Page 64 of Dirty Puck

“Figured you’d be hungry once you got home. Up for pumpkin soup? I’m making grilled cheeses too.”

“I wouldn’t turn it down. I’m going to check in with Ma. Let me know when it’s done?”

“Absolutely. I’ve been making some form of soup every day because she’s been able to keep it down. I can make other things too, if you start to tire of soups for lunch, but as long as she can eat it, I want to keep going with it.”

“Thank you,” I replied earnestly. Knowing Bree was here taking charge while I was away made it possible for me to keep playing during this shit.

“We’ve been video-chatting with her oncologist every couple of days since you’ve been gone. His advice is to try foods she used to eat, so I cooked the beef stew yesterday in the Crock-Pot to get it tender as possible. She kept it down, so I call that a win.”

A kiss on her head wasn’t enough. I pulled her into my arms and backed us up until she bumped gently against the island. Then I kissed her. Slow. Deep. Pouring everything I couldn’t quite say into it. She needed to feel how much it meant to me, having her here, helping, grounding everything.

“Oh—sorry.” Claudia. What were the chances she’d step into the kitchen right at that moment?

“No worries,” I said. “She has five days’ worth of kisses coming to make up for what she missed out on while I was away.”

Claudia laughed. “I was just coming to see about Char’s soup.”

“It’s done. Let me get your grilled cheese done, then I’ll send a tray.”

“Better not. She said her stomach is feeling off today and I worry that the fried smell might send her over the edge.”

Shit.That got me. “Let me go in with her, if you don’t mind, Claudia. I’ll only eat the soup too.”

Bree nodded. “I’ll make you a sandwich after you leave the room.”

She ladled two bowls of soup for me and my mom, drizzling what looked like thinned-out sour cream from a squirt bottle on top of mine. Mom’s she left plain. I walked the tray into Ma’s room. She looked up and smiled.

“My boy,” she said. “Seeing you makes my day better.”

“Claudia said you’re feeling off today. Anything I can do?”

She sighed. “I’m dying, Baker. There will be good days and bad days, but you have to be prepared for when I start having more bad days than good until I go.”

Why’d she have to be soeasy come, easy goabout it? My entire world was crumbling and I couldn’t get mad because that would upset her and she didn’t need to deal with my shit when she had so much of her own to bear. I couldn’t eat right now if I wanted to, but sheneededto.

I pushed back any emotion trying to break through and asked, “Want to try some of Bree’s soup?”

“I’ll try to eat some.” As she sipped on a spoonful of pumpkin soup, she said, “Bree set me up in the den yesterday so I could watch the game with her and Claudia. It’s early in the season, but I have a good feeling. I think you’ll be back in the playoffs.”

“I hope so. I’ve got a contract negotiation coming up. I’d like to stay with the Copperheads until I have to retire. It’s a great franchise with great athletes.”

“And good friends,” she countered. Yeah, good friends. I never realizedhowgood until all of this started going down.

“Good friends,” I agreed.

“Jaycee Bishop brought her little LJ over to play with Benny over the weekend. We had a lovely visit. When the boys wanted to play outside, Claudia stayed in with me to docrossword puzzles. I wondered if I’d ever have a daughter-in-law or a grandchild and I couldn’t ask for more than you’ve given me with Bree and Benny. Having Claudia here is the gift I never knew I wanted.”

“I knew you’d love them.”

“You’d have to be crazy not to and I may be a lot of things, but crazy isn’t one of them.”

She got down maybe a quarter of the bowl.

Claudia knocked on the door frame before stepping in. “Ready to go down to the beach?” she asked and my mom smiled.

“You going to the beach?”

“Claudia or Bree wheels me down every day. I love feeling the warmth of the sun and the breeze on my face.”

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