Page 55 of Off The Ice

“What did he say?” Mom asked shakily, averting her eyes as she pulled at a thread on her sweatshirt.

“Not much. He asked how I was doing. About my life. He wants to meet up.” Her eyes landed on me. “And he wants Liam to come.”

Fuck that.

A sentiment that I spoke out loud, causing Maggie to furrow her brows at me as ifIwas the offensive piece of shit rather than the guy who abandoned us.

“Why would you even want to see him, Mags?” I asked, standing up. “He left. He didn’t want anything to do with us for the last fifteen years. Even entertaining a phone call with him is more than he deserves.”

“Liam!” Maggie jumped to her feet, though she was still several inches beneath me. “Why won’t you just give him a chance?”

“A chance to do what, Mags?” My voice rose. “Justify why he left and never looked back? Explain why he never bothered to call, or write, or show up for his children? There’s no excuse that’ll erase all that.”

“You’re right!” she yelled back. “Nothing’s going to erase what already happened, but maybe he wants to do better now.”

“We don’t need him!”

“Liam,” my mother’s voice tried to soothe from the sidelines.

“You don’t needanyone,” Maggie’s voice broke. “But what about me? What ifIneed someone?”

“Then good fucking luck to you because he’s never going to be what you want him to be. He’s already proven he can’t.”

“You don’t get it!” she screamed. “You weren’t the one crying yourself to sleep every night after he left.”

No, I wasn’t. Because she and my mom did enough of that for the three of us. Two people crying over that guy were two people too many. I wasn’t going to add to that list.

But the worst part was Mom and her waiting. Expecting him to come back. Fuck, I had a feeling she spent years thinking it was all just a mistake, and he’d come walking through the door any day with flowers and an apology.

It just settled the matter more firmly for me.

“Fuck that guy,” I told her. “You’re not that broken little kid anymore, and seeing him now isn’t going to fix her.”

Maggie’s eyes welled with tears, and I felt like the biggest asshole in the world.

“Maggie,” I said softly, wanting to reach out and fix everything I had just broken. But she held out a hand, stopping me in my tracks.

“Just because you’re angry at the world doesn’t mean I need to be. And if you won’t see him, fine. ButIneed this.”

I stared at her, determination blazing in her eyes. Then down to Mom, who looked suddenly so small and frail, not saying anything as the news of it all washed over her.

There she was, letting us duke it out like we always did. Dad left, and all of a sudden, she didn’t know how to parent. Couldn’t figure out the line of discipline between coming across too harsh or letting us off too easy, so she just… left us to do whatever we were going to do.

“I should go,” I said, not knowing what else to do, only knowing that they were both better off without me.

“Great idea,” Maggie said, following me toward the door.

I didn’t know why I couldn’t react to things like a normal fucking person. Or why my first instinct was to lash out andboard myself up rather than try to listen to what Maggie was saying.

“And Cassie already left, by the way,” Maggie said, resentment burning in her eyes. “Because I know you sure as hell didn’t come here to see me.”

And then she slammed the door behind me, leaving me with the fear that I never allowed my thoughts to linger on for too long.

Maybe I was more likehimthan I ever wanted to be. More like him than I could live with being.

Chapter Nineteen

Cassie

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