Page 46 of Tricky Puck

“Is there a problem, Link honey?”

“No. No problem... Your tickets will be waiting. We’ll have dinner after the game.”

“I thought we could see you before the game.”

“I don’t know grandma. I’ll be tied up. With the team and preparations.” I lie and I immediately feel the stab of guilt for telling yet another lie to my grandma, the one woman in my life who deserves nothing but my best—and that includes the truth.

But I threw the truth out the window when I said I was dating Delaney. Because I’m not. If I told grandma I was sleeping with her but had no intentions of having a serious relationship, that I was not courting her with the intentions of getting married--to put it in her terms, she would be worse than disappointed with me.

She would be heartbroken and worried about me ending up a lonely bachelor like her brother, Great Uncle Link, my namesake. I never met him because he died before I was born, but I’m told I’m a lot like him and I think that scares the shit out of Grandma. They were close even though he was ten years older than her. He took care of her like a parent growing up because they’d lost their parents when she was five and she adored him.

“Don’t you want to introduce Delaney before she has to sit with us at the game.”

“You’re right. I’ll figure it out. I’ll meet you at the friends and family lounge before the game.”

We end the conversation with our usual declarations of love, but it doesn’t feel right.

“Before you hang up, Grandma, can I ask you something?” I don’t pause to let her answer me. “Why is it so important to you that I settle down now?” The lump of fear bounces in my throat as I hold my breath for her answer to the bravest question I’ve ever asked anyone. I can’t stand the idea that she might be dying and as hard as it would be, I need to know.

“Because I love you, my bambino, and I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to waste your life away before it’s too late.” She coughs and I flinch, but she adds, “Now let me go and share the good news about you and Delaney getting on so well.”

We end the call and I can’t rid myself of the notion that she’s sick, or maybe she’s worried about me because of her brother. I think she blames herself for his so-called lonely bachelor’s life and premature death. But from the stories I heard, he had a grand time and a full life.

I sit and breathe deeply for a few minutes to process the implications of the family visit, but my head is too distracted.

“Grandma is fine. She would tell me if she wasn’t.” I say this out loud to the empty cavernous locker room. And there was nothing wrong with my great uncle Link’s life. He did well for himself becoming an accountant and starting his own CPA firm. It worked out for the best, didn’t it? He ended up leaving all his money to his younger sister, my grandma.

Since I have three younger sisters to worry about, it’s lucky for them I’m a hockey player and not an accountant. As well as Great Uncle Link did for himself, I’m doing a hell of a lot better. And I plan to keep it that way. Hockey’s been good to me, but I’m just getting started. No distraction—like Delaney Collins—is going to ruin all that.

I pick up my phone and call Jason. Grandma means well, but she doesn’t get that her brother’s life worked out for the best, for him, and especially for her.

He picks up. “Where the hell are you? We’re out at the Hole in the Wall.”

“Who’s we?”

“Tina’s here with a few of her friends and a couple of the rookies.”

“I’m not going to make it. I have some things to do.”

“Like what?”

“I need to make a phone call and then I plan to get to bed early.”

“Early? What the hell? We have tomorrow off. Wait, don’t tell me you’re calling Delaney, and you plan to take your time⁠—”

“Don’t read too much into it, Jason. You don’t need me to have a good time. You have Tina with you, right?”

“Sure. But you know it’s not like that with me and Tina.”

“Whatever you say. Later.”

When I get home I call Delaney and tell her about Grandma’s surprise plan for both our families ar coming up for the game on Saturday. “Looks like your presence at the game is a command performance.”

She snorts. “Guess so. Only problem is my car is in the shop and⁠—”

“Then I guess I’m coming to pick you up⁠—”

“And I have no water at the cabin and it’s freezing because I can’t get the crazy pellet stove to work.” She sounds unusually flustered and I jump in to calm her.