Page 34 of Pipe Dreams
“Did you lock the doors?” Elsa was still a little weirded out by living in the city. She often asked about locking the doors.
“I sure did.”
“Hans isn’t coming home tonight?”
“Doesn’t seem like it,” he said quickly. “Probably crashing at Justin’s. The trains don’t run as frequently at night.”
Elsa rolled her eyes. “I know they sleep together, Dad.”
Yikes. He didn’t know what to say about that, and not because Hans was gay. What were thirteen-year-olds ready to hear about sex? He had no fucking clue. The fact that it was solelyhisjob to successfully parent this child was beyond comprehension.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think it’s serious with Justin?”
“Uh... maybe?”Good answer, champ.Really eloquent. “Hans tells us a lot of funny little stories about the places he and Justin go, but he doesn’t really tell us how he feels about him.”
“I noticed that,” Elsa said, picking lint off her comforter. “But Hans wouldn’t spend so much time with someone unless he cared. I’m worried that he’ll leave us.”
“Ah.”Hell. He might. “Hans will leave someday no matter what, right? But he’ll always be our friend. You can still have him over for Thai food and orchestra gossip.”
“Mmm,” Elsa said, looking put out. “I don’t want him to go.”
“Why don’t we wait until he wants to go to worry about it? He has a pretty sweet deal here right now. He lives rent free with two people who are pretty great. Who would want to leave us?”
“True.” She smiled up at him.
“Hey, Els? Can I ask a favor?”
“Sure.”
“If you happen to, uh, run into Lauren again before the play-offs are over, can you just give her a smile?”
“Why?”Elsa made a face like she’d tasted something bitter.
“Because I’m asking you to,” he said quietly. “It’s not her choice to work with the team right now. But Nate asked her to step in because Becca is taking a temporary leave.”
“Becca is great, but I don’t like Lauren.”
Mike took the sort of calming breath that one takes while speaking to a teenager. “You don’t reallyknowLauren, honey. You haven’t seen her for two years. But she and I used to be close, and it’s important to treat her with respect. Maybe you’re not a fan of everything that happened when your mother and I were separated. But none of that is Lauren’s fault.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
His blood pressure notched up. “What?”
“Mrs. Chancer said Lauren stole you away from Mom. That she’s a sneaky little bitch who doesn’t know that karma is real...”
“Elsa,” he snapped, cutting her off, because he couldn’t stand to hear any more. Anger crackled through him, and he had to take another deep breath and remind himself that Elsa was only repeating what she’d heard from the hockey wife with a mouth the size of Long Island.
“That’s what shesaid.” Elsa defended herself. “And more.”
Shit. “Okay, listen to me,” he said as calmly as he could. “None of that is true. Lauren didn’t do a thing wrong. She was in no way responsible for the time that your mother and I spent apart. That was all me and Mom, okay?”
His daughter eyed him sulkily. “Then why did you leave in the first place?”
Mike closed his eyes and tried to think. He wasn’t going to throw his dead wife under the bus on this one. And they were both responsible for their shitty marriage, anyway. “Your mom and I had some troubles. I know you didn’t like it, but you don’t get to blame Lauren for it. Or...” It actually took him a moment to come up with the name of the tennis instructor.“...Tad. Or anyone.”
