Page 86 of Dirty Puck

“Don’t let me interrupt,” she replied, smiling at the two of us. “Come on, Benny. Let’s dip our toes in the ocean.” Benny’s eyes seemed to giggle every time the water hit his toes. The kid was onto something with that.

Bree and I both looked over to the entrance to the kitchen when we heard my mom’s wheelchair on the wooden floor.

“What are you doing up?” I asked.

“I heard voices.”

“Ma, you should’ve let one of us help you into the chair.”

“I wanted to do it myself.” My mother and Bree were so much alike in that respect. Strong to the point of stubbornness. I just shook my head.

Bree looked at me then back at my mom. “It was a full day yesterday, Char,” she said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to rest more?”

My mom glanced over at Claudia and Benny. “No. I’d like to spend the morning with my grandson.”

Bree’s soft gasp might’ve been inaudible for everyone else, but I didn’t miss it. And Claudia—shit, I adored that woman—said, “Come on, Benny. Let’s help Grandma Char down tothe water with us.” And the two of them walked over to my mom, Benny reaching up to hold her hand when Claudia released his to take the grips on the back of the chair. I moved from my spot behind Bree to hold the door open wide for them.

Claudia chuckled as she passed through the threshold. “We do this every day.”

Her subtle way of saying she had this. And I knew she did. I trusted the woman completely. The wooden boardwalk creaked under the wheels of the chair as they moved into the morning light. Mom’s thin shoulders hunched under a shawl she’d wrapped herself in, but her face tilted toward the sun. Bree joined me as I watched their retreating backs.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “She always used to say the ocean reminded her to let go of the things she couldn’t control.”

“She’s a wise woman.”

“She raised me, didn’t she?”

Bree smirked. “Yet, I like her anyway.”

I grinned and kissed her again. “Benefit weekend’s coming. You ready?”

She nodded. “More than ready.”

There was a fire in her. A quiet one—but it burned hot. When hearing about the benefit sparked a little more life into my mom, Bree took that as her sign to get the women involved as much as possible. Even if all my mom could do was hold Benny’s hand while the women added games and other fun activities, it helped her spirit.

Watching Bree plan, prep, rally the team wives, coordinate with the front office… she was on it. The woman I’d met months ago—the one who’d kept every emotion bottled up behind tired eyes and a steel spine—was still in there, but now she had softness around the edges. Hope, maybe.

No.Family.

We were about to change lives with this benefit. I lookedout toward the beach again, pride in that thought, and saw Benny lean over to tuck a seashell into Mom’s blanket-covered lap. With her back to me, I couldn’t know for sure, but I imagined her smiling like the whole world was there in that shell.

And maybe it was.

I couldn’t control what came next.

But I knew one thing for sure.

Whatever time we had left, we were going to make it good.

Over the past several days, Dane, that deadbeat, had called. His name flashed across Bree’s screen like a warning siren, and she’d silenced it without a word. Maybe hoping I wouldn’t see. And I got why leading up to Thanksgiving along with the benefit and her responsibilities at home, she wouldn’t want to deal with his loser ass, but we were in this together. After the thirteenth fucking voicemail today, I tipped her chin up to look at me. We were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner.

“You want me to talk with him?”

She winced, casting her eyes down. “He isn’t blowing up my phone with threats or anything. Just kind of being a dick.”

“Babe. You got people at your back now.”

“Thank you, but it’s nothing that I can’t handle. I just don’t want his stink in this house right now.”

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