5. Theo
Arriving at Pearson Airport from Vancouver this morning hadn’t felt different from any other away game I’d played in Toronto.
My mind had not yet accepted the fact that this city was going to be my new home now, for the next year at least.
The ride from the airport flew by as I tried to imagine what actually living here was going to be like. I packed up my condo and said goodbye to my teammates, still in a haze of disbelief. I hadn’t really allowed it to hit me how much my life was about to be turned upside down.
Toronto’s team services manager, Christine Goode, had hooked me up with a furnished rental for the season, so I’d been able to arrange the larger stuff in my condo to be put in storage in Vancouver for now. I didn’t know where I’d be next June, so I didn’t want to send anything home to San Jose just to ship it somewhere else in nine months’ time.
I’d had two big bags worth of luggage to my name at this point, with the hope that one of the team services assistants would take pity on me and grab any essentials missing while I was integrating myself into training camp.
After I tipped my driver, I looked up at the refurbished warehouse that was now a set of what looked like twenty or more units. I wasn’t big on style or design, like my brother Chase, who’d gone into architecture, but I could appreciate the cool vibe of the building.
There wasn’t much of a view to be had, though I knew Lake Ontario was only a few blocks away, hidden by the multitude of skyscrapers in the downtown core.
It was hotter here than in Vancouver, even though it was technically fall. I knew from experience with Toronto that this was just a blip at the start of the autumn weather to lure the city into a false sense of complacency, and then the temperature would drop 10°C from one day to the next. Vancouver got a lot of rain, but I couldn’t remember an entire sunny day while in Toronto during October and November over the past couple years. It could get pretty gray here too.
Mom had always just said to enjoy these brief hiatuses from seasonally appropriate temperatures because winter was long in Canada, whether it was raining, snowing, or you were just plain freezing your ass off.
Plus, I’d found since moving to Canada permanently, Canadians really did love talking about the weather. So temperatures going wacky were always a good way to fill awkward silences.
Thankfully, there was an elevator in this building because I could feel my muscles tightening up from all the travel and lugging these heavy bags around. Maybe I’d try to find out from Christine if I could get into the gym to loosen up before the official training camp started.
I guessed the direction of my new apartment when I got off the elevator into a central foyer area on my floor. At the end of the hallway, I could see a young woman with dark hair overloaded with bags while trying to open her door.
If I’d been on my game and not weighed down by heavy luggage, I’d have offered to help her. Both my parents had deeply impressed upon all us kids that we should offer help when we could.
Except I felt a bit like death warmed over from travel fatigue and the stress of the last few days, so I gave myself a pass on being a good neighbor for the moment. Mixed with a hefty dose of self-pity at being traded away from a team I’d worked so hard for to a city where I literally knew no one, I wasn’t in any shape to be making small talk.
Instead, I tried to be as quiet as possible as I checked the unit numbers on the way to what I hoped was my front door.
With her back to me, I couldn’t tell much about her other than she was tall and lithe. At six feet, I stood taller than most but based on where her head reached compared to her front door, I’d have put her at five nine or five ten. As I got closer, I could see her hair was the same shade of warm brown, and it fell in a thick, shiny waterfall down her back.
She was murmuring softly to herself, likely frustrated with the lock when all she wanted to do was get inside. As I reached my door about ten or so feet away from hers, she tilted her head in a way that brushed her hair off the right side of her face.
I was shocked still, with my keys frozen in my hand.
Indigo Layne. In Toronto.
Here. Now.
THEO, AGE 15
“Mom, I’m ready to go to practice!” I called up the stairs, hoping to be heard through the music filtering through the door of my mom’s office .
“Okay, Theo! Get your bag in the trunk, and I’ll be down in a couple minutes.”
By a couple minutes, I knew she meant about ten. I decided to wander out into the backyard to see what my siblings were doing. I hoped the twins weren’t planning anything that was going to piss Dad off when he got home. At eleven, they were tall and strong enough to get into more trouble than ever before but had yet to understand not every moment of the day was the right moment for a prank.
They had a habit of constructing elaborate “traps” and “defenses” around the front and backyard that usually ended up with an adult swearing with some sort of minor injury.
Opening the sliding kitchen door, I peered out around our deck to make sure there were no swinging obstacles about to knock me out before we left. I’d already had a couple of concussions since starting rep hockey six years ago, and I didn’t need my father to have any ammunition to dislike hockey. The only thing he’d ever mentioned to me about hockey was that he worried about head injuries. I’d taken that to mean that he’d wished I’d played football instead.
Though, as the head football coach at San Jose State, I didn’t know how he could justify his sport over mine. Football had the highest rate of concussions of all sports—thank you, Google—but maybe he thought football injuries were more worthy in some way.
My survey of the area deemed it safe to exit the house; no sign of projectiles from the twin masterminds. I walked out to the edge of the deck and heard giggling coming from the tree house.
My baby sister, Emery, and her best friend, Indie, were either up there cooking up elaborate revenge on the twins for some prank, gossiping, or planning world domination. It was anyone’s guess.
I was glad they had each other. The only thing that had made me nervous about starting high school was leaving my baby sister behind. Emery was all sunshine and rainbows, a sweetheart through and through. Her feelings were easily hurt, and she forgave too easily, something my brothers took too much for granted.
I never worried about the twins. They had each other, and they were the tallest and strongest kids in their grade, thanks to genetics and their years in peewee football. If anything, I thought more about the well-being of those around them.
“Just grabbing my laptop, Theo. Be right there,” my mom called out the window. We were a step closer to leaving now that she was actually packing up.
Leaning against the porch railing, I played Snake on my phone while I waited.
“Come on, Indie! You can do it!” My sister’s voice drifted across the yard.
The tree house I’d helped my dad build sat in the huge tree that dominated the yard. Emery, being tiny and agile, had been climbing down the branches and trunk for a couple of years now, despite knowing the house rules stated she needed to use the rope ladder.
The tree house was built into the biggest two limbs of the tree, which were about twelve to fourteen feet off the ground. If one of us fell out of the tree house, the fall could easily break a bone or our heads.
Emery was already three-quarters of the way down the tree, having gripped onto some of the newer shoots that grew out of the base of the tree.
“Hey, Em! You know you’re not supposed to…”
I didn’t get to finish what I was saying before I was racing across the yard because Indie had decided to take Emery up on her dare of climbing down the branches.
Indie had about six inches on Emery, despite being just as scrawny in stature. Still, I knew from experience that growth spurts made you clumsy.
“Indie! Wait! Just let me…” I called out too late.
Her little brow was furrowed in concentration, her bottom lip caught beneath her teeth. My voice yelling her name must have shocked her because she looked up at me instead of where she was putting her foot next.
I could see the next seconds unfolding at rapid speed. She was going to step on a branch that couldn’t hold her and fall. Visions of blood and tears clouded my mind.
I had to get to her.
Somehow, the haze of fear cleared from my eyes, and I managed to get underneath her just as the branch she was balancing on one foot on snapped.
Her shrill scream echoed through the yard as she fell. It was less than a ten-foot fall from where she’d slipped, but it felt like a hundred before she hit my arms with a thud that jolted my whole body.
Still panicking from the fall, Indie flailed her arms and legs as if she were in a fighting ring. She clocked me above the eye with the side of her fist or her elbow. Either way, she’d rung my bell good.
Too upset, she hadn’t noticed my head getting knocked back. Her breathing was ragged, and choppy sobs escaped her mouth.
I tightened my grip on her, my arms easily wrapped around her back and legs.
“Easy, Rocky. I’ve got you.” The nickname fell from my lips before I’d even consciously thought it.
Her movements slowed as she realized that she was no longer falling. Just like a spider monkey, she righted herself by throwing her arms and legs around me. She held on so tightly I loosened my grip around her slightly. She started crying in earnest.
I walked over to the edge of the deck and sat down with her in my arms and looked over at Emery. She, too, had tears in her eyes, no doubt in fear for her friend but also knowing she was going to catch shit from Mom and Dad for not being careful.
“Em, go inside and get Mom, okay?” I tried to keep my voice level .
Nodding, Emery raced into the house.
Turning my attention back to Indie, I awkwardly shushed her to help her calm down. Despite being attached at the hip to Emery since kindergarten, I didn’t know her that well.
She was the most well-behaved kid I’d ever seen. Reserved to a point that almost seemed like an adult in a way I couldn’t understand. It was definitely eye-opening to see her this upset.
It had taken a year for me to hear her laugh. She, Mom, and Emery had been baking some sort of catastrophe in the kitchen, and the bag of flour had burst when the girls had tried to pull it open and absolutely coated the three of them. A giggle had burst from Indie, and I’d seen the joy in my mom’s eyes witnessing that. I’d raced into the living room for the camera, keen to show Dad the disaster later.
That photo sat proudly on our mantle, the three of them grinning like loons.
Her tears were slowing, and she pulled back, suddenly realizing she was stuck to me like a barnacle. A flurry of limbs and a much gentler elbow to the chin for me had her sitting beside me.
Geez, at this rate, I’d have to tell the guys at practice I’d got hurt playing road hockey with the twins for all the bruises I’d have.
“Thanks, Theo.” Her little voice was barely above a whisper.
“No problem, little Rocky. Maybe keep those feet on the ground for the rest of the day, okay?”
She blushed and nodded, embarrassed.
Mom came racing out the door and pulled Indie into a hug. Mom gave the kind of hugs you could just melt into, knowing that she wouldn’t let go until you were solid.
“I’m glad you’re okay, sweetie.” She looked at me over Indie’s shoulders and mouthed, “Thank you.”
I shrugged. It was no big deal. I was just glad she was okay .
“Here’s what we’ll do. How about you girls come with me to the rink, and you can watch Theo’s training this afternoon?” Mom smiled warmly at them both.
Even though Mom would have a safety talk with Emery later, Mom’s talks were always delivered with a big dose of comfort.
Both girls nodded eagerly, knowing an afternoon at the rink meant a carload of snacks and playing hide-and-seek around the empty stands.
“Come on, Indie! I’ll race you to the car!”
Potential disaster averted, Emery took off into the house. Indie, who was poised to take off after her, turned back to me and smiled gratefully before heading inside.
Mom came and wrapped her arms around me. “My hero,” she whispered in my ear before giving me a peck on the cheek.
I shook the memory off; the nostalgia was bittersweet. My brain refocused on the very grown woman in front of me.
Her naturally golden skin was sun-kissed from what I imagined was soaking up the gorgeous months of California summer weather. Even scrunched in frustration and only half-visible, her face was perfection. Emery, with her artist’s eye and hands, could not have rendered a more beautiful woman.
Without my permission, my eyes swept down her body. She had a slight, athletic build that reminded me of a dancer or runner. The back of my mind tickled with a memory of her running track fairly competitively in high school.
Simply, she was gorgeous. She could have been on any runway or graced any magazine cover. The back of my neck heated with the realization of how inappropriate it was to be checking her out .
I could not be looking at Indie like this. She was my sister’s best friend, despite us not seeing each other for six or so years (Christ, had it really been that long?). My mind flipped back to the last time I’d snuffed out my attraction toward Indie. I’d spent my time avoiding temptation when Indie had turned eighteen and I’d been home for an extended summer visit because of a concussion recovery. It was not okay then, and it wasn’t okay now.
The conflicting feelings inside me had an awkwardness I rarely felt settled in my chest, making it hard to think. I cleared my throat to say something.
“Rocky?”
My long-ago nickname for Indie fell from my lips, and she whirled around, eyes wide.