Page 11 of For the Win

I roll my eyes at the nickname.It’s what my teammates have always called me, so I’m used to it, but it’s not my name.“Hey, Lace.How’s it going?”

“Good.Come on in.You guys want a beer?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” I answer.

“Yep,” Ash replies.

She laughs and heads to the fridge while we turn in to the living room.Everly’s already here, along with JP, his girlfriend Taylor, and Théo, of course.My other brother Noah and our niece Riley drove up from San Diego.Only Jackson isn’t here.He lives in Chicago and lucky him, he’s missing out on all this shit.

We exchange greetings and take seats.Lacey hands Ash and me beers.

“Okay, we’re all here now,” Everly says.“So.”She looks around at us.“I guess you all know that I confronted Matthew and Dad at the game a couple of weeks ago.”

We all nod.“What’s up with that, Ev?”I ask, loosely holding my beer.“We had a plan.”

“I know.”She gives me a toothy grin.“Sorry about wrecking the plan.I...well, the truth is...”She pauses and I can see she’s getting emotional.Shit.“Well, I’ll just be blunt.If Dad is dying, this all seems so ridiculous.”

“He’s not dying,” I immediately object.

Everyone exchanges uncomfortable glances.

My gut cramps.“I mean, not right away.”

I don’t know much about different kinds of dementia, but I talked to one of my Pasadena Condors teammates about it once.His grandma has Alzheimer’s, and he makes it sound pretty goddamn terrifying.

“Maybe not,” Everly concedes.“But we don’t know for sure what’s going on with him.Mom’s taking him to the doctor next week.She’s going with him.”

“Maybe you should go too,” Ash suggests to Everly.

She shakes her head.“Mom can handle it.”

“Are you sure?”I ask.“I know she’s strong, but this is tough stuff.”

“I’d totally go if she wanted me to.But I think she’s got this.We’re all just happy he finally agreed to go.”

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Noah mutters.

“True.”Everly sighs.

We’ve had a hard time convincing Dad he needs to see a doctor.It would be easy to just take his word for it that he’s fine, but we all know he has to do it.

“I’ve discovered a few bad business decisions he made the last couple of years,” Théo says quietly.“This has been going on for longer than we realized, I think.”

“He’s damn good at covering it up,” JP puts in.His girlfriend reaches for his hand and squeezes it.

“He is,” Everly agrees.“Anyway, we’ll see what comes of that.But I kind of had a moment...fighting over money is stupid.I basically told Matthew that family is more important than money.”She tips her head.“And I know it’s privileged to say that, because we all have more than enough money.But seriously, we don’t know how long Dad has left, or how long we’ll havehim...”She makes air quotes with her fingers.“Because this disease is stealing him from us.I’m sure Mark and Matthew don’t want that to be how things end with their father.”

“I think you’re right,” JP says.“Dad wants to go to the doctor appointment next week too.”His dad, meaning, Matthew, Dad’s oldest son.

My eyes pop open wide.“Wow.Really?”

“Yeah.”JP winces.“But Chelsea won’t let him.”

“Well, that sucks,” Riley says.She’s Mark’s daughter.“He should be able to.”

“Do you blame her?”Everly challenges Riley.There’s always been tension between these two, since Riley’s dad has never liked our mom, and we’ve always tried to defend her.“Nobody trusted her for years.Why would she trust them?”

Riley purses her lips.“Fair, I guess.”

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