Page 57 of Bro Code

“But they said it had definitely metastasized,” said Chloé. She paused. “So…yeah. That’s the latest.”

They sat with the line quiet between them for a long time. A siren went by outside and Louis listened to it fade into the distance. He got up and went to the window to see if it opened. It didn’t. He went back to the bed and sat on the end of it. Eventually, he said, “Thanks Chlo.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I guess…should I come down there?” he said. “Do you need help?”

“I mean, honestly, Lou…yeah?”

Sighing, he nodded and pinched his eyes with thumb and forefinger and sat there squeezing them. He could feel the hangover returning.

“Papa’s pretty shaken up, and Manman is doing that thing where she acts like everything’s fine. It’s not like I can’t handle it. It’s not hard – just driving her to the doctor and listening to test results. But…”

“But it is hard,” he said.

She didn’t respond for a long time, and when she did, her voice was strained with held-in tears. “So I don’t know. Maybe you can just come for a visit.”

Neither of them said anything else after that. They just sat there on the phone together while he listened to her sniff and blow her nose. Eventually she said she had to go inside and get ready for work, and he told her okay and to call him if any more results came back. She said she would, and they hung up.

Louis sat with the phone in his hands, staring out the window.

He hadn’t been back to Guadeloupe since Christmas four years ago. Before that, he’d gone back every year. It was never fun, but it was good to see Chloé. And Manman at least wanted him there. Christmas was a time for family, and although she didn’t understand Louis’ “life choices”, she was willing to put that aside so they could have a nice meal. Which was more than could be said for Papa, who would leave the house all day when Louis was there, and would sit in silence at the head of the table when forced to sit down with them all.

Just thinking about it made Louis’ blood heat, and he had to set the phone down and go to the window again.

Manman wasn’t so bad, but she never took Louis’ side, or tried to talk Papa around. Papa acted like Louis being gay was something he was doing on purpose to offend him. Manman’s philosophy was more like, It’s fine, I just don’t want to hear about it. Which was the attitude of many people of her generation on the island.

Things were changing, slowly. Young people didn’t care so much. They even had Pride this year – the first one ever on the island. Chloé had sent him pictures. Which was great. It just wasn’t enough to make him excited to go back.

He went back to the bed and picked up the phone. Swiping it open, he went to his calendar and looked at the schedule. He honestly didn’t know how he was supposed to make it work. Time off was restricted for new hires, and even for a family emergency, he felt like he’d get side-eye from management for leaving this early in the season – especially when he was part of the team that was analyzing Riley’s performance.

Sighing, he sat on the bed.

He was making excuses again.

He opened the messenger and sent a message to Chloé. I probably can’t be there for long, but I’ll figure it out and come as soon as I can. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with this on your own. Love you Sé.

He didn’t expect a response. But the reply dots bubbled and he sat there and watched them. They went away and came back. Away and came back. Away. A long pause, and finally,

Love you too, Fré. Really.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Riley

Riley wasn’t sure if it was Louis’ “behavior hacks” that were helping his game, or the physical therapy Holly had prescribed, but either way, things were improving.

Two days after they got back to Montreal, they faced Tampa again. Riley’s stomach was in knots the whole day leading up to the game. He scheduled a solo skate at the Canadiens home rink in the afternoon, and texted Louis, but Louis couldn’t come. Probably for the best: here they were close to management again, back on the regular schedule. It was harder for Louis to get away – plus, he said, he needed to take a few days off next week, and he didn’t want to rock the boat before he requested those.

Riley asked what he was taking time off for, but Louis just told him he’d be at the game that night. He was looking forward to watching him play.

That gave Riley butterflies. Which was a nice change of pace from the knots.

The arena was packed when the puck dropped at eight. Another headline-making matchup: Tampa vs. Montreal meant Elliot Rodriguez was on the ice with them again, plus Dustin Bennet was apparently in the press box, watching Rodriguez. The press was all over this “ultra gay showdown.”

First period was a mess: Riley was so nervous he kept making the wrong decisions. Taking a bad shot instead of passing. Failing to cover the defensive zone. Sending the puck to where Arsenault was instead of where he was going.

With two minutes left in the period, he was chasing down Rodriguez when Reef Okafor came out of nowhere and put him in the boards again. The same exact way he’d done it before, except there was no penalty given this time. As he skated away, Okafor did the universal gesture for, I’m watching you.