Page 77 of Looks Real Good Now
“Which is what? Wait on her hand and foot,” he scoffed.
“Dad, you can be mean and try to belittle my career choices all you want. You hold that grudge against me for all that it’s worth, I don’t care anymore. But what you will not do is disrespect Alana. If she needs someone to sometimes take care of her andthe life admin parts of her day because she is busy running a very successful business, for which she is the head baker, then I am happy to do that for her. You can also stop making sly remarks about the fact that she left because you know what? Eighteen-year-olds make all kinds of decisions that are sometimes bad and are sometimes great. Neither of us would be the people that we are if she hadn’t left, and I think we both like the people that we are now. So even though it sucked and took me the better part of my freshman year to get over, I think she made the right decision. I forgive her and we now get to venture down a road not taken. If that road means I have to support her by making her fucking dinner, then I will because you know who supported me when it looked like my hockey career might have been over before it began? Alana.”
He turned into the drop-off area of the airport and brought the car to a stop.
“Your mother and I supported you then as well.”
“Yeah, Mom did. But you pushed for me to get back on the ice then as well. You made me feel like I was going crazy for choosing to respect the rehab process in its entirety. It has always felt like you wanted to live vicariously through me, which I’ve never really understood because you didn’t even play sports.”
“I never had the talent for it. The moment you stepped on the ice, it was clear that you were made for it. I just wanted you to reach your full potential.”
“I did, and I’m done now. If you can’t accept that, then we have nothing left to say to each other because my professional career is over and I’m moving on. Thanks for the lift.”
I unlocked my car door and got out, walking around to thetrunk and getting my bag out. I didn’t turn around once as I walked into the airport.
I did, however, look at my phone, and waiting for me was a photo of Lenny who, sure enough, was wearing my shirt, which looked crisper against her brown skin. It was tucked into a pair of jeans as she leant against a counter, the Sweet Nothing logo a neon purple blaze behind her.
T-minus four hours until I saw her again.
43
Liam
By the time I landed in Detroit, I was over it. The talk with my dad had exhausted me and then I had ended up cramped in a middle seat between two people who spoke to each other the whole time, but inexplicably, did not want to switch with me. Now I was faced with the fact that I was going to have to battle someone for a taxi out of here so I could get back to my girlfriend.
I took a moment to collect myself and pulled my phone out to message Lenny.
“Liam?” The voice that called my name sounded familiar but not familiar enough for me to look up from my phone.
Liam was a common name. The person probably wasn’t talking to me.
“Liam?” The voice was closer this time. Close enough that whoever it was, was actually speaking to me. I turned my head to the right.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a long black coat that I would recognise anywhere—because it was hung up next to mine formany years—greeted me.
“Melanie?”
“How have you been?” she asked, a gentle smile on her face.
“Uh, yeah. I’ve been really good, thanks. You?”
“Not too bad. You went away for Christmas?” She pointed at my duffle bag.
“I went to Westchester, yeah.”
“How are your mom and dad? They must have liked having you back.”
“Yeah, they’re not too bad. It was nice being back there. Things are a bit rocky with Dad, but it was nice to see them for longer than two days. Where have you been?” I nodded to her large pink suitcase. Not something she had when we were together.
Once upon a time, we had a wealth of things to talk about. We never got tired of talking to each other. I realised in the dying days of our relationship that we had stopped talking about anything remotely important. If it wasn’t hockey-related or linked to an event that we were supposed to go to, we didn’t talk about it.
Now, we were reduced to small talk at an airport about our holidays.
“I spent a few days with Asher. The team played an away game the other day, so they were in Boston,” she said, sounding sheepish. Asher was my replacement. He had been on the team for a couple of seasons and played when I wasn’t at my best. He’d played the final three games of last season and every time he stepped out onto the ice, he played like he had a point to prove. He wanted my spot. He wanted it more than I did, and in theend, I was more than happy to give it to him.
“And how is Asher and the rest of the team?” I knew how most of them were given that I talked to Teddy after their win, but I still knew Mel well enough to know that she wanted reassurance that she hadn’t done something wrong. She wanted to know that I didn’t hate her for replacing me with the same person that the team did.
Given that I had firmly moved on, I didn’t care what she did with her life. Romantically or otherwise.
