Page 92 of Securing the Pucking Rebound

“I would never.”

She narrows her eyes on me, not believing a word of it.

“Whatever,” she mutters before flipping the camera again.

At first, I’m disappointed the mystery corner isn’t full of posters of me. But she hasn’t lived in this house, and she’d have moved out before I signed with the Vipers and my face started appearing, well…everywhere. But as I focus on what I’m seeing, I realize it’s so much better than fan posters. It’s art…art that she’s drawn of a ranch, sunsets, horses, and two people…two kids.

Holy shit.

She never forgot me.

A lump crawls up my throat, stopping me from speaking. We might be on a video call, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel her stare burning into me.

Don’t react, Calvin.

Do not let her discover the truth when you’re not there to attempt to bail yourself out of the hole it’s going to put you in.

“They’re cute.”

“I’m not exactly an artist.”

“They’re a shit load better than I could do,” I confess as she flips the camera back again, letting me see her.

“I was just a kid,” she says dismissively. It hurts that she’s able to do that to a summer that changed my life forever. “How’s your knee doing? Did Darcy really work you that hard?” she asks, bringing me back to the here and now.

“Hurting. But nothing some rest and an ice pack won’t fix, I’m sure,” I say, trying to play it off as nothing.

Concern glitters in her eyes.

“Has your mom got everything ready for tomorrow?”

“Yep, the turkey is waiting to go into the oven. She’s getting up at some ungodly hour to put it in. We’ve been telling her for years that we can just eat later, it doesn’t matter to us, but she won’t have it.”

I chuckle with her, but mostly just to hide the pain her words bring.

Despite the state of my family now, we did have some really great times growing up. And holidays were no exception. It’s only as I got older that everything went to shit.

A sigh slips from my lips before I can catch it.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Sienna asks, her eyes boring into mine.

I want to lie, but I’m already hiding enough from her.

“Nothing,” I confess.

Her eyes soften, and I hate it. I don’t need anyone’s pity over the fact I don’t have anyone to spend the holiday with.

“What about the guys?” she asks.

“They’ve all got their plans. It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

“That’s bullshit, Calvin. You shouldn’t be used to that. I knew I should have invited you here.”

“What?” I ask, jack-knifing so I’m sitting up on my couch.

“Shit. I wasn’t…um…I just…”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting an invite,” I say, although it takes a significant amount of self-control not to immediately look to see if I could get a flight to Idaho tonight.