Page 3 of Hot Puck
And it’s not like I’m some college dropout and we’re hurting for money.
Dad had several life insurance policies in place, and the family’s successful chain of sporting and outdoor equipment stores is thriving. Bringing in a good profit as well as a wage if I want to manage the store closest to our mortgage-free family home.
I haven’t decided what to do there.
If I don’t work, I can concentrate on raising the girls. Take my time getting used to this new role in their lives—in mine.
What I can’t do is go back to college.
Play professional hockey.
Those dreams may as well be in the ground with my parents.
Cass and Stell squeeze my hands simultaneously, pulling me from my thoughts.
The priest, or whatever he is—I can’t even remember the guy’s name at this point, never mind his title—moves toward us, a sympathetic, pity-tinged look on his face that tightens every cell in my body.
It takes everything in me to stand still, let him come.
I want to run.
Run fast and far and not look back.
Pretend the reality in front of me—both my parents in the ground—isn’t happening.
Except I can’t do that.
I’ve got three little girls relying on me.
I can’t let them down.
Iwon’tlet them down.
Whatever it takes, I’ll make sure my sisters have the lives my parents would have given them if they were still alive.
Nat
July - 3 months later
In the minutes since I pulled up outside this two-story house in suburban St. Paul, I’ve taken the time to study the place. I’m looking for anything that gives me inspiration.
I’ve been planning this trip for weeks—months—and I still don’t know how to approach this meeting.
Not that it’s scheduled.
Or a meeting.
I’m ambushing Chase Hawkins.
He disappeared from college and the NHL scout radar without notice. Maybe his departure didn’t go unnoticed, but it certainly didn’t cause any ripples, no comments or rumors. And with the skills the kid has, I don’t understand it.
Especially when the reason behind his withdrawal from school and hockey is a tragic one.
Maybe that’s why everyone has stayed quiet—stayed away—kept his departure from the sports scene off the radar.
Then again, perhaps, like me, they’re all still in shock over what happened.
Four months ago, Chase was preparing, along with his father and teenage sisters, to welcome a new member of their family while they waited for another one to slip away.
