.”

“Are you sure you’re their best option?” Matty asked softly.

“I’m kind of their only good option,” Antoni admitted. “Bethany’s parents are great people but they’re quite a bit older and in really poor health. We visit them when we can, but they’re not up to watching the kids on a regular basis.”

Matty nodded. “Yeah. Okay, I can see how that would be tough to keep up with all those kiddos.”

“Exactly. Corey’s parents are the ones who are trying to get custody and they’re, um, really really religious. Like, ‘gays are burning in hell’ religious. Eli, the ten-year-old, they’re uh, non-binary. Corey’s parents would … God, I don’t even want to know what the fuck they’d do to Eli’s spirit if they were granted custody.” He glanced over at Matty warily. “You know what non-binary is?”

“Sure,” Matty said with an easy smile. “Somebody who doesn’t feel like they’re either a man or a woman, right? I mean, if Eli is ten, it would be boy or girl, I assume, but same idea, yeah?”

“Uh, yeah,” Antoni said, a little surprised. “You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff.”

Matty shot him an amused look. “For a hockey player?”

“Uhh.” Antoni made a face. “Sorry. Shouldn’t have assumed …”

The hockey players in his school had been meatheads but maybe that wasn’t fair. All seventeen-year-old boys were idiots. Antoni should know. He’d been one too. Just not the sporty type.

He’d been a bookish idiot.

“Nah, it’s cool.” Matty waved it off. “You might be surprised though. The team does a big Pride celebration game every year and we meet with members of the community. We march in the parades too. But also, my captain, Dustin Fowler, he’s married to a former figure skater. Do you know who Charlie Monaghan is?”

Antoni shook his head. “Nope.”

“Well, Charlie’s awesome. He’s … gender non-conforming, I think? I dunno. Charlie just says he likes pretty things and he thinks it’s rude that people tell him he can’t enjoy what he likes.”

Antoni smiled. “I think Eli would agree with that sentiment.”

“So, anyway. Yeah, half the team is gay or bi or whatever,” Matty said with a shrug. “Dustin’s married to Charlie, Nico is engaged to August, and two of the guys on the team—Jonah and Felix—are engaged to each other. Okay, so that’s not half the team but you get my point. And the rest of the guys are all fine with it. We sometimes go to gay clubs for a drink or to dance or whatever. We’ve got some really great people on this team.”

“Huh,” Antoni said. Okay, so hockey was way more progressive than he’d realized.

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